A Mixed-Method Research on Digital Literacy of Middle School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to reveal middle school students’ digital literacy levels and their opinions about digital literacy. Convergent parallel design, one of the mixed-method designs, was used in the study. Quantitative part involved survey while qualitative part included case-study model. Digital literacy scale and semi-structured interview form were used to collect the data. The participants in the quantitative part involved 367 students studying at a state middle school in Kırşehir while 12 students took part in the qualitative part. The data analysis was conducted separately, and general conclusions were drawn and combined during interpretation. Although students had high scores from the digital literacy scale, the in-depth qualitative analyses showed that they did not have adequate information about the concept of digital literacy. Moreover, the quantitative results showed that students, who used digital technologies for research purposes, had higher scores from the security dimension of digital literacy scale than the students who used digital technologies for studying. However, the qualitative results revealed that students used digital technologies most commonly for entertainment. It was found that students’ digital literacy was significantly differed by their gender, grade level, book-reading duration, and internet-use duration while it did not significantly differ by their purpose of using digital technologies. Additionally, based on the qualitative results, students agreed that social studies course contributed to their digital literacy.