An Analysis of the opportunities and Risk involving with online studies among undergraduate

An Analysis of the opportunities and Risk involving with online studies among undergraduate

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the risk and opportunities involving with online studies among undergraduates in Sri Lanka. This study aims to identify the existing opportunities and risk involving with online studies among undergraduates. And also the study aims to identify the relationship between online risk and attitudes towards undergraduate's education

Mainly the primary data collection method was used to collect data by using structures questionnaire distributed among the selected sample. In addition to that I collected data through public websites, Published articles, reports and magazines.

The sample was selected randomly from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. It consisted from 60 undergraduates in the four faculties of the university. It contains 15 undergraduates from each faculty.

The major findings of the study show that perception about the online studies is influenced by four factors. They are Personal Data misuse, Potentially Harmful User-Generated Content, Sexting, Education and other opportunities.

The results of correlation analysis represent there is a positive relationship between perception regarding the online studies and the selected variables regarding risks and opportunities.

CHAPTER ONE-INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY

This chapter contains the introduction the background of the study, research objectives, and Scope of the study.

1.1  Background of the Study

This report plots the latest relevant evidence on the main topics related to the online risk and opportunities involving with undergraduate in Sri Lanka. With the fast increment of the online studies there is some risk and opportunities involving with undergraduate. Therewere limited researches in Sri Lanka about that Topic.  To full fill this gap, we have prepared and performeda research and analyzed the findings for the purpose of our study.

In Sri Lankan context undergraduates are gaining access to the internet and online technologies at a fast manner. They use the internet for their studies, assignments, online gaming, to see and download some video clips, songs and the other materials, to share the emailsand Social networking. These are the popular activitieslinking with them.The internet as a new medium offers unlimited opportunities for learning and knowledge distribution but it can also shape specific unsuitable attitudes and cultivate mistaken and possibly dangerous ideas. The scholars strongly believed that the negative effects of the internet might influence undergraduate's behavioral and social development. (Baboo,Pandian,Prasad &Rao,2013).

The usage of the undergraduates is very important for their studies and with the technical developments internet usage among the young people has increased rapid manner.We can identify the following activities that they do using the internet.

·         Learn ( use the internet to search information for their assignments and the researches,to improve the knowledge, and also as an education tool & as a lecturer)

·         Communicate (to express ideas, to share information and experiences)

·         To improve the relationship with friends and peers

·         Innovate, create and share happy among the friends and the relations

·         Play and be entertained (games, movies, music, book, songs, etc.)

Increasingly, these activities are occurring outside the home or university beyond the traditional desktop computer, on handheld devices such as smart phones and tablets.

The term of Undergraduate can be defined as "a college or university student who has not yet received a bachelor's or similar degree". Assignment submissions, data gathering for the research studies, search related information sources for their studies, software downloading, search the global knowledge and the other related activities are involving with them.    

Since there are cultural barriers to talk about topics such as sexual related risk in Sri Lanka, there are many knowledge gaps about the undergraduates' online risks, which are increasingly raised. It would be a big mistake to believe that online risks only affect a society, which is freer to discuss about sexual related issues compared to the society with the cultural barrier. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the level of online risks among Sri Lankan context. And also through our studies we aimed to describe the opportunities involving with the online studies among undergraduates.

So we can find out the following risk to undergraduates.

·         Exposure to in appropriate images or content

·         Solicitation by sexual predators in chat rooms, other forms of social media, and by email

·         Online bullying or harassment

·         Inappropriate disclosure of personal information and data theft

·         Spyware, viruses and malicious software

·         Scams

·         Excessive commercialism: Advertising and product-related websites

·         The consequence of the temptation to engage in privacy of software, music or video

There are many risks involving with online studies among undergraduates as above. But with the rapid growing of the technology, we can see the technology based teaching,learning and assessments in the universities and the educational institutes. As a result of that lecturers encourage their students to go online to discover additional resources and to search for specific information to complement their class materials.

Through our studies we aimed to describe the opportunities involving with the online studies among undergraduates.

§  Access to global information

§  Educational resources

§  Social Networking for old/New friends

§  Entertainment, games and fun

§  Technological expertise and literacy

§  Career advancement

§  Personal /health/ Sexual advice

§  Shared experiences with distant others

§  Data gathering for the research studies

§  Having a global knowledge and refer the articlesthrough the well-recognized web sites like emerald, science direct and etc

Through our study we wish to analyze the risk and opportunities involving with online studies among undergraduates.We wish to recognize the relationship between online studies and the academic performance of the undergraduate through this research studies.

1.2 Objective of the Study

Through the research we wish to perform the following objectives.

§  This study aims to identify the existing opportunities and risk involving with online studies among undergraduates.

§  As well as the study aims to identify the relationship between online risk and attitudes towards undergraduate's education

§  So we wish to recognize the relationship between online studies and the academic performance of the undergraduate

1.3 Scope of the study

We have selected a sample from university of Sri Jayewardenepura for the purpose of our study.

It represent the university undergraduate i n Sri Lanka and it is the population of our study. There are some limitations in our study as follows.

Regional Bias

This Study suffers from regional bias since it covers only the undergraduate in University of Sri Jayewardenepura.This result does not have general applications to all the undergraduates in Sri Lanka. There are no sufficient facilities like adequate computers and lab facilities, Wi-Fi connections in all the universities in Sri Lanka. It is not suitable to generalize the sample for all the undergraduates in Sri Lankan context. That is the one of a limitation that we identify through our research study.

Sample Size

We have selected 60 undergraduates as the sample who is the final year students in University of Sri Jayewardenepura. That sample represents the four faculties in University and according to the population of the undergraduate in Sri Lankan context the sample size is not adequate for the study.

Cultural Barrier

There is a cultural barrier to collect the data from Sri Lankan context. It is difficult to use the words like sexual behavior in the questionnaire because it is not suitable for the culture in Sri Lanka. So the meaning of some word in our questionnaire are difficult to understand for the undergraduate who not a sufficient English knowledge regarding that subject. Although the mother language of Sri Lanka is Sinhala, we distributed the questionnaires prepared in English to collect the data from undergraduates.

CHAPTER TWO – LITERETURE REVIEW

2.1 Summarize the research paper

As per the research article of "What is upsetting our Children" done by the Department of communication in University Putra Malaysia, 2014, they have recognized several opportunities as well as risks of online studies among the children. The risk children are exposed to, is vary in different contexts. Despite the facts that Internet related risks has received research attention in recent years, not much is known about the individual and country differences in engaging in risky behavior such as sexting (Baumgartner, Sumter, Peter, Valkenburg, & Livingstone, 2014).

Most of the studies about child online risks are conducted in the United States and European countries. Not much has been conducted to test whether the findings from the US and Europe can be generalized in Malaysia. The aim of thestudy, therefore, was to apply the western classification of Internet related risks to children, in order to describe the level of online risks among Malaysian children. This study revealed that about half of the children have been exposed to the online risk, while almost half of them never think that using the Internet may contribute negative outcomes. Although child Internet users have been exposed to the online risks, they are not thinking about the possibility of online risks. It means they need to be aware of the potential harmful moment and being safe while online.

 The results of this study showed that 31% of Malaysian children are exposed to ‘Unwanted Exposure to pornography’ such as seeing obscene materials on websites. Although exposure to pornography is higher compared to other risks, the rate is still less than other studies (Wolak et al., 2007), which found that forty-two percent of Internet users had been exposed to online pornography. This study also indicated that 26% of respondents are exposed to ‘potential harmful risks’ such as seeing bloody movies or photos, and people being beaten up, and hate messages (16%). Results also showed that only 1% of the children in Malaysia are exposed to online risks such as risky sexual online behavior, data misuse, conduct risk, and bullying. The result unexpectedly rejected the perception of the high rate of cyberbullying in Malaysia. In contrast with the EU kids online report, which shown that 31% of European children have been exposed to risky sexual online activities, this study found that only 1% of children had sexual risky behavior experience. The results of this study are consistent with other studies (Livingstone et al., 2011) which indicated that the risks in which children experiencing in Internet are different in different contexts. EU kids online also found that 15 % of children were exposed to sexting, which is almost similar to the result of this study. It must be noted that some risks are not potentially risky, such as meeting new people online, but any risks such as talking about drugs, search for ways of committing suicide, and gambling are dangerous for children and must be taken seriously. According to Livingstone et al. (2011), the risks do not necessarily result in harm, for such judgments to depend on the outcome of the activity. In conclusion, Malaysian children are in danger to encounter with online risks such as pornography and violence materials. Therefore, further study need to be conducted toidentify strategies to reduce the online risks.

2.2 Some other papers relevant to your topic

There are various risk and opportunities of internet usage among young people. As per the past research we can identify the result regarding that topic with the research gap of lack of any research about this topic in Sri Lanka.

Online studies among the undergraduatesare a famous concept in the present situation in the country. There is some evidence of the internet usage of the youth in the global world. Most of the research findings are related with the risk involving with the online studies among undergraduates.Young internet users (that is between 19to 24 years old) were more at risk of becoming internet addicts than older users (Soule et al., 2003; Thatcher andGooloman, 2005).

According to Pew internet (2013) study, 95% of children use the Internet at home, at school or in some other environment.  60% European 9-16 year-old children go online every day or almost every day (Livingstone et al., 2011), and in Finland, the number or daily users is even higher, 79% (Haddon and Livingstone, 2012). 

According to the past research evidence most of the young people use desktop computers, laptop and the mobile phones as the device to access the internet usage. Desktop computers and laptops continue to be the most common devices used by young people to access the internet at home or at educational institutes (Keating et al., 2009; Ofcom, 2007). However, some recent studies (Hart et al., 2008; Ipsos MORI, 2009; Synovate, 2009; The Gallup Organization, 2008) illustrate the way other media are used by children to access the internet. A survey of around 800 children aged 7–16 and their parents (Ipsos MORI, 2009), reported that 9% of parents said their child uses a mobile phone to go online, while19% said that their child used a games console to go online.

During the last decade there is a growing literature about technology based teaching and assessment. Teachers ask and encourage their students to go online to discover additional resources and to search for specific information to complement their class materials (Hooper and Rieber, 1995; der Wu and Chen, 2008). Structured methods for learning to efficiently discover information have also been proposed (Lazarinis, 2007).

Too often, research on risks is conducted independently of that on opportunity, and vice versa. But as research finds over and again in theexamination of distinct dimensions of  internet use, the two cannot be clearly separated, not least because what adults regard  as risks (for example, meeting strangers), students often see as opportunities (for example, making new friends), though also because the very construction of online opportunities is, as Beckanticipated, accompanied by new forms of risk – for example, to express oneself online, one must disclose personal information, and by doing this on a social networking site, one provides the data for new forms of marketing. To understand the relation between opportunities and risks, researchmust consider bothstudent'sagency – their motivations, interests and knowledge – and also the structures, offline and online, which enable certain actions and inhibit others (Giddens, 1984)

As per the explanations in the book of kids online written by Livingstone, Sonia and Haddon, Leslie (2009), students are classified into three parties as follows.

v  Content- Student as a recipient

v  Contact- Student as a participant

v  Conduct- Student as an actor

Past researches indicated that there is a risk involving with online studies than the opportunities among the students. So they believed that the online environment is a threat for the students as follows.

Online environments are often regarded as a threat,becausethe opportunity to act anonymously causes misbehavior(Livingstone et al., 2011; Vanacker and Heider, 2012). In public discourse, the worst scenarios are usuallypresented, such as violence, sexual abuse, dependence on the online environments and,thus, alienation from “the real life” (Herring, 2008). One reason for the moral panic-likephenomenon may be technological determinism: technology itself is seen as either a goodor a bad thing (Martin, 2001). It is not understood that the way technology is useddetermines causes and effects of the use (Kaplan, 2009). Furthermore, the steady growthof the ostentatious power of technology is seen as aself-evident feature of modern life(Marx and Smith, 1994). The lack of information and experience in the online environmentsyoung people use may also cause suspicion. Young people themselves, however,typically oppose any moral panic expressed by adults (Cohen, 1972).

Young internet users (that is between 19 to 24 years old) were more at risk of becoming internet addicts than older users (Soule et al., 2003; Thatcher and Gooloman, 2005). Young and Rogers (1998) suggested that university students are considered as high risk group for internet addiction. The possible reasons could be available free time, no monitoring because of being away from parents and sometimes toget away from tough university routine (Kandell, 1998). Suhail and Bargees (2006) also reported some benefits of internet access for college students. They indicated that internet usage impacts education in a positive way by increasing communication with classmates and professors, increasing access to libraries and educational databases, and improving study hours and study habits. Despite these benefits of internet use, researchers have maintained that college students are at particularly high risk for developing internet addiction.

Various studies have reported that internet usage has a negative impact on students‟ academic performance. Jeong (2005) examined the difference in academic performance of elementary school students by Internet use. On the basis of the existing literature it was hypothesized that internet addiction would have negative impact on academic performance of the university students.

Several studies have reported gender differences in internet usage. Weiser (2000) reported significant gender difference in internet usage. He reported that males tend to be more familiar with the computers and internet as compared to females. Same gender differences were stated in the literature concerning internet addiction. Scherer (1997) suggested that dependent internet users included a large proportion of men as compared to women. Similar results were reported by Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2000) that males were more likely to be pathological internet users than females. Keeping these findings in view, it was hypothesized that male students would be associated with addicted internet usage as compared to females.

In Pakistan, the Internet was first introduced in 1995. During recent years, a dramatic growth in the use of Internet has been observed in Pakistan. Few researches have been conducted in the field of cyber world and its impact on adolescent‟s behavior. Suhail and Bargees (2006) investigated the effects of excessive internet use in undergraduates of Pakistan.

By online risks we refer to content which may directly (e.g.paedophilia) or indirectly (e.g. offensive language) affect physically or mentally the further development of undergraduates.

Adult content

The internet is a new medium which allows the easy access to pornographic material in various multimedia forms. The access to such content is easy, immediate, and available 24 hours a day.  Youth can easily discover such material online in various legitimate web locations or with the aid of search engines. They can also come across it accidentally. Although university proxy servers and security policies may prohibit access to sites containing adult material there is still a high possibility that adult content may be found in web sites with sport material or jokes. This material may include actual images or textual descriptions or links to such pages. Further, search engines provide such facilities through their image searching service and although restrictions based on the search terms may apply, it is not always possible to preventstudents from discovering images of a sexual nature. Especially in non-English languages where search engines are relatively weaker in image queries (Lazarinis, 2008), undergraduate may bypass the restrictions by using search terms which are not identified as inappropriate terms by the search engines.

Pedophilia and sexual harassment

 The web can provide alternative ways to pederasts to approach undergraduate trying to win their trust and then to either electronically abuse them or attempt to meet in person. Durkin (1997) had identified four possible ways in which pedophiles might misuse the internet. It can be used to traffic youth pornography, to locate youth to molest, to engage in inappropriate sexual communication, and to communicate with other pedophiles. Durkin and Bryant (1999) in a survey about pedophiles in newsgroups realized that pedophiles that use the computer newsgroup advertise and propagandize their ideological position. Another article reviews the available information on sexual harassment in cyberspace, equates this phenomenon with what has been learned about sexual harassment offline, points to specific characteristics of online culture and technology that reinforce the behavior, and proposes ways of promoting prevention (Barak, 2005).

Cyber bullying

 According to www.stopcyberbullying.org, cyber bullying is the situation where a young, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another young, preteen or teen using the internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. In the context of this paper, cyber bullying is concerned with personal e-attacks in web pages frequented by students. If these personal attacks regard children or adolescents then they are considered as a problem for safer internet surfing by students.

Sexual discrimination or favoritism

 During the last years there is a growing concern among researchers about how technology has influenced women or other sexual orientation groups (Ahuja, 2002). The present subcategory refers to how sexual discriminations are promoted in web sites. That is we care about the existence of content (e.g. text, images, jokes) which might present inappropriate ideas against women or other sex-oriented groups or might prejudicially present specific sexual attitudes (paedophilia, homosexuality, homophobia) as being themost suitable alternative or as being something that is fashionable and stylish. Nosek et al. (2002) based on a large sample of internet pages reports a clear preference for white people over black, young men over old and the respondents of their survey tended to link men with science and career and women with liberal arts and family.

Online gaming and gambling

 In 2005, 30 per cent of first time calls to the Telephone Helpline of www.gamcare.org.uk (an organization dedicated to counseling of people affected by gambling problems) came from young people. Many more calls were taken from concerned parents, careers, teachers and support workers. A 2006 national survey carried out by the International Gaming and Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, in cooperation with Online risks other organizations, with the participation of 8,017 young people aged between 12 and 15, identified that 77 per cent of boys and 68 per cent of girls had gambled (NCL Report, 2006). Gambling through the internet or a mobile handset or through Interactive TV has made gambling more accessible than ever.

Online violent games or images with violent representations

Several sites present images of dismembered bodies or burnt and disfigured people. They even describe how these people engaged in these accidents. Social networks like face book contain numerous violent images. Exposure to violence has beenimplicated as one cause of subsequent aggression and violence. It is believed that repeated exposure to real-life and to entertainment violence through various media (especially in films and TV) may alter cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes (Donnerstein and Smith, 1997). There is also an abundance of violent online games which children may freely play. Some researchers call online violence as cyberviolence and call for proper education in order for users to experience a rewarding internet access. There is a strong relation between cyberviolence and cyberbullying (Chisholm, 2006), but the second form refers to the involvement of under aged subjects in both sides of the online communication.

Social disclosure

Online social networks such as Friendster the Facebook (www.facebook.com) have experienced exponential growth in membership in the last few years. Privacy individuals who join the networks end up in revealing great amounts of personal information (Acquisti and Gross, 2006). These data span from personal photos to identification details. It has also been observed that people might provide fake personal details, so the individuals who disclose too many personal data might be exposed to the deceitful ones.

Drug usage

As already discussed, Hope (2006) mentions about the existence of drug usage web sites which as it has been observed they are visited by young people. Some of these sites are educational, nevertheless the techniques they present can be very dangerous for young and their access should be prohibited. Access could be denied on a number of these sites based on their content. For instance, many web sites of a political, subversive or other anti-government nature are already banned in certain countries, e.g. China.

CHAPTER THREE – RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter addresses the approach to data collection and data analysis used in the study. This also elaborates the types of variable, data collection methods, population of the study, sample selection, list of hypothesis, measurements and methods of data analysis.

3.1 Types of variables

We selected 20 variables under 4 categories as the independent variables as follows. Under these four categories we included the online activities famous among young peoples.

·         Personal Data misuse

·         Potentially Harmful User-Generated Content

·         Sexting

·         Education and other opportunities

Dependent variable was recognized in relation to the perceptions of the students. Therefore we made 5 questions with 5-liqurt scale answers to identify the perceptions of the undergraduates regarding the online studies.

3.2 Data collection methods

This study is based on quantitative approach.The Primary data was collected using survey as a mode of data collection. To conduct surveys separate sets of structured questionnaire would be prepared for undergraduate students. Due to time and physical constraints, questionnaire was sent via email.The questionnaire was designed including open ended questions with the purpose of capturing their various views in relation to the online studies. The questionnaire was developed by reviewing existing research studies to enhance the validity and reliability of the measures.

In addition to the data collections using questionnaire I collected secondary data from public web sites, published reports, related magazines and articles which were related to my research purpose. It helped us to obtain wider knowledge and enhanced our overall understanding of the risk and opportunities involving with online studies.

3.3 Population and sampling

Population

The population of this study is Final year Undergraduates in University of Sri Jayewardenepura.It consists the final year Students in all faculties (Medical Faculty, Applied Science, Management Studies and commerce and Humanities and Social Science) of University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Sample

The sample represents the 60 undergraduates in four faculties of the university. It contains 15 undergraduates from each faculty.

The required sample size for the present study was 75. To account for some possible complications that may occur throughout the research such as incomplete responses the questionnaire was administered to 80 undergraduates. However, only 60 questionnaires have complete information. Thus, the present study is based on 60 respondents. The data collection took about 1 week from November 18 to 24 November 2015.

3.4 List of hypothesis

This study is prepared and performed to analysis the online risk and opportunities involving with online studies among undergraduates. For the purpose of our studies I have prepared 4hypotheses to analysis the results catch from the survey.The three hypotheses are,

H1: There is asignificant relationship between risk of personal data misuseand perception about the online studies

H2: There is a significant relationship between risk of potentially harmful user generated content and perception about the online studies

H3: There is a significant relationship between risk of sexing and perception about the online studies

H4: There is a significant relationship between opportunity of education and building relationship and perception about the online studies

H5: There is a significant difference in perception about the online studies between male & female students.

3.5 Measurements

We selected 20 variables under three categories as the independent variables to recognize the overall patters of online risks activities.

All 15 items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never), 2 (seldom), 3(sometimes), and 4 (often), to 5 (very often).

Dependent variables were recognized according to the perceptions regarding educational and healthy behavior of undergraduates.All 5perceptions were measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree), 2 (Disagree), 3(Neutral, and 4 (Agree, to 5 (Strongly agree).

3.6Data analysis method

I used the descriptive statistics (percentage and frequency) to identify the risk and opportunity level involving with online studies among the undergraduates. I used the SPSS 16 Package to analyze the data for the research purpose. ANOVA and t-test were also used to determine the differences in the Internet usage in terms of demographics factors (gender and country of origin). Further, Pearson correlation was computed to investigate the relationship between risk and opportunities involving with online studies and academic performance, relationship between risk and opportunities involving with online studies and negative perceptions and relationship between risk and opportunities involving with online studies and positive perceptions

CHAPTER FOUR – DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Descriptive Statistics

According to the findings of my study (as per the Table 1), the respondents consists28 (46.7%) female respondents and 32 (53.3%) among the 60 undergraduates. Their average age is 24.37 years and all the students were in the age range of 24-26 years. The respondents have 2.77 average GPA levels which can be used to evaluate the academic performance of the undergraduates in relation to the online usage.

Table 1-Average Age and the GPA level
		Age	GPA Level
N	Valid	60	60
	Missing	0	0
Mean		24.37	2.77
Std. Deviation		.610	.890
Minimum		24	1
Maximum		26	4
Sum		1462	166

Table 2-Distribution according to the Gender
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	F Female	28	46.7	46.7	46.7
	M Male	32	53.3	53.3	100.0
	Total	60	100.0	100.0

The breakdown of the data below shows that the each faculty is represented by 15 respondents and I collected data from four faculties in University Of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Table 3- Distribution of students according to the Faculty
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Applied Science	15	25.0	25.0	25.0
	Humanities and Social Science	15	25.0	25.0	50.0
	Medical Science	15	25.0	25.0	75.0
	Management Studies And Commerce	15	25.0	25.0	100.0
	Total	60	100.0	100.0

I requested my respondents to indicate the number of hours they spend on surfing the internet. Table 3 shows that 31 students (31%) spent more than 9 hours per week, followed by 14 students (23.3%) spent 6-9 hour per week, 9 students (15%) spent 3-6 hours per week and finally 6 students spent less than 3 hours per week7-10 hour daily surfing on internet.

Table 3-How many hours you spend per week to visit the internet?
		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	1 0-3 Hours	6	10.0	10.0	10.0
	2 3-6 Hours	9	15.0	15.0	25.0
	3 6-9 Hours	14	23.3	23.3	48.3
	4 More than 9 Hours	31	51.7	51.7	100.0
	Total	60	100.0	100.0

Majority of the respondents get the internet access through the laptop computers(50%) and 30% use the mobile phones to have the internet access. According to the analysis majority of the respondents have personal computers or phones which will help to get the internet access without any inconveniences.

Table 4-How do you get the internet access?
		Frequency		Percent		Valid Percent		Cumulative Percent
Valid	1 Desktop Computer	3		5.0		5.0		5.0
	2 Laptop	30		50.0		50.0		55.0
	3 Phone	18		30.0		30.0		85.0
	4 Internet Cafe	1		1.7		1.7		86.7
	5 ITRC lab in University	8		13.3		13.3		100.0
	Total	60		100.0		100.0
Table 5- Risk and opportunities involving with online studies
			N		Mean		Std. Deviation		Variance
Personal Data Misuse Misuse others personal information			60		3.13		1.486		2.148
Misuse of Password			60		3.14		1.487		2.150
Hacked the personal Accounts (email, Facebook)			60		2.68		1.112		1.237
Lost money being cheat online			60		3.02		1.372		1.881
Illegal download accidently			60		3.12		1.462		2.139
Potentially Harmful User-Generated Content Seen bloody movies or photos			60		3.12		1.462		2.139
Seen people beaten up			60		3.12		1.462		2.139
Talk about drugs			60		3.12		1.462		2.139
Seen ways of physical harming			60		3.12		1.462		2.139
Seen Ways of committing suicide			60		3.12		1.466		2.139
Sexting Received and sent inappropriate massages (pictures & Video)			60		3.12		1.466		2.129
Seen obscene images, videos or materials on web			60		3.22		1.472		2.149
Received naked picture or inappropriate intimate relationship			60		3.13		1.467		2.131
Received or sent obscene materials on massage or link			60		3.10		1.462		2.125
Received or sent obscene emails			60		2.58		1.331		1.773
Education and building relationships Use internet to have the  access to global information			60		4.03		.863		.745
Search Educational resources through the internet			60		3.97		1.073		1.151
Social Networking for old/New friends (Eg: Face Book)			60		4.97		1.292		1.292
Use internet for Entertainment, games and fun			60		4.02		1.200		1.440
Use the internet for the research studies			60		4.28		.904		.817
Valid N (listwise)			60

Table 6- Average risk and opportunities
	N	Mean	Std. Deviation
average risk of personal data misuse	60	2.9067	.99112
average risk of harmful user-generated content	60	3.0167	1.46243
Average sex relating to thesexing	60	3.1100	1.36266
average opportunity level	60	4.0933	.57927
Valid N (listwise)	60

Figure: Risk of seen obscene images, videos or materials on web

To describe the level of online risks among undergraduates, those who answered “seldom, sometimes, often, or more often” are considered as the respondents who have already been exposed to online risks. From three online-risk categories, the highest mean was for ‘risk of sexting’ and the lowest mean was for ‘personal data misuse’.

The result of ‘sexting’ measurement shows that the highest risk was for item ‘unwanted obscene materials on web’ which more than half of the respondents have been exposed to it. ‘Receive or sent obscene email'was the lowest risk.

From ‘potentially harmful user-generated content’, the second highest risk category, most of undergraduate have 'seen ways of committing suicide' following by ‘seenbloody movies or photos’,‘seen people beating up’ and ‘seen hate messages’.

From the category of‘personal data misuse’, less than undergraduates were exposed to ‘misuse of password’ followed by ‘misuse of personal information’.

To describe the level of online opportunities among undergraduates, those who answered “seldom, sometimes, often, or more often” are considered as the respondents who have already been exposed to online opportunities. From oneonline-opportunitycategory with five items, the highest mean was for ‘social networking (Face Book)’ and the lowest mean was for ‘search educational resource through the internet. The average of the online opportunity of education and the building relationship is 4.0933.

Table 7- Time spent for internet activities
	N	Mean	Std. Deviation
Internet search(E.g. Google)	60	2.98	1.000
Video Pages(E.g. You tube)	60	3.40	.960
Online Store (E.g. Amazon)	60	2.52	.965
Web site of University (E.g. LMS)	60	3.32	.873
Online Encyclopedia (E.g. Wikipedia)	60	2.25	.571
Internet communities(E.g. Face Book)	60	3.43	.831
News Website (E.g. Online News Papers)	60	3.42	.591
E mail	60	3.53	.536
Discussion Forum	60	1.52	.504
Instant Massaging( E.g.Skype)	60	2.68	.983
Online Bank (E.g.NTB)	60	1.78	.865
Online games(E.g.Miniclip)	60	3.50	.725
Valid N (listwise)	60

As per the above table undergraduates spend more times for the send and receives E mails through the internet. And also followings they use the internet for online games, then they

The second highest time spend category is online games. Thenmost of undergraduates have spent time forsocial networking andfollowing by 'seenNews web sites','seen Video pages' and 'visit the university website'.

 

Figure: Time spending for E-mails                             Figure: Time spending for E-mails

4.2 Hypothesis Testing

In addition to Descriptive analysis, inferential analysis was also conducted to test the hypothesis of the study. The techniques applied were t-test and Pearson correlation. In the following parts, the hypotheses are reiterated and the results are presented.

H1: There is a positive relationship between risk of personal data misuse and perception about the online studies

The results of correlation analysis using Pearson tool which in this case, indicating that there was aweek positive relationship betweenrisk of personal data misuse and perception about the online studies

Thus, null hypothesis proposed in this study is rejected.(Sig<0.05)

Descriptive Statistics
	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
average risk of personal data misuse	2.9067	.99112	60
Average of the perception	4.3800	.53955	60

Correlations
		average risk of personal data misuse	Average of the perception
average risk of personal data misuse	Pearson Correlation	1	.279*
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.031
	N	60	60
Average of the perception	Pearson Correlation	.279*	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.031
	N	60	60
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

H2: There is a positive relationship between risk of potentially harmful user generated content and perception about the online studies

Descriptive Statistics
	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
average risk of harmful user-generated content	3.1167	1.46243	60
Average of the perception	4.3800	.53955	60

Correlations
		average risk of harmful user-generated content	Average of the perception
average risk of harmful user-generated content	Pearson Correlation	1	.355**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.005
	N	60	60
Average of the perception	Pearson Correlation	.355**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.005
	N	60	60
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

As per the correlation analysis the null hypothesis was rejected. Because that we can conclude, thereis a moderate positive relationship between risks of potentially harmful user generated content and perception about the online studies

H3: There is a positive relationship between risk of sexing and perception about the online studies

Descriptive Statistics
	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
Average sex relating to thesexing	3.0100	1.36266	60
Average of the perception	4.3800	.53955	60

Correlations
		Average sex relating to thesexing	Average of the perception
Average sex relating to thesexing	Pearson Correlation	1	.313*
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.015
	N	60	60
Average of the perception	Pearson Correlation	.313*	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.015
	N	60	60
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

When I doing the hypothesis testing we can identify the week positive relationship betweenrisk of sexing and perception about the online studies.

The Null Hypothesis (H0) was rejected because the significance level is less than the 0.05 level. (2 tailed)

H4: There is a positive relationship between opportunity of education and building relationship and perception about the online studies

I selected three risk based categories involving with online studies and one opportunity category for my study. When I testing the forth hypothesis that I prepared to test whether there is a very strong positive relationship between opportunity of education and building relationship and perception about the online studies, I rejected the null hypothesis based on the significant level. (Sig<0.05)

Descriptive Statistics
	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
average opportunity level	4.0933	.57927	60
Average of the perception	4.3800	.53955	60

Correlations
		average opportunity level	Average of the perception
average opportunity level	Pearson Correlation	1	.839**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.000
	N	60	60
Average of the perception	Pearson Correlation	.839**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000
	N	60	60
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

H5: There is a significant difference in perception about the online studies between male & female students.

The results of t-test which in this case, indicating that there was no significant difference in perception about the online studies between males and females (t= -1.33 and p = 0.529). Thus, null hypothesis proposed in this study failed to reject.

Group Statistics
	Gender	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Average of the perception	1 male	36	4.3611	.54473	.09079
	2 Female	24	4.4083	.54207	.11065

Independent Samples Test
		Levene's Test for Equality of Variances		t-test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	T	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Average of the perception	Equal variances assumed	0.4	0.529	-0.33	58	0.743	-0.04722	0.14327	-0.33401	0.23957
	Equal variances not assumed			-0.33	49.615	0.743	-0.04722	0.14313	-0.33476	0.24032

CHAPTER FIVE – CONCLUSION

The Internet offers several opportunities as well as risks for undergraduates.The risk of undergraduates are exposed to, is vary in different contexts. Despite the facts that Internet related risks and opportunities has received research attention in recent years, not much is known about the individual and country differences in engaging in risky behavior such as sexting (Baumgartner, Sumter, Peter, Valkenburg, & Livingstone, 2014).

The aim of thestudy, therefore, was to apply the western classification of Internet related risks to undergraduates, in order to describe the level of online risks and opportunities among Sri Lankanundergraduates. According to my study the highest risk category is "Sexting". The result of ‘sexting’ measurement shows that the highest risk was for item ‘unwanted obscene materials on web’ which more than half of the respondents have been exposed to it. ‘Receive or sent obscene email' was the lowest risk. From ‘potentially harmful user-generated content’, the second highest risk category, most of undergraduate have 'seen ways of committing suicide' following by ‘seenbloody movies or photos’, ‘seen people beating up’ and ‘seen hate messages’. From the category of‘personal data misuse’, less than undergraduates were exposed to ‘misuse of password’ followed by ‘misuse of personal information’.

As per the hypothesis testing we found the following result in relation to my study.

No	Hypotheses	Conclusion
H1	There is a significant relationship between risk of personal data misuse and perception about the online studies	Accepted
H2	There is a significant relationship between risk of potentially harmful user generated content and perception about the online studies	Accepted
H3	There is a significant relationship between risk of sexing and perception about the online studies	Accepted
H4	There is a significant relationship between opportunity of education and building relationship and perception about the online studies	Accepted
H5	There is a significant difference in perception about the online studies between male & female students.	Rejected

REFERENCE

1.      Teimouri, Hassan, Bolong, Daud & Adzharuddin 2014,what is upsetting our children online, Department of Communication, University Pura, Malaysia.

2.      Baboo, S. S. B., Pandian, A., Prasad, N. V, & Rao, M. M. A. 2013, 'Young people and new media in Malaysia: An analysis of social uses andpractices',ournal of Arts, Science & Commerce',vol. 4, no 2, pp. 50-57

3.      Baumgartner, S. E., Sumter, S. R., Peter, J., Valkenburg, P. M., & Livingstone, S. 2014,'Does country context matter? Investigating the predictors of teen sexting across Europe',Computers in Human Behavior, no 34, pp 157–164.

4.      Usman, Alavi & Shafaq 2013, 'Relationship Between Internet adiction and academic performance among foreign Undergraduate Students',pp.845 – 851Faculty of Education, Department of Guidance and Counseling,  University Teknologi ,Malaysia

5.      Fotis Lazarinis, 2010,"Online risks obstructing safe internet access for students", The Electronic Library,Vol. 28 Iss 1 pp. 157 – 170.

6.      Terhi Tuukkanen Terhi-Anna Wilska , 2015,"Online environments in children’s everyday lives: children’s, parents’ andteachers’ points of view", Young Consumers, Vol. 16 Iss 1 pp. 3 – 16

7.      Staksrud, E. and Livingstone, S. 2009. ‘Children and online risk: powerless victims orresourceful participants?’ Information, Communication & Society, 12, 3, 364–387.

8.      Hasebrink, U., Livingstone, S., Haddon, L. 2008,' Comparing children’s onlineopportunities and risks across Europe: Cross-national comparisons for EU KidsOnline. London: EU Kids Online'.

9.      Livingstone, S., and Haddon, L. 2009, 'Kids Online: Opportunities and Risks for Children',pp. 241-252

10.  R Limaye, G Fotwengel, 2015, 'Use of Internet among undergraduate students from Mumbai,India', Vol 6, No 2.

Questionnaire

We are conducting this research solely for the requirement of the subject, Artificial Neural Network under Accounting Degree Program in University Of Sri Jayewardenepuraunder the supervision of Dr.Kenady (PHD.MBA, FSA)

We ensure that we will not track any information provided in here for any purpose than the one stated above.

Please tick the relevant cage.

01. Gender

            Male                            Female

02.Age: ...............

03.Faculty that you studied in the university

            Management studies and commerce              

            Humanities and Social Science

            Applied Science

            Medical Science                     

04. How many hours you spend per week to visit the internet?

            0-3 Hours                    3-6 Hours                    6-9 Hours                    More than 9 Hours

05.How do you get the access to internet?

            Personal Computer     Laptop                         Phone                          Internet cafe

 ITRC Lab in university

06. Do you have a Wi-Fi access in your home or residence place?

            Yes                              No

07.Do your parents know what the sites that you visit through the internet are?

            Yes                              No

08. Are there any restrictions for your internet access?

Yes                              No

09. Please mention your GP in last semester?

            Below 2           2-3 level          3-3.5level        3.5-4 level

10. How many times you spent per week for the following internet environment?

Activities	1-2 Hours	2-3 Hours	3-4 Hours	Above 4 Hours
Internet Search  (Eg.Google)
Video pages (Eg. Youtube)
Online stores (Eg.Amazon)
Website of university(Eg.LMS)
Online Encyclopedias (Eg.Wikipidea)
Internet Communities (Eg.Face Book)
News Websites (Eg.Online newspapers)
Discussion Forums
Instant massaging (Eg.Skype)
Online banks (e.g. NTB Bank)
Online games (e.g. Miniclip)

11. How much you spend per week for the internet access?

            Rs.0-Rs.100.00

            Rs.100.00-Rs.200.00

            Rs.200.00-Rs.300.00

            Rs.200.00-Rs.400.00

            More than Rs.400.00

12. Online Risk involving with students

Please mention your perceptions and your experiences about the online risk using the following guide lines.

1- Never    2- Seldom       3- Some times 4-Often                    5-Very Often                

12.1 Personal Data Misuse	1	2	3	4	5
Misuse others personal information
Misuse of Password
Hacked the personal Accounts (email, Facebook)
Lost money being cheat online
Illegal download accidently
12.2Potentially Harmful User-Generated Content
Seen bloody movies or photos
Seen people beaten up
Talk about drugs
Seen ways of physical harming
Seen Ways of committing suicide
12.3Sexting
Received and sent inappropriate massages (pictures & Video)
Seen obscene images, videos or materials on web
Received naked picture or inappropriate intimate relationship
Received or sent obscene materials on massage or link
Received or sent obscene emails
12.4 Education and building relationships
Use internet to have the  access to global information
Search Educational resources through the internet
Social Networking for old/New friends (Eg: Face Book)
Use internet for Entertainment, games and fun
Use the internet for the research studies

13. Perception about the online studies

Please mention your perceptions about the online risk and opportunities using the following guide lines.

1- Strongly disagree  2- Disagree     3- Neutral       4-Agree                    5-Strongly agree

Perceptions regarding online studies	1	2	3	4	5
I believe online studies are better than the normal education system in the country
I think usage of Internet guides me to be a knowledgeable person
I can improve my career prospect through the internet usage
I believe that internet will caused mental diagnosis among the youth
I have a positive perception towards online studies