Theory and Method for Media Technology

Monday, October 24, 2016

Comments on theme 6: Qualitative and case study research

Final theme, final comments!

Monday, October 17, 2016

Reflections on theme 6: Qualitative and case study research

During the seminar and lecture on qualitative studies and case study research, the idea of case studies serving as mirrors of reality intrigued me.

In the seminar, we were given an example of a case study where the subject was a person with a drastic change in brain functionality. The example made me think of a relative of mine, and that link made me further understand the notion of case studies. Please bare with me as I further explain my progress!

During a rock concert in 2011, my relative (a then middle aged lawyer) was hit in the head as a 400-pound camera fell down from above the crowd. He suffered a great hit, and the aftermaths of the injury brought a significant depression. Today my relative has become a recognized artist, and his works have been celebrated internationally. The twist of it all? He is believed to suffer from Savant Syndrome due to the accident! When the left hemisphere of the brain is damaged, as in the case of my relative, the natural tendencies to reason is suppressed. The right hemisphere instead takes over, and different talents such at drawing, painting or memorizing flourishes, turning people into so called savants.

Why is the story of my relative interesting for this week's theme? I believe it is an interesting example of a potential topic for a case study, and above all, it offered me a way to further understand the theme by relating it to my own experiences. Case studies are almost more of an approach than a method, combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The context of case studies are specific, and hence studying families without cars or a man who suddenly became a savant is possible by combining various methods to get the full picture. By going beyond space and time, and looking at the very specific measures that constitute the chosen study context, case studies offer sophisticated snapshots of a given phenomena. Data overlaps with analysis throughout the process, and it is hence a very interactive form of research to engage in.

During the lecture and seminar, I came to evolve my idea of case studies. In my first post, I wrote:

"A case study examines in-depth, purposeful samples to better understand a given phenomena. Case studies hence focus on samples within single setting, drawing conclusions that are specific rather than general."

If I were to conduct a case study on the given example of my relative, the sample would be him, the savant himself. I would examine all the aspects of the phenomena; I could conduct quantitative studies on the weight and pressure of the hit, I could conduct qualitative interviews with him and his surrounding networks etc, in order to be able to draw a specific conclusion around his case. By mixing qualitative and quantitative studies, which is one of the perks of case studies, I could gain enough material to understand this given phenomena. The conclusions I could draw from the data would perhaps not be very generalizable (the examined subject is just one person, after all), but I would be able to describe the cause and effect relationships of this specific phenomena.

In case studies, researchers do not pose initial hypotheses, in order to be able to extract anything from the study. To me, that's the charm of the method (or approach, as defined above). Without predetermined ideas of what to expect for results, the study can steer its own way. I.e., in the case of my relative, the learnings the study could earn me would enable me to pose relevant research questions for the case.

When Hanna Hasselqvist presented her research during the lecture, I further understood how different methods can be used in in-depth research. Even if her case study is very different from the one that could be carried out in the case of my relative, the idea is the same. By using various methods, one may understand the specific phenomena.

This week's theme has been very interesting, and it felt like a very good theme to conclude with!

Comments on theme 5: Design research

10 more comments, 10 chances to further develop my understanding of theme 5!

I really appreciated reading the other students' blogs this week - the theme was the most ambiguous to me, and I enjoyed getting a second (or tenth) perspective on it.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Reflections on theme 5: Design research

Another week has past! I am yet to understand the world, but feel enlightened in terms of grasping another method that might help me to do so.

After taking part in a very interesting seminar on the theme of design research, I have come to understand that I would most probably want to engage in this type of process oriented research should I ever continue my studies on a post graduate level. The way in which design researchers constantly change and interact with the material they work with (in contrast to working with "traditional" data sets e.g.) has gotten me intrigued. The method feels organic; the analysis of design processes is what makes it research, because it is there that the motivation of what and why questions are asked and conclusions drawn. The study grows together with the researcher.

In the seminar, I brought my thoughts on the commercial and artistic concepts of design up to discussion. For me, the term 'design' is very linked to aesthetics, and the optimizing of things for both visual and practical purposes. Articulating this and having a short discussion about why I sometime mix up the terminology, made it easier for me to accept that one must separate these notions (design research and aesthetic design). Design research is not about aesthetics; its about shining light on specific processes.

When reading the assigned papers of this theme, Finding design qualities in a tangible programming space by Fernaeus & Tholander, and Differentiated Driving Range by Lundström, I came to wonder whether the work they conducted would be accepted by natural science scholars who are more used to proof only being brought by hard data. I asked Anders Lundström, our seminar teacher, whether design research is considered a legitimate research form among the great academic masses, but the answer I got was quite ambiguous ("It is, but then again it isn't"). As the notion of design research and process orientation is rather new, Lundström stressed the fact that it isn't very strange that the method isn't recognized by all. Plus, he planted a seed in my mind concerning whether or not all hard science research really should be considered the legitimate. Because, where does the proof actually come from? What did the process leading up to it look like, and can anything ever be said to be objective?

In the book "Vetenskapsfilosofi - En bok om vetenskapen och den vetenskapande människan", scholar Bengt Molander discusses the concept of knowledge. He claims that in its most basic form, knowledge is drawing attention to something that was previously unknown. On a personal level, this would mean that we gain new knowledge for example by reading a new book, or meeting a new person. Regarding design research, the knowledge contribution lies in the attention the research brings to the process, and I think that Molander's definition of knowledge is strikingly accurate regarding this research form!

Even with its slightly diffuse concepts, I have enjoyed this past week's theme. I have gained more understanding of the field of design research, and I have started to think of my own life and my quest to understanding the processes that constitute it. Perhaps all of our lives are big personal design research projects; we build prototypes on how to act and who to be, and when these are tested we evaluate whether we can come up with a better way of understanding the process of living a human life.

Comments on theme 4: Quantitative research

One more theme - one more round of comments! Yet again my peers have made interesting reflections on our assigned theme.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Theme 6: Qualitative and case study research

Engle A. Chan and Maj-Helen Nyback (2015) A virtual caravan—A metaphor for home-internationalization through social media: A qualitative content analysis

For this theme, I chose to nurture my interest in multicultural communication and how it is enabled by media technology. The study by Chan and Nyback investigates how students learn about values, meanings, and beliefs concerning health, well-being, caring, and nursing, from peers from another country. The background for the study is the increasingly international social interactions that nurses worldwide face.

The studied sample was a group of 20 students, aged 19 to 28. Half of the participants were nursing students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU), and the other half at the Novia Univeristy of Applied Sciences (Novia UAS).

The method

The researchers collected data (individual assignment, a joint assignment, and individual reflections submitted after an online seminar) through a web based learning platform. The data was transcribed and used as one sole unit of analysis. The researchers had an inductive approach and performed a qualitative content analysis. Since the data was inductive, the approach was general rather than specific, meaning that particular statements and reflections from individual students were combined into joint statements, representing the group.

The researchers used open coding and grouped the data in clusters that formed several categories and themes during their analysis. This abstraction process continued until the themes were formed and named using words that characterized their contents.

Methodological benefits and limitations

The benefits of performing a content analysis by open coding is the flexibility it offers the researcher. Unexpected results are less likely to be ruled out, compared to when the codes are set a priori. One downside of the method is the possibility of gaining too many categories or themes, making the study hard to close. Further, the sample was very modest, and hence the results might be more relevant should the study have had a larger number of participants.

Further problematics of the study

The researchers emphasized the importance of clear instructions and statements of the researchers' expectations, especially since the study was conducted virtuality and hence with limited supervision. However, much of the course was "left to the learners' flexibility, adaptability, and creativity." This is a clear flaw in the paper's method - if the research is reliant on individual traits, how can it ever be reliable?

The participants were told to approach their teachers to get more specific information on the research project, meaning that each participant had to actively search for information. In the paper, the process is described as "information about the project and the various assessments were provided until the students had no further questions." This is another flaw of the method. Could the researchers ever ensure that the participants had gained all the information needed, if the source of its spreading was based on their ability to ask the right questions? I believe that a simple way of improving the method would have been to make sure that all students get the exact same information, and that it would be up to the teachers to make sure that they receive it.

Learning outcomes of reading the paper

1) Open coding enables flexibility, and compared to using quantitative methods researchers can be flexible in how they work and interact with their data in further extent.
2) Qualitative studies are generally interested in the totality of the issue; the results are slightly more nuanced than such of quantitative studies.
3) Qualitative studies can feel "un-academic", due to their lack of formalized structure.

What is a case study?

A case study examines in-depth, purposeful samples to better understand a given phenomena. Case studies hence focus on samples within single setting, drawing conclusions that are specific rather than general. The research strategy typically combines methods such as archives, interviews, questionnaires, and observations, in the obtaining of data, and the evidence can be both qualitative and quantitative (which is a clear differentiation from qualitative studies, with which the case study method often is confused). The formost benefit of case studies is their enabling of placing subjects in context; subject are put directly in their context, making very specific studies possible.

Nicholas J. Kelling,

Angela S. Kelling, and

John F. Lennon (2013).

The tweets that killed a university: A case study investigating the use of traditional and social media in the closure of a state university

The researchers got started with their case study by clearly stating the research question; they strived to identify the impact of social media on public discussion in the case on the closing of the University of South Florida Polytechnic.

The authors distributed a survey and collected online comments from students on the campus, and hence crafted instruments that enabled their studying. The descriptive data was reported and later analyzed in order to investigate whether any factors predicted greater concern or involvement (e.g. signing petitions and contacting politicians). This part of the case study is one of the paper’s main strengths in my opinion. The researchers showed great understanding for their setting (and sample), and their analysis is proof of that.

When shaping hypotheses, researchers can work in two steps. By 1) refining the definition of the construct and 2) building evidence which measures the construct in each case, the case studied can be tackled in a more structured way. The researchers in this particular study did this very well. For example, they used four data mined sets to analyze the students’ online commenting on the school closing online. This helped build evidence which allowed measurement of the specific constructs.

Theoretical saturation can only be reached if researchers accept their own collected data, and hence so can closure. Time and money might predict how far a study can be taken, but so could researcher subjectivity. The researchers entered this case study with a belief that students used contemporary communication methods such social media in the discussion on the campus closing. However, that was not what the data entailed. Hence, the researchers in this particular case study showed proof of professional excellence when accepting (and celebrating) the unexpected results!

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Comments on theme 3

The below bloggers all received input on their reflections on theme 3, signed yours truly.