The Mobile Phone Usage of Students of University - Coursework Example

?Introduction Mobile phone usage is a natural phenomenon in campus. Very few these days are seen without their mobile phone in hand. Thus, it is important that the actual extent of mobile phone usage amongst students be assessed. Moreover, the type of mobile service provider is a critical issue amongst mobile phone owners and as such, likewise merits appropriate attention. This paper explores these issues among students of University X. In particular, this paper focuses attention on how much students spent on their mobile phones each month and if the amount spent varied by gender. These pieces of information are useful in aiding concerned institutions such as the Students Union in the event that they decide to negotiate special rates for their students with a major service provider. Methods In order to gain some idea of the phone usage a sample of students was asked to complete a questionnaire (Appendix 1). The questionnaire included questions on the service providers used, the level of satisfaction with these providers, the type of payment method used and the amount spent on phones. A sample of students was chosen by selecting those students taking a particular first year module. In total 230 questionnaires were distributed by email and 150 were returned. Results and appropriate analysis of the survey are discussed below. Results and Discussion The paper wanted to know the distribution of students in terms of the mobile service provider that they use. Figure 1 shows that majority of students use OM service (24%), followed closely by Yellow service (22%), Modafone service (21%), and W-mobile service (18%). Very few students use AT mobile service (7%), and Verity service (5%). In addition, 3% of the students use other service providers. Figure 1. Percentage distribution of students using each mobile service provider. In terms of general satisfaction with their current service providers, figures from Table 2 (Appendix) reveal that majority of the students are satisfied with the service provider that they are currently using, with 16% of the respondents rating their service provider as Very good and 61% rating their service provider as Good. Only about 10% of the respondents were not very satisfied with their current service providers, with 5% rating their service providers as Poor and 5% rating their service providers as Very poor. Around 13% of the respondents were not inclined to rate their service provider as either Good or Poor. The amount spent by students on the use of their mobile phones was also of interest to this investigation. Computations indicate that students spend an average of ?27.46 (SD = ?6.44) on the use of their mobile phones. Moreover, upper 25% of the students spend ?25, upper half of the students spend ?28, and upper 75% of students spend ?30. This actually tells us that 25% of the student population spend more than ?30 on their mobile phone services. In addition, the coefficient of variance was found to be 23.4%, which indicates moderate variability of the data. This means that there is quite a moderate chance that there were differences in the way each respondent was requested for data. When the respondents were grouped by gender, it was found that males (n = 81, Mean = ?27.25, SD = ?6.17) spent almost the same amount on mobile phone services as females did (n = 69, Mean = ?27.71, SD = ?6.77). The length of time that the students have owned their current mobile phone is also an important consideration because it will provide insights as to how frequent they changed their mobiles. Figure 2 clearly indicates that majority of the students have owned their current mobile phone for less than six months, indicating that they have most likely disposed of their “old” phone only a few months ago and went on ahead to acquire a new one. in fact, very few students have had their mobile phone for at least two years, indicating the fast turnover of mobile phones with the student population. Figure 2. Frequency distribution of students by length of time owning a mobile phone. Conclusion and Recommendation This paper aimed to paint a picture of the mobile phone usage of students of University X by finding out their mobile phone service providers, their satisfaction with their service provider, the amount of money that they spend on mobile phone services, and the length of time that they have had their current phone. Results of the investigation indicate that four service providers are most popular among University X students and these are, OM, Yellow, Modafone, and W-mobile. The Student Union may consider approaching any of these four providers and strike on a deal that would provide University X with special service rates. It was also found that the students were quite satisfied with the service providers that they are currently using and may therefore find it hard to change to another service provider. However, students are clearly changing phones all the time. Thus, service providers might propose deals that would offer students a new phone once they choose to get their service. Moreover, majority of students spend around ?25 to ?30 in mobile phone services each month. Thus, service providers can play around this amount when deciding to offer the special rates for University X students. For students of this generation, mobile phones are clearly a necessity and not just a mere luxury. Practically each and every student owns at least one mobile phone. This investigation was able to somehow characterize University X students into the type of mobile phone users that they are. With this information, it will be easy for prospective mobile phone service providers to decide on the deals, perks, packages and rates that they could offer to entice the students to use the services that they have. By using the information in this paper, the Student Union will be able to help the student body by striking the best deal with a mobile phone service provider that may be offered to University X students. Appendix 1. Table 1. Frequency and percentage distribution of students by mobile phone service provider. Mobile phone provider Frequency Percent OM 36 24.0 Yellow 33 22.0 Modafone 32 21.3 W-mobile 27 18.0 AT mobile 10 6.7 Verity 7 4.7 other 5 3.3 Total 150 100.0 Table 2. Frequency and percentage distribution of students by mobile phone ratings. Rating Frequency Percent Very good 24 16.0 Good 91 60.7 Neither 20 13.3 Poor 7 4.7 Very poor 8 5.3 Total 150 100.0 Table 3. Frequency and percentage distribution of students by length of time they have used their current mobile phone. Length of Time Frequency Percent Less than 6 months 88 58.7 6 to 12 months 20 13.3 12 to 18 months 20 13.3 18 to 24 months 18 12.0 24 months or more 4 2.7 Total 150 100.0 Table 4. Descriptive statistics for time students have used their current mobile phone. Descriptive Statistics Value Interpretation Mean 1.87 6 to 12 months Median 1.00 less than 6 months Std. Deviation 1.197 less than 6 months Lower quartile 1.00 less than 6 months Upper quartile 3.00 12 to 18 moths Appendix 2. Read More