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Communication Research project 1

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Communication Research project
Do students who are active listeners have a better social life than those who are poor listeners?
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Chapter 1: Introduction
I have been fascinated by some students who have a can talk for hours without being
bored. I have been an introvert student who likes keeping to himself rather than having many
friends. I have always been intrigued by these students who are always in different groups
talking about various topics. At one point, they will be talking about football and the next minute
they will be discussing girls. My main challenge was understanding how they can keep up
talking about the different topics without being bored. It is while I was reading a blog that I saw
the author stating that active listeners are better at social life than poor listeners.
Active listening is one of the most important aspects for a student especially in class. It
not only involves listening during class but comprehending what is being taught. Being a student,
I have mastered the art of active listening in class where it has helped me pass my units. Being a
poor listener in class is detrimental to one’s progress academically. Outside class, I am not such a
great listener. I have few friends and we rarely meet after school. I can attest that without my
active listening in class which has transformed my grades, I would probably have no friends.
Socially, hat part of my life is awkward. I cannot state that I am shy but I think listening skills
outside class has played a vital role.
This research paper is important not only to me but other students that have a problem
with their social lives. Additionally, it can shed light on the importance of active listening both
during class time and outside class. With the current world where socially awkward students take
refuge in online games, virtual friendship and other online activities, this research is important in
helping such persons. The research is also important for guiding and counseling department. The
department will have an idea how to help students that have poor listening skills as well as
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helping individuals like me who have good listening in class but poor active listening skills
outside class. By having proper or rather active listening skills, a student can have a good social
life.
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Chapter 2: Background
Listening skills is one of the most critical element for the success of a student both in
class and outside class. Listening does not only involve hearing a speaker but it also involves
comprehending what that individual is talking about (House, Kasper & Ross, 2014). Active
listening is absorbing what another person is stating including its meaning. Being an active
listener involves a person being attentive noting the key words being uttered and identifying the
main idea of the discussion. Active listening improves mutual understanding between two or
more people. In most cases, people talk to each other but they fail to full understand what such
person is saying (Kawamichi et al. 2015). People do not pay attention to some of the key words
which carries the weight of the conversation. Such individuals do not listen attentively.
Most conversation involves people half thinking about something and half listening.
Sometimes, when students are engaged in a conflict, they are busy formulating what they can say
rather than first listen then formulate the reply based on what the first person has said. Rost
(2014) explains that one of the main weakness is such a situation is that individuals think that
they have already heard what the other person has said. Their main point of thinking about what
to say is based on their need to win the argument. In active listening, the weight of the
conversation is paying attention to the speaker and not ones thoughts. A listener should always
attend to the person talking fully.
An active listener will not only concentrate on the words but also the gestures that follow
up with the word. A gesture is an important non-verbal cues that helps a person with delivering a
message. Apart from gestures, facial expression and tonal variation helps deliver the message. A
good listener will look into these details and then make suggestions on what the speaker is
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intending. An active listener attends to the speaker then repeats what the speaker has said in the
listeners own words. Thistle & McNaughton (2015) illustrate that one of the important factors in
listening is that a listener does not have to agree with what a speaker says. Many students are not
active listeners. The problem is not the shortcoming but the urge to practice being an active
listener. One of the major problems for such individuals is distractions. This can range from
thinking during the conversation to physical distraction such as a motor passing, people talking,
or trying to imagine what the speaker is thinking. Research shows that active listening is one of
the most important aspects of a person’s communication and self-expression. Its applications
include in community organizing, public interest advocacy, tutoring and making friends.
Active listening is an important aspect of a person’s social life. Social life can include
interpersonal relationship with other individuals to just having casual relationship with fellow
students (Weger Jr, Castle Bell, Minei & Robinson, 2014). There are many kinds of interactions
in an education institution. People can socialize in class, during games, while going for lunch or
while leaving school in the evening. Researchers show that the social life of a person suffers as a
result of two or more people failing to understand each other. The cause of this misunderstanding
arises from each person arguing without listening to one another. When making friends, being a
good listener plays a vital role.
Finally, Understanding what a person is saying helps an individual gauge what kind of
person the speaker is or his/her qualities. Relationships between different individuals involve
understanding one another and explaining oneself in case of a disagreement (Weger Jr, Castle
Bell, Minei & Robinson, 2014). Poor listeners have been known to have a poor social life. They
do not wait to understand what a speaker is talking about but rather chip in with their suggestions
on the topic. This usually creates an awkward conversation where the discussion lacks a proper
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or distinct theme. Being a poor listener makes an individual fail to recognize the basic meanings
of the speakers words.
Chapter 3: Methodology
The source of my data for this research emanates from an online survey that I had created
so that the student could fill. Due to the dynamism in the technology filed, most students prefer
online stuff than the traditional method where surveys could be collected by going from class to
class. AN online survey is easier to fill and accessible to every student that has a phone. I
collected the emails of students by setting up a place near the gate where the students cold write
down their emails. I had earlier made posters letting them know that I intended to carry out a
research. Thereafter, I created a trending topic on twitter and paid some influential students who
have many followers to make it a successful trending topic.
I also created a Facebook and snap chat posters and inserted a link where the students
could fill the online survey. Due to the current popular nature of social media, these were the
places where I could have the most response. I realized that setting up a small tent near the gate
could lead to few responses from the students. I also expect that the responses from the gate can
only be gathered during noon time and in the evening. Responses from social media seemed like
a better idea and one which the students could help me fill the survey. One of the shortcomings
that I anticipate is backlash from the students on social media where they could block my
trending topic on twitter or Facebook. I intended to get about 50-60 responses online and an
additional 15 to 20 response from the gate set-up.
Survey
1. What grade classification are you?
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a) Freshman
b) Sophomore
c) Junior
d) Senior
2. How many friends do you have?
a) 1-5
b) 5-10
c) More than 10
3. How often do you socialize with other people?
a) Not at all
b) Rarely
c) Average
d) Often
e) Very often
4. How confident are you around other people?
a) Not confident at all
b) Slightly confident
c) Averagely confident
d) Very confident
e) Highly confident
5. How can you rate your listening skills on a scale of 1-5?
a) 1
b) 2
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c) 3
d) 4
e) 5
6. What is your GPA?
a) 2.0-2.5
b) 2.6-3.0
c) 3.1-3.5
d) 3.6-4.0
7. How often do you go out?
a) Very Often
b) Often
c) Sometimes
d) Rarely
e) Not All
8. Do you think active listening skills are important for your social life?
a) Yes
b) No
9. How many friends have you gained this year?
a) 1-4
b) 4-6
c) 6 and above
10. How many friends have you gained?
a) 1-4
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b) 4-6
c) 6 and above
Chapter 4: Analysis
I left the survey for two weeks so that the students could fill it. I was disappointed with
the results. I got 5 responses from the gate and 45 online. The total response was 50
How many friends do you have?
Answer
Response
Percentage
1
1-5
15
30
2
5-10
25
50
3
10 and above
10
20
Total
50
100
How often do you socialize?
Response
Percentage
1
5
10
2
10
20
3
15
30
4
10
20
5
10
20
Total
50
100
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The two graphs show the state in which socialization has affected the number of friends
the students have. Few students socialize as shown by the few numbers of friends they have.
15% of the responses stated that they have less than five fifteen friends. This can be attested by
the less number of students who also socialize. It seems that most students do not socialize and
this can be attributed to the increased social media companies. It is easier for them to socialize
online than to socialize in real life. This may be one of the factors that have led to poor active
listening skills as shown in the table below.
How can you rate your active listening skills on a scale of 1-5?
Answer
Response
Percentage
1
1
10
20
2
2
10
20
3
3
15
30
4
4
10
20
5
5
5
10
Total
50
100
For this question, I wanted to identify how the students view active listening. Measuring
active listening for a person is hard and I let them determine to how extent they think they are
active listeners. The response showed that most student viewed they do not have a good active
listening skills. Only 10% saw that they have a perfect listening skill. When compared with the
responses below about the importance of active listening in social life, most of the students,
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about 60% saw that active listening is not important. They saw that for one to have a good social
life, they did not need to have a good active listening skill.
Do you think active listening skills are important in your social life?
Answer
Response
Percentage
1
Yes
30
60
2
No
20
40
Total
50
100
How many friends have you gained this year?
Answer
Response
Percentage
1
1-4
30
60
2
4-6
15
30
3
6 and above
5
10
Total
50
100
This table shows that gaining friends is not an issue for many students. 60% of the
students gained 1 to 4 friends while a further 40% gained more than 4 friends. The earlier table
showed that most students did not have good active listening skills. However, that has not
affected their rate of having friends.
How many friends have you lost this year?
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Answer
Response
Percentage
1
1-4
30
60
2
4-6
15
30
3
6 and above
5
10
Total
50
100
This table shows the high number of students that have lost friends this year. 60 percent
have lost less than 4 friends while a further 30% have lost less than 6 friends. A mere 10% have
lost more than 6 friends. The low number suggests that few have such a large number of friends.
This response shows that maintaining a friend among the students is hard.
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Chapter 5: Results
My research confirmed my hypothesis. I had anticipated that active listening influences
the social life of a person especially having friends. Other studies have shown that it is important
for a person to have a good listening skill. Active listening has been confirmed to be one of the
leading factors for a person to pass in class. This has also been confirmed to be true in the social
life of a person. I first wanted to know the grade classification of the students to determine if the
low number of friends was associated with being new in the institution or not.
The results showed that the responses were distributed equally and class had nothing to
do with how many friends a student has. Most of the students stated that they have less than 5
friends. This may be attributed to their poor active listening. It can also be attributed to the rate in
which the students socialize. Majority of the students did not socialize much which accounted for
about 30% of the total response. Majority of the students stated that they have a poor active
listening skill. More than 70% of them stated that they rate their listening skill to be from 1-3 on
a scale of 1-5. This shows a rather disturbing pattern in the school. It makes an individual
wonder how they listen in class.
When the students where asked how important active listening was to their social life,
about 60% stated that it was not important. Only 40% concurred with the statement that active
listening is important for their social life. The above information can be related to the friends
they gain and those that they lose. Most students do not find a problem having new friends.
However, majority as well lose many friends yearly. The only surprise for me in this survey is
the GPA part because very student was stating highly. SO I had to omit that part. It did not
concur with studies or rather the school statistics. Overall, the results showed that students who
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had poor active listening skill were more likely to lose friends. Having friends were not a
problem in regard to having a good active listening skill.
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Chapter 6: Conclusions
Centered on the results of the research, I finally confirmed my hypothesis that active
listening has an impact on the social life of a person. Most students admitted to have poor active
listening skills. They further added that active listening was of no importance to the social life of
a person. His shows how much these students see active learning as only a skill that is needed
during class time and not in the outside world. I also wanted to establish the connection of the
students GPA to their social life to see if active listeners had a better social life. They however
cheated on this part due to the irregular pattern of their grades.
My research pointed that active listening is as important in class as it is in the outside life.
Many students had no problem having friends but they lost these friends showed that their poor
active listening skill was a cause for this trend. If the students had better listening skills, they
would hold onto friends for a long time rather than having them for short period. Students should
therefore practice on their active listening skill to be better at keeping friends. Conversely, it will
improve their social life.
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Chapter 7: Future implications
I had estimated that I would get more responses but that was not the case as I had fewer
than I had anticipated. My survey showed me that online survey is not as dependable as people
say. The study could have been more accurate if I had received more responses. However, the
few that I had received enabled me to have a good picture of the situation involving active
listening and social life of students especially making friends. My idea behind this study was to
show that active listening is very important to a person’s social life. This study should be further
replicated by professional researchers to further ascertain my claims and prove that active
listening is critical to a person’s social life.
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References
House, J., Kasper, G., & Ross, S. (2014). Misunderstanding in social life: Discourse approaches
to problematic talk. Routledge.
Kawamichi, H., Yoshihara, K., Sasaki, A. T., Sugawara, S. K., Tanabe, H. C., Shinohara, R., ...
& Sadato, N. (2015). Perceiving active listening activates the reward system and
improves the impression of relevant experiences. Social neuroscience, 10(1), 16-26.
Rost, M. (2014). Listening in a multilingual world: The challenges of second language (L2)
listening. International Journal of Listening, 28(3), 131-148.
Thistle, J. J., & McNaughton, D. (2015). Teaching active listening skills to pre-service speech-
language pathologists: a first step in supporting collaboration with parents of young
children who require AAC. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 46(1),
44-55.
Weger Jr, H., Castle Bell, G., Minei, E. M., & Robinson, M. C. (2014). The relative effectiveness
of active listening in initial interactions. International Journal of Listening, 28(1), 13-31.

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