The effects of mobile phone use on academic performance: A meta-analysis
Section snippets
Literature review
There is a growing interest in exploring the effects of mobile phone use on academic achievement. In contrast to the plethora of research on the effects of internet use, far less is known about general mobile phone and consequences for children (Jackson, Von Eye, Fitzgerald, Witt, & Zhao, 2011).
Of the empirical investigations that have been conducted on the effects of mobile phone use, the observed effects are not homogeneous in either size or direction, ranging from positive and negative to
Purpose statement & research questions
The purpose of this study is to explore any relationships that may exist between mobile phone use and educational achievement. There are several important factors necessitating this study: (1) mobile phones are increasingly ubiquitous across all age groups and school levels; (2) while mobile phones can be useful tools, negative findings about their effects on mental health suggest that researchers should investigate how they could be affecting other areas of life; and (3) as educational
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Studies were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis if they conformed with the following three criteria:
- 1.
Studies of the relationship between cell phone usage for non-educational purposes and student academic achievement. The article measured some sort of construct of mobile phone use such as: (a) number of text messages or phone calls sent/received in a given period, (b) measure of mobile phone addiction, or (c) time spent using a mobile phone for various purposes in a given period. If the
Overall effect
The 39 studies included (40 effect sizes) in the analysis consist of 148,883 students covering K-12 (135,131 students) and college (13,752 students) from 14 countries and regions (i.e., United States, Turkey, Middle East, Taiwan, India, Brazil). The forest plot of effect sizes and the 95% confidence interval of the 39 studies are shown in Fig. 1. As shown in the figure, the effect sizes range from −0.49 to 0.09. Thirty-six (36) of the studies reported a negative relationship and 3 reported a
Summary of results and discussion
This meta-analysis was designed to explore the extent to which mobile phone use influences student academic achievement, and if so, the extent to which the effects of mobile phone use are moderated by (a) education level, (b) region, (c) study type, (d) whether or not the effect size was derived from a Beta coefficient, and (e) the construct used to measure mobile phone use.
The results of this study indicate that, overall, mobile phone use has a small negative effect (r = −0.16) on educational
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Introduction to meta-analysis
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