The Effect of Virtual Social Networks on Educational Performance of Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of virtual social networks on the educational performance of students. This research is a descriptive-survey method. The statistical population of this study was 90 students of Evaz Health School. Due to the limited statistical population and the opinion of the supervisor, a census method has been used to select the sample size. Data were gathered by using two standard questionnaires of Virtual Social Networks of Rasti (2015) and Pham and Taylor (1999). Content validity was used to obtain the desirable validity of the questionnaires. For the social networking questionnaire, the reliability coefficient was 0.819 for Cronbach's alpha and 0.740 for the educational performance questionnaire. For data analysis, descriptive statistics methods were used at the first level and inferential statistics methods (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, linear regression analysis, independent t-test, one way analysis of variance and Friedman test) were used. After analyzing the data, it was revealed that virtual social networks have a significant effect on educational performance of students in Evaz Health School. Finally, based on the Friedman test, it was found that there is a significant difference between the average ranks of dimensions of virtual social networks. The lowest average rating from the dimensions of virtual social networks is related to "recreational use" and the highest average rating is related to "artistic use"