Program
Education Doctorate
Year Approved
2015
First Advisor
Reimer, Tracy
Abstract
The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the use of social media among elementary school principals in Minnesota. The survey collected data from elementary school principals across the state of Minnesota gathering demographic information on age, years of service, presence of a district social media policy, gender, school location, school size, and school poverty level as defined by its free and reduced lunch rate. As a result of the study, it was found that a negative relationship exists between the number of years of service from an elementary school principal and their use of social media. Age, gender, school location, school size, and poverty level have no relationship with a principal’s use of social media tools. A qualitative analysis was run on one open-ended question on the survey to determine its themes. Facebook was found to be the most popular tool for sharing information with friends and family while Twitter was cited as the most popular social media tool for professional development. The main concern Minnesota’s elementary school principals hold for educational use of social media is the fear of the invasion on personal privacy.
Degree Name
Education Doctorate
Document Type
Doctoral dissertation
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hill, J. C. (2015). Midwest Elementary School Principals and the Use of Social Media [Doctoral dissertation, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/293