Lift-off on data collection

Finally sent out permission requests for the uploaded posts section of my research.

Now to add a forum.

As I have had about a third of the people respond and there have been a couple of responses with 'please don't use my material', I am re-thinking my original idea of adding separate forums for each of the groups. I think that one forum is going to work better in practice with the number of likely posts. The ability to see all others' ideas would be useful in creating a more of a conversation around the questions. Also, it means less confusion; respondents might not have been sure whether to post to the main or group forum.

Second assessment task

For the second assessment task, I would like to refine the description of method and also put data collection and analysis into practice on at least some of the artefacts and forum and interview responses.  Getting the right tone and focus will require some work, and feedback on how I'm handling actual data will be invaluable.

I think the assessment task itself will be an overview of more detailed work that I need to get done for the actual research project. The data is confidential, so won't be publishable on this blog. The assessment task will likely also include confidential data, so it won't be shareable except with lecturers, though I will post general reflections on data collection and analysis here.

Virtual Ethnography

While implementing Dervin's Sense-Making methodology (her capitals) as a guide to how to devise and use questions, the overall method for inquiring into the use of the social network is that of a virtual ethnography.

This can be a labour-intensive approach and I'm not sure that I am actually implementing it fully. I am a member of the site, but also the administrator. I have been an observer of the site from inception, of course, but have not kept detailed notes throughout its development. As a background to the research, I can give a quite detailed account from memory, notes and site logs of how the site was set up, the information provided and the types of interactions as members established themselves. So there is some longitudinal detail there for the site as a whole.

The artefacts of the target group will also provide longitudinal detail, as the groups have used the site over a period of months. Their posts and other artefacts are dated, so are plot-able over time. (Wall posts can be frustrating though not difficult to follow, as only half a conversation is visible at once: the other person's wall needs to be read to get the full gist.)

From my observations of the site over time, I have formed some judgments of how the site has been used, both positive and negative. However, the use of private messaging is hidden from me, as well as the use of email and phone to contact other members, which would shed further light on the role of the site in connecting its members. In addition, the experience of a student, from early discovery to use (or rejection) of the affordances of the site, will only become apparent from their relation of that experience. It will be interesting to contrast my assumptions with those of the students.

It is uncertain whether the site constitutes a 'community' or 'culture' as is implied by the use of an ethnographic approach, though a virtual ethnography is an adaptation of the traditional ethnography. I think there are common attributes between users' understandings of how the site could or should be used. There certainly is a community, covered by tacit and explicit rules and understandings, within the school. The social network site may not in itself provide an independent community, but might be seen as an extension, where communication and interaction goes back and forth from the physical to the virtual, and identity is shaped or performed in both.

As with other ethnographies, both in person and virtual, the voice of the people in the community is important. I'll be conducting online discussions as well as in-person interviews, using open questions (see my post on the 'Schedule for online forums and interviews'), thereby gaining the ‘authority that comes from exposing the emergent analysis to challenge through interaction’ (Hine, 2000).

I'm just about to start asking for user involvement in online discussions, at the same time as asking target group members to permit me to use their online artefacts for the study. I've been delaying this move from some apprehension of how it is going to be received. I am not at all sure of students' attitudes to the site or if they will be willing to cooperate, though have no real reason to expect otherwise. The questions I've devised are very open. I wonder if the respondents will be confused as to what I'm asking. It is time to jump in.

Reference

Hine, C. (2000) Virtual Ethnography.  London: Sage.

Schedule for online forums and interviews

I've made a revision of my initial sample questions. The interviews will be semi-structured, exploratory and based on the Sense-Making methodology. The general idea is to be open to the respondent's view of what is important: allowing them to guide the topics.

The questions start with easier general questions about current concepts of the site, referred to here as 'AC'. As current concepts are easier to recall and explain, any look at historical usage is better left until after current recollections.

Forums

Initial questions for general forum:

1. Tell me about experiences in using AC.
2. How does AC connect to your study and general life?
3. How did you work out how to use AC? Were there things that confused you? How did you resolve any confusion?
4. Where were your expectations not met? Did you find some things that you weren’t able to do? Did you find a way around this? How?
5. Where and how were your expectations met?

Initial questions for group forums will use the same questions as for the general forum, plus:

1. a. What does the group do, what are its aims? (for you - how does it fit into your experience?)? What do you do for the group?
   b. What role does AC play in the group?
2. For one group that has a Moodle area provided for the course as well as access to AC: why do you choose to use AC rather than the Moodle site for your group discussions?

Interviews

In the interviews, I'll place AC in view and to allow exploration to prompt recollection - show personal profile, friends’ pages, group page and discussions.
Prompts as below would not be used unless the subject is completely at a loss: some prompts may need revision as they may be too leading. They are more as a guide to myself as to the areas that I'm interested in.

Current concepts and outcomes:

1. How would you describe AC to someone who is new to it? (Prompt: what does AC remind you of - does it feel or work like other sites or communities you have experienced? What is different?)
2. How does AC connect to your study and general life?
3. How would you describe who you are and what you do on AC? (Prompts: that is, what role do you see yourself in? collaborator, consumer, producer,  promoter of self, source of knowledge?) 
4. Based on the answers to questions 1-3, ask more specifically about activities on the site. 
5. How does using AFTRS Central make you feel? (prompts might include: ownership..  part of a community? isolated? supported? are you an owner? a guest? does it belong to the 'school' but not you?)
6. What impact or consequences to your experience at school have come from using AC? (Prompt: What do you think about learning and communications?)
7. Do you feel you have a good understanding of the site for your uses? (Are you comfortable using the site?)
 If you get confused about how to use the site, how do you resolve this?
 What strategies have you used to work out how to use the site?

Situation, helps and hindrances, gaps and sensemaking:

1. Tell me about some experiences that have involved AC.
2. When you started using AC, what did you think it would be useful for? What did you want to achieve?
3. What was unclear when you first joined?
4. What was an obstacle to you doing what you wanted?
5. What helped you in doing what you wanted? How do you want to be helped?
6. How did you work out what to do?

Beliefs  and Experience:

1. Describe how you generally used online tools before coming to AFTRS. (Prompt: Are you a blogger, have you used or contributed content to eg YouTube or Wikipedia, Twitter or Facebook?)
2. What do you think is important to learning in general and to your learning in particular? (Prompt: how important are other students to your learning?)

To gain a more focused response, questions will also refer to specific observations of the site or the individual's actions, for example:

• Very few people rate or comment on videos and photos on AC - why do you think that is?
• Questions... Have you considered sharing, uploading or commenting and thought better of it? What were your thought processes when this happened?
• Compare the experience and activity on AC vs Hub (Moodle). How do you use them differently?
• You've posted notices on the main forum and several groups' pages. What prompted this?