Data Collection
The majority of the questions in the survey were utilized to descriptively explain users’ opinions and perceptions of their privacy on Facebook, and to gain an understanding of their habits on the social networking site. Users who opted to participate in the content analysis were evaluated in two further ways. First, the researchers accessed the users’ Facebook profiles from the perspective of someone who is not Facebook friends with them, but had friends in common with them. They compared the users’ perceived personal privacy settings (how they answer the survey questions) to what their actual settings were (what the researchers discover upon evaluation of their profiles). The findings of this content analysis were then compared to question 21 of the research survey, which asked participants if they keep up to date on and investigated Facebook’s frequent privacy policy changes. The results were then analyzed to determine if a relationship truly did exist.