Social networking and career management skills Kane Needham & John Mowbray Careers guidance research workshop 3D Social Networking © Photo by: Potter, C. (2012) Web: Licence:

Workshop outline 1.Doing career-oriented quantitative research from a sociological perspective – advantages and challenges: Kane Needham 2. The impact of networking supported by social media on the job search process: John Mowbray 3. Interactive network mapping exercise: mapping your social networks: John and Kane

Doing quantitative careers research – a sociological perspective Kane Needham PhD Student University of Stirling

Qualitative research Uncovers detailed pictures of people’s experiences + meanings and motives for their behaviours. Eg careers research – detailed narrative of job-seeking experience (services accessed, difficulties encountered, how decisions were made). Common ways to collect such data – semi-structured interviews, focus groups amongst others. Advantages – excellent level of data detail (full picture uncovered surrounding research aims), ‘truths’ not taken for granted (eg human irrationality), research direction can be adapted in response to responses.

Disadvantages of qualitative research Due to extra cost (time, money) of having a researcher present to collect all data, only a relatively small sample number can be obtained. Therefore results are difficult to generalise. Because of the depth of the data, it is sometimes difficult to reach concrete conclusions – responses can be caveated and contradictory. A lack of simplified, communicable findings can render them more difficult to ‘sell’ to stakeholders. This in turn can affect the ‘impact’ of your study.

Quantitative research Aims to generate a large number of responses to achieve a representative sample. Data most commonly collected via surveys, or increasingly as by- products of everyday transactions (‘big data’). Responses can be coded more cleanly for analysis – often producing greater clarity of findings (but losing some detail). These more communicable findings often come in the form of visual data representations such as graphs. Qualitative data often cannot be reduced to the same format.

Social theory into statistics Sociology – qualitative ethos exploring how humans experience their social world. There are few universal ‘facts’ or ‘truths’ – most things are seen as social constructions whose meanings are shaped by power, culture, religion etc. Sociology places greater emphasis on these assumptions than other, related subjects (eg economics). Therefore often tricky to reduce theory and concepts to a measurable, statistical format.

My examples Theory: Social capital – differing definitions, too broad. Introduction of second concept (human capital) to help measure social capital. Strong/weak ties – difficulty of definitions. ‘Second-level digital divide’ – gradation of skills across ‘online’ population – how to measure skill via a survey?

Further difficulties Planned to supplement own survey (primary) with secondary analysis. However difficult to find key data on networking behaviour – study aims consequently broadened to include career-oriented online behaviours not involving social networks. Sought to find a cause-and-effect relationship between online networking strategies and career success – however the latter very difficult to measure (eg wages, career progression). Now refined to look for more subtle relationships that suggest this.

The impact of networking supported by social media on the job search process John Mowbray PhD student Edinburgh Napier University 3D Social Networking © Photo by: Potter, C. (2012) Web: Licence:

Research questions What are the key off-line networking behaviours employed by the Scottish youth labour force during the job search process? How do social media tools support the networking behaviours of the Scottish youth labour force during the job search process? How can the knowledge from (1) & (2) be incorporated into CMS in order to improve individual employability levels of young jobseekers in Scotland?

Research questions What are the key off-line networking behaviours employed by the Scottish youth labour force during the job search process? How do social media tools support the networking behaviours of the Scottish youth labour force during the job search process? How can the knowledge from (1) & (2) be incorporated into CMS in order to improve individual employability levels of young jobseekers in Scotland?

Social Network Analysis approach Interviews with jobseekers to explore: Network contacts used during job search The relationship between jobseeker and contact Social media element to the exchange? Social Media apps © Photo by: Howie, J. (2013) Web: Licence:

A small experiment Involving network analysis

Mother UNI Friend #1 UNI Friend #2 UNI Lecturer S UNI Lecturer N (Social media) Example