Reflection of Theme 6

This weeks theme was Qualitative and Case study research. I was supped too chose two media technology research papers to read, one that was using qualitative methods and the other one using a case study research method. The first mentioned, the paper using qualitative methods was Who am I? Representing the self offline and in different online contexts written by Emanuel. And the last mentioned using a case study research method was Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case study in the pizza industry by He, W., Zha, S. & Li, L. I also read the giving paper Building Theories from Case Study Research written by Eisenhardt. 

We had a lecture with Haibo Li on Monday, which had been moved from last week. Therefore I wrote down my thoughts from the lecture on last weeks reflection. Even though the lecture was held for the previous theme I still found it worthwhile for this week as well. We had a seminar this week which I valued. We were divided into smaller groups to present our chosen research papers and our reflections of them. We talked trough the given question we had answered for the handing-in. This gave us students a chance to discuss and reflect on each others papers and speculate on the theme. The second part of the seminar we talked over our questions that came along during the first part. Three things to bring along from the seminar when it comes to a case study where that it is naturally delimitated, there are different methods and it is inductive. I thought it was great to talk over the difference between a field study and case study. The first week of the course we tried to clarify what theory actually is, I thought it was great idea to think in terms of what theory is not. We did the same this week with Case study. I think this is a great approach when trying to understand a term since it elucidate it. 

Reflection of Theme 5

This weeks theme was Design research. We had two lectures; the first with Eva Lotta Sallnäs and the other with Haibo Li. To prepare myself for this week I read three papers. Two of the texts were given by Sallnäs and they were A Haptic Tool for Group Work on Geometrical Concepts Engaging Blind and Sighted Pupils and Auditory feedback in haptic collaborative interfaces. I also read Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration given by Li.

I did value the lectures since it provided a better understanding and clarified parts of this weeks theme. I thought the texts that was given to us students to read this week were really fun and interesting to read since it was a typical media technology topic. Sallnäs lecture focused on haptic research where she shared her own experience within the topic. I thought it was interesting to her about her experiments within haptic research. She also mentioned shortly collaborative setting, qualitative/quantitative and subjective/objective methods. It would be interesting to hear more about the week theme during her lecture. Li’s lecture was interesting and fun since he showed us students great examples and put the weeks terms in a new context. He basically talked about how to re-state a problem, proof of concept, prototype and elevator pitch. As previous weeks I did learn quiet a lot. This week I will bring along from Sallnäs lecture the basics of communication; dialogue structure, gestures, facial, gaze and body position. I will also keep in mind the great example given by Li on how to communicate an idea, the elevator pitch. 

Theme 6: Qualitative and case study research

My chosen research paper, that is using qualitative methods, is Who am I? Representing the self offline and in different online contexts written by Emanuel. The paper is published in the Journal Computers in Human Behavior, with an impact factor of 3.047.

1. Which qualitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?
The qualitative method that is used in the paper was open-text boxes. The benefits is the diversified set of answers that will be given. It also gives room for participants to give a deeper explanation and room to elaborate their answers. Limitations of using open-text boxes is that it can result in invalid answers and it is more demanding for the participants to answer.  

2. What did you learn about qualitative methods from reading the paper?
If I would use qualitative methods I would probably chose to have a focus group or interviews because it feels like it would give a more in-depth result. But after reading this paper is realized the power and value of open-text boxes, interesting!

3. Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the qualitative method or methods have been improved?
It would be interesting to also have interviews or focus groups to achieve a deeper understanding on why they adopt different personas when they move between different environments. Also could participants withheld personal information since they have to write it down. 

In preparation to answer the following questions I read the paper Building Theories from Case Study Research by Eisenhard. I also selected the paper Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case study in the pizza industry by He, W., Zha, S. & Li, L.

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what a case study is.
Eisenhardt refers in his paper Building Theories from Case Study Research to Yin who defines Case study as ”a research strategy, developed a typology of case study designs, and described the replication logic which is essential to multiple cases analysis.” A case study can include single or multiple cases and several levels of analysis. Case studies can be used to achieve thing as test theory, generate theory or provide description. So simple said a case study is an in-depth study of a particular situation which will generate an indication, not a direct answer. 

2. Use the "Process of Building Theory from Case Study Research” (Eisenhardt, summarized in Table 1) to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your selected paper.
My selected media technology research paper that is using the case study research method is; Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case study in the pizza industry by He, W., Zha, S. & Li, L. (2013). My chosen research paper can be find in International Journal of Information Management, with an impact factor of 2.243. The Case study applies text mining to analyze unstructured text content on Twitter and Facebook for three large pizza chains; Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and Papa John's Pizza. The Research question is; What patterns can be found from their Facebook sites respectively? What patterns can be found from their Twitter sites respectively? What are the main differences in terms of their Facebook and Twitter patterns? A strength of the case study (judging from table one) is its relevance. It is clarified that restaurant industry draws minimal attention in IT and that the Pizza industry in USA is one of the first industries to be seen on social media for business purposes. It also has multiple data collections with multiple investigators. A possible weakness is that they focusing on two social media (Facebook and Twitter) which has different purpose and is being used differently, therefore can the outcome be wrongly read.

   

Reflection of Theme 4

The fourth week theme was Quantitative research. During this week I read the paper Physical activity, stress and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection written by Olle Bälter. I also read The Benefits of Facebook Friends: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites written by Nicole B. Ellison, which was my chosen media technology research paper. I thought this weeks theme was fun and the texts were interesting to read. I found this week papers easier to understand than previous ones. But it was still challenging since I was not only focusing on the text itself but also of being critical to the use of method which was used for the study. The seminar was different from previous ones, we spent most of the time focusing on discussing the actually meaning of two terms; quantitative methods and qualitative methods. We were divide into groups and made a competition out of it, which was really fun and appreciated by the students. I thought this learning technique was effective and providing. Mainly because we were not only trying to find as many pro and cons of each term, we were also asked to choose three cons or pros that we thought other groups did not have chosen. This lead too great discussion and great ideas! I did value the seminar because it clarified question marks I had on quantitative methods and qualitative methods. So, the seminar gave me a deeper understanding because we manage to put the terms in a context I have not thought of earlier. 

Theme 5: Design research

Design research with Haibo Li

How can media technologies be evaluated?

Usability is defined according to ISO as ”effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users can achieve specified goals in particular environments”. Therefore can media technology be evaluated by study these three aspects; effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Effectiveness considers if a task could be accomplished or not when using a system. Efficiency is how much effort that is needed to complete a task. Satisfaction refers to the users comfort and acceptability of the system.

One of the given papers to read this week were Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration written by Haibo Li with colleagues, and they used previous mentioned method. 

What role will prototypes play in research?

A prototype is a preproduction model. It can be described as an early sample or model with purpose to test its concept. The reason the sample or model is being tested is to find errors or improvements, which is the prototypes role in research. 

Why could it be necessary to develop a proof of concept prototype?

A proof of concept refer to a demonstration of the products feasibility. Within technology this could be an evaluation of how the software satisfy the demands for the system. This could be necessary since it will validate if the idea and functions are good enough or not. It could also be useful if you want to licensing a patent for the product or find possible investors.

What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

A limitation of a prototype is that when the prototype is being tested, the model can be seen as a final model from the testers. Therefore may they expectations be beyond what a prototype can offer. Also can a prototype become an expensive matter. The process may also expand beyond its originally range. Prototypes characterise with an almost done product, a preface of its final state.

How can design research be communicated/presented?

The design research be communicated or presented through prototypes. I think it is important to be clear about what the difference will be between the prototype and the final product, to avoid misunderstanding.

Qualitative methods based on concepting, tinkering and critique with Eva Lotta Sallnäs.

The purpose with the first text, A Haptic Tool for Group Work on Geometrical Concepts Engaging Blind and Sighted Pupils, was to support group learning for impaired eyesight. Two haptic and visual applications were designed and evaluated. The result turn out to be fulfilled.The aim with the second text, Auditory feedback in haptic collaborative interfaces, was to study a collaboration between a blindfolded and a normal sighted person and see if an audio in a visual and haptic interface made an improvement. The results were, like previous mentioned, fulfilled. It was fun, but quiet challenging to answer the questions after reading the texts. I learned a lot about design research and qualitative methods, which I will write about in detail in my reflection post. I thought it would be fun to discuss; Is it possible to be completely objective during a quantitative research?

How does a collaborative setting differ from a single user setting as regards methodology used and the results obtained?

A collaborative setting regards two or more participants while a single user setting only consist of one participant. A collaborative setting requires representative participants. From a collaborative setting the participants can effect and influence each other but it could be difficult to obtain all participants impressions. A single user setting could be easier to evaluate.

How can qualitative and quantitative methods in the same study complement each other?

Since qualitative- and quantitative methods have different strengths and weaknesses, they can complement each other. By using the strengths, specific for the research, from both methods the outcome from the method will obtain a high value of data. A quantitative study can be lead to follow up on discoveries from qualitative data, and vice versa. An other way can be that qualitative- and quantitative methods are conducted at same time. Qualitative methods usually result in a deep result where understanding has an important role, while quantitative data results in statistic data. As mentioned, together can these methods give a better outcome.

How can using both subjective and objective methods give a better understanding of a phenomenon?

Subjective methods are influenced by the observer's impressions while objective methods are measurements of data. So to gain a better understanding of a phenomenon both subjective and objective methods are needed, since they contribute with different aspects and therefore complement each other. 

Reflection of Theme 3

The third weeks theme was Research and Theory. I read Gregor's The Nature of Theory in Information system and Sutton & Staw’s What theory is not. I also chose a research journal and a research paper which I thought was relevant for media technology research. My chosen research journal was Computers in Human Behavior and my chosen research paper was The effects of technostress within the context of employee use of ICT. Like previous weeks I thought the texts were challenging but somehow I found this weeks papers easier to read. The difficult part was, after reading the texts, be able to explain what theory is with simple words. It somehow became easier to explain it short and briefly after reading the second paper; what theory is not. 

I went through the lecture slides before the seminar which gave me an better understanding of the theme. During the seminar we were divided into smaller groups to present our chosen research paper and explain which major theory that was used in it. Later on the whole seminar group did the same thing. We also had the chance to ask question, I thought it was interesting to go through table two in Gregor's text and discuss why each participants of the seminar thought a specific theory was used in their own chosen research paper. Each research paper became an example of different theories, which I thought was good since eat became easier to understand the differences between them. 

When I read my research paper I tried to decided which major theory that was used, I thought it was hard to decide just one. But after the seminar I learned that it is usually a mix of different theories, not just one. I learned a lot this week as well as previous weeks. I thought it was easier to understand the actually meaning of research than to understand theory. That is why I valued the seminar, because it especially clarified theory and its meaning. 

Theme 4: Quantitative research

The media technology research papper I chose were The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites, by Nicole B. Ellison. The research paper studies the relation between the use of Facebook and social capital.

1 Which quantitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

My chosen research paper is using quantitative methods and I think it is used in a good way. Because, judging from the chosen questions, the quantitative method seemed carefully prepared and the result and outcome of it is structural worked through with an interesting outcome. The study is based on an inquiry sheet with specific questions with given answering alternatives, with others words is it a survey with closed questions. There are no room for open questions, thoughts or explanation. Which leads us too the limitations of using the given quantitative method, which is that it does not allow for a broader study. The relations and wholeness in the study is not examined, therefore cannot a general conclusion based on the survey be made. The benefits of of using these methods are that the results are specific, quantitative and numerical data which can be consider to have a high credibility especially if the study consist of many participants. Data collection and analysis is relatively quick time consuming and an easy method to reach out to an broaden audience. 

2 What did you learn about quantitative methods from reading the paper?

After reading the paper i realized that by gathering specific, quantitative and numerical data there are room and potential to analyze it in many different ways. Also since the study rely on the inquiry sheet, it is important that it is well thought-out. So, a preparatory work is required.

3 Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the quantitative method or methods have been improved?

A random sample of 800 Michigan State University undergraduate students were sent an email with a link to the survey. I think that the main methodological problem of the study is that it only had a response rate of 35.8%, 286 students. In the research paper it also says ”Female, younger, in-state, and on-campus students were slightly overrepresented in our sample.” which made me question their chose of participants, maybe they should have broaden target group or chosen other ways to reach their target group. Which is an example of what could be improved. Neither did I find an an explanation why undergraduate students at Michigan State University was seen to a representative group for the study.

I aslo read the paper Physical activity, stress and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection written by Olle Bälter. The purpose was to investigated the relationships between physical activity and stress, and the self-reported of it. The method used in the research was an internet based inquiry sheet. The research found out that people with a high stress level benefit more of an physical activity then the other.

1 Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?

The benefits are that large amour of data can be measured, it is an easy and fast way to reach out to an broaden audience and therefore it gives a great accuracy. A limitation with quantitative methods is that the result are limited since they provide a numerical description, the human perception is not considered.

2 Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?

The benefits of using qualitative methods are that the survey does help to gain an deeper understanding by considering feelings and behaviors. The limitations are that it is usually only a few people who participates in the study which makes it harder to generalize.