Identifying the Dimensions of Social Life of Citizens Affected by Cyberspace   (A mixed study)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions of social life of citizens and their impact on cyberspace in Hamadan province. The method of the present study is a mixed-type consecutive exploration design. Qualitative participants included experts in Hamadan province in the field of social issues, among whom 10 were selected as well as theoretical research related literature among which 7 books, 131 articles, and 10 theses were selected purposefully. The study population in the quantitative section includes the citizens of Hamadan province, from which 400 people were selected by stratified random sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used for data collection. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and its construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis. The results were obtained in the qualitative section of 6 categories including social security and health, citizenship awareness, contrasting tradition and modernity, social ethics, social participation, and social responsibility. In the quantitative part, the results also showed that the largest use of cyberspace is in terms of quantity for entertainment and the least is commercial and economic activities. In terms of usage, communication is first and then entertainment, learning, and business activities, respectively. Also, the impact of cyberspace was negative on three categories of social issues including social security and health; citizen awareness; and the contrast between tradition and modernity

Keywords

• cyberspace
• citizens
• social life
• social networks
• internet