The Effect of Networking on the Career Decision Self-Efficacy of Young Film and Television Professionals
Population and sample
To find participants for the survey, this study drew from the 4,761 publicly listed members of the online group Awesome Assistants. As a result, the population was all young film/TV professionals, while the sample was the selected members of Awesome Assistants. On its Facebook page, Awesome Assistants allows film/TV professionals to post job openings and work-related questions. The author eliminated respondents younger than 18 or older than 35, and did not include moderators of Awesome Assistants. Members of the group work in the film/TV industry with either an assistant title or performing assistant duties, such as answering phones and running errands. The author randomly selected and contacted 500 individuals from this online group. The author also utilised two follow-up messages to improve the response rate.
Instrumentation
In order to collect data from the sample, the author used the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (CDSES-SF).
Data collection process
To distribute the survey to potential participants, the author sent a letter to the Awesome Assistants moderators to confirm their support. After, the author uploaded a message of informed consent and the survey to Qualtrics, then sent subjects a link to complete the study. Subjects received messages via Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn, or email, based on the contact information available. Once subjects completed the survey, a debriefing form invited them to enter a raffle for one of four $25 Amazon gift cards. After four weeks, the links expired. The author omitted surveys in which the subject did not answer at least one item from each subscale on the CDSES-SF. If respondents did not answer all items in a subscale, the author took the average of the completed questions. Additionally, the author eliminated subjects who fell outside of the target age range, as well as those who did not provide their age or number of contacts in the film/TV industry. Out of the 267 unique responses, the author analyzed 226 subjects as a result.
Statistical Analysis Procedures
Much like data collection, the author ensured that the statistical analysis process was legitimate and insightful. Next, the author entered data into IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) Statistics 27 and determined what data should be coded as missing. Due to the assumption of linearity not being met by the data, the author used Spearman’s rho instead of a Pearson product-moment correlation. The author declared the results statistically significant if p < .05.
