Final Reflection

This is my final reflection of course “Theory and Method for Media technology”.

I would like firstly give my reflection of this course and then talk about different ways of combining different methods.

Reflection of this course:

From last 6 weeks, I learned a lot about theory and method, and I tried to attend every seminar because they were really helpful for me to understand those complex things. The first 2 weeks were more like philosophy. It seems far from media technology, but for me, I learned a lot not only the meaning of those abstract concepts such as “what is knowledge”, “what is Enlightenment”, etc. It also gives me a better way of thinking questions, which is really good thing for build theory for the researches. From third week to sixth week, the course focused more on research. I learned different type of methods and how to use them. It makes me still can’t believe how I finished my bachelor thesis without knowing them now.

The course was quite interesting, I love the way that read something and find out the answers of given questions which can help us to understand different methods and concepts. The seminars were also good but I’m not good at talking unfortunately, I prefer absorb other people's ideas. By writing reflections, I put my understanding inside them as much as possible, which is also a good way to understand the knowledge.

To be honest, I can’t say I understand everything these weeks. Most of the time, I need to search from internet to find the correct definition or explanation. But I think the process of finding the answers is quite important. Actually I remembered what I found from internet, and they became the knowledge of my own.

Combination of different methods:

From last 4 weeks, we learned some different methods such as quantitative method, qualitative method, and case study. I read a lot of paper to understand what quantitative method and qualitative method is. And sometime the paper I found has both methods inside.

Then I understood in some cases, it is not enough to only use one method to do the research. It is important to combine those needed methods correctly to build a mixed methods research which expand the scope and improve the analytic power of the studies.

Mixed method research is typically the combination of quantitative method and qualitative methods. The ways of combining quantitative method and qualitative method could be considered into three parts: Sampling, Data Collection, and Data Analysis. [1]

Sampling is one of the most important ways to distinguish if the inquiry used in researches is qualitative or quantitative where the qualitative research typically involves purposeful sampling to enhance understanding of the information-rich case but quantitative research involves probability sampling to permit statistical inferences.

Some example samplings of combine qualitative method and quantitative method are:

Criterion Sampling, which is a sampling, involves selecting cases that meet some predetermined criterion of importance. It can provide an important qualitative component to quantitative data.

Purposeful Random Sampling, which is a process of identifying a population of interest and developing a systematic way of selecting cases that is not based on advanced knowledge of how the outcomes would appear. It can increase credibility with the use of a randomized sampling strategy.

Stratified purposeful sampling, which is sampling will be used when enough information is known to identify characteristics that may influence how the phenomenon is manifest.

Data collection is also an important aspect for combine different methods. As a mixed method research, both quantitative and qualitative data will typically be collected. The techniques of data collection are different such as open-ended and unstructured interviewing and structured questionnaires. To combine both methods, researcher should seek objective measures to evaluate the validity of subjective measures.

Data analysis basically depends on the collected data. The qualitative data are typically words where the quantitative data are numbers. But both types of the data can be linked in mixed method.

There are different processes to convert one type of the data to another such as:

Quantitizing, which is a process for transforms qualitative data into quantitative data by treated them with quantitative techniques.

For example represent the verbal or visual data from interviews, observations, artifacts, or documents numerically, by counting them.

Qualitizing, which is a process for transforms quantitative data in qualitative data instead.

For example convert the table of numeric data into narrative statements.

I would also like to point out the advantages of mixed method research here:

Mixed method research provides strengths that offset the weaknesses of both quantitative and qualitative research.

It provides a more complete and comprehensive understanding of the research problem than either quantitative or qualitative approaches alone.

It provides an approach for developing better, more context specific instruments.

It helps to explain findings or how causal processes work.

There are also several disadvantages of mixed methods research:

The research design can be very complex.

Takes much more time and resources to plan and implement this type of research.

It may be difficult to plan and implement one method by drawing on the findings of another.

It may be unclear how to resolve discrepancies that arise in the interpretation of the findings.

There are some types of mixed methods research designs:

Sequential explanatory design: collection and analysis of quantitative data followed by the collection and analysis of qualitative data

Sequential exploratory design: qualitative data collection and analysis is followed by quantitative data collection and analysis

Concurrent triangulation: only one data collection phase is used, during which quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis are conducted separately yet concurrently.

Concurrent nested: only one data collection phase is used, during which a predominant method (quantitative or qualitative) nests or embeds the other less priority method (qualitative or quantitative, respectively). [2]

Finally, thank for people who read my posts and comment them, I didn't reply them but I have read all of them. Also thank for this course, I believe this course will help me a lot in the future.

References:

[1] Margarete Sandelowski, Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Sampling, Data Collection, and Analysis Techniques in Mixed-Method Studies, Research in Nursing & Health, Volume 23, Issue 3, pages 246–255, June 2000.

[2] FoodRisc Resource Centre, Mixed methods research. Available from:

<http://resourcecentre.foodrisc.org/mixed-methods-research_185.html>, 

The comments for other posts

I have written follow comments on other posts:

Theme1:

http://dm2572ua.blogspot.se/2014/09/post-seminar-1-reflection.html

http://arozintmm2014.blogspot.se/2014/09/arozin-theory-of-knowledge-reflection.html

http://dm2572sofie.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-1-reflection.html

http://dm2572-johasjo.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-1-reflection.html

http://dm2572stipic.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-1-theory-of-knowledge-and-theory_14.html

Theme2:

http://kthkurs.blogspot.se/2014/09/reflection-after-theme-2-use-of.html

http://ferryjan.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-2-reflection.html

http://stephanietheoryandmethod.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-2-reflection.html

http://dm2572-91roseri.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-2-post.html

http://arozintmm2014.blogspot.se/2014/09/arozin-critical-media-studies-reflection.html

Theme3:

http://kthkurs.blogspot.se/2014/09/reflection-after-theme-3.html

http://ferryjan.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-3-reflection.html

http://dm2573kristina.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-3-reflection_28.html

http://dm2572-91roseri.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-3-post.html

http://dm2572-johasjo.blogspot.se/2014/09/theme-3-reflection.html

Theme 4:

http://theory-of-media-technology.blogspot.se/2014/10/post-reflection-theme-4.html

http://dm2572-johasjo.blogspot.se/2014/10/theme-4-reflection.html

Theme 6 reflections(After)

The theme this week was case study and qualitative research. Since most of the case studies have qualitative methods, so I focused more on case study part. My understanding of case study at the beginning was shallow, I thought case study is sort of research with example cases for analyze the questions. In the preview reflection of this week, I got the definition of case study from internet, but I was not quite clear how or why it be used in researches.

In the seminar, we were divided into small groups. Our group discussed what are the advantages and disadvantages of case study. It helped me a lot to know how case study actually works.

We concluded following advantages:

Case study can collect a lot of data with specific context easily.

With case study, researchers are able to use different methodological tools.

Researchers can selected existed cases or invent specific cases.

Disadvantages:

The collected data are not always related to the research

It is hard to draw definite cause-effect conclusions.

Time consuming.

We also discussed that there is no single way to conduct a case study, most of the time a combination of methods will be used such as unstructured interviewing, direct observation, and participant observation. I remember the paper I had selected has both participant observation and direct observation.

The paper “Building Theories from Case Study Research” also gives me a good structure of case study research. It was interesting to use the those processes to check the weaknesses or strengths of other paper, but I think with its help I can also build good case study research by myself.

Theme 5 reflections(After)

This week I have read some papers, all of them were interesting to read and the lectures were also interesting.

Eva-Lotta Sallnäs’s lecture was focus on her research. It was very helpful to know how the research was processed step by step, and also her earlier studies. She also mentioned that it is better to use mixed method instead of use only qualitative or quantitative method since it inherits the advantages of both methods.

Unfortunately, I only took half of Haibo’s lecture. But his lecture was more details about how to design a good research. The case of hungry bear and the section of movie” Johnny English” were simple and vivid examples. I understood that way of think and solve questions is more important in the research. . He also said that we are very near to solve the problems while we find the problems, and instead of solve problems in a complex way, a simple way is better.

The studies this week really taught me a lot. I believe this will help me in the future when I working with my research. 

Theme 6 reflections(Before)

For qualitative methods study, I selected the paper” Media technologies and learning in the starcraft esport community” February 23–27, 2013, San Antonio, TX, USA by Yong Ming Kow & Timothy Young

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

One important qualitative method using in this paper is interviewing. This paper aim to give a discussion of how the adoption of media technologies is uneven in the StarCraft community, the paper conducted 24 interviews with pro-gamers, casters, amateur league players, Teamliquid editors, tournament organizers, and community leaders. Two key questions are centered:

What role do you play in the community?

How do you learn to become a better player?

This paper also performed participant observation at Teamliquid which is the main StarCraft community site visited by players founded in 2002.

Some benefits of these methods are:

1. It is easier to gain the reflections about StarCraft communities according to different group, for example, one of the results shows that experts do not generally pay attention to every novice participating in Internet communities. In contrast, experts had quite unequivocally opted to learn in small groups.

2. By performed participant observation at Teamliquid, it is obviously to find that Pro-gamers often come out with new and effective strategies by join and interact with the people in Teamliquid.

The limitations are:

1. The volume of interview or observation data makes analysis and interpretation time consuming.

2. The researcher's presence during data gathering, which is often unavoidable in qualitative research, can affect the subjects' responses.

What did you learn about qualitative methods from reading the paper?

I learned that the data based on human experience that is obtained is powerful and sometimes more compelling than quantitative data. For example in this paper, it is not enough to only collect the data of how many people in each community. It is possible to analysis why specific phenomenon happens by preformed in-depth interviews to collect the qualitative data.

Data usually are collected from a few cases or individuals so findings cannot be generalized to a larger population. Findings can however be transferable to another setting. For example in this paper, the finding part discuss how players learn the “metagame” according to different ways:

Learning through mass media like Internet TV and tournaments

Learning from match partners and practice partners

Learning from textual and video-based media

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

The main methodological problems in the study is that the questions of interview are ambiguous, one benefit of qualitative method is the interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be guided/redirected by the researcher in real time. So I think it could be improved to have more questions related to the research.

For case study, I selected the paper” Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake”, Volume 31 Issue 1, February, 2011 from International Journal of Information Management with impact factor 2.042.

Briefly explain to a first year university student what a case study is.

A case study is an intensive study of a specific individual or specific context. It can be study of a person, a small group, or a single situation. Case study is a method used in both quantitative and qualitative research.

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.

Strengths:

This paper gives us a good “Getting Started” step with the assertions of the strengths of social media. The research question is that whether social media are inherently flexible yet have the robust knowledge structures that are closely aligned with how knowledge is gathered, shared, and employed in a disaster response. This is also one of the strengths in this paper; it gives us clear focuses efforts.

For “Selecting Cases” step, this paper selected the 2010 Haiti earthquake as a study case, which was an unspeakable tragedy for which the world mobilized an incredible response. The population was global. It’s very large but still appropriate since disaster response must be flexible enough to handle unexpected situations. One important situation is multiple reports with conflicting information.

This paper also have good observations of social media were initially introduced in the response, how they matured, and how they evolved as critical knowledge resources for decision makers as the situation ‘on the ground’ in Haiti evolved.

Then according to the observed data, different information systems for disaster response have been analyzed in this paper. This paper under took a participatory action research strategy as methodology. The unit of analysis for this case study was a two-week period of participation by one of the authors with the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff’s Crisis Action Team (AFCAT). I think here is also one of the strengths in paper since AFCAT is an organization especially for gathering information, and collecting data.

Weaknesses:

This paper doesn't have so many weaknesses. One weakness I found in this paper is that it doesn't have a part for comparison with similar literature, which is necessary for raises theoretical level.

Theme 4 reflections(After)

This week we had an interesting seminar that we did not only sit and listen. It was more like a game but I do believe we learned more things than usual.

The questions were general, but the rules were not. Each group will only get points if they have something different. This way really works because most of us (at least me) got the answers from internet or books. It forces us to think more about questions.

My reflections before seminar, was standard and format. But after this seminar I learn something new by absorbing opinions from other group.

I remember we discussed about what is the advantages of web based survey and paper survey, the answers are multifarious even someone give the answer that web based survey don’t need to send back the paper. It also quite meaningful let us answer the question first then gives the correct answers to see what we missed.

The web survey about healthy also give us a clear map what a good web based survey should be.

I remembered from that the interaction is also very import in the web survey, if the participants are able to get the feedback from the survey, it is easier to continue the survey.

Theme 5 reflections(Before)

1.  How can media technologies be evaluated?

According to this paper I read, follow aspects are very important for media technologies.

Firstly, I think necessity should be one of the evaluations for media technologies. I mean is this technology really necessary? Is this technology really useful?

This paper gave us the answer at beginning such as:

“It is unlikely that users are willing to stream an entire game”,

”Online video and audio information over a long period consumes too much power”

This kind of evaluation helps determine which program aspects or activities are most needed and for which population.

Secondly, I think is the usability. Does the technology easy to use? Does it give the good experience?

In this paper we could see that both efficiency and satisfaction are evaluated.

The reflection time has been tested, and also a questionnaire has been implemented to get the feedback from users.

And finally the trainability, I think this kind of evaluation is specific for the case in this paper. Is the technology easy to learn is also important.

2.  What role will prototypes play in research?

I think the prototypes are something to prove the theories are not empty talks in the research. It does not have to be implemented, but it will good for some researches like this paper. If you developed some new technical productions, it is hard to get the feedback from real users if you don’t have any prototypes since the users’ experience is one most import part for the researches like this paper.

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

I did not understand what is “proof of concept” until I got the explanation from Wiki.

It says that a proof of concept prototype is kind of model used to test some aspect of the intended design without attempting to exactly simulate the visual appearance, choice of materials or intended manufacturing process. These types of models are often used to identify which design options will not work, or where further development and testing is necessary.

4.  What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

The characteristics of prototypes are:

They are early sample; they may not have fully functionality according to the research. They are only use to prove the feasibility of final production.

The limitation is related to the characteristics:

The prototypes may not cover all the problems, and they will probably not getting the expected result.

5. How can design research be communicated/presented?

I think the questionnaire is a good way to let the design research be communicated and presented. In this paper, we could see that the feedback from users shows a clear result for the usability and satisfaction of the research. Also the prototype is a good thing for the design research, from the real test; it is easier to present the results, by analyze the data.

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

I think collaborative setting need to consider different cases.

In this paper I read, the collaboration in multimodal virtual environments has been divided into two parts. One part is the feedback from single users and another part is the feedback from collaboration between sighted and visually impaired users. Of course the obtained results are also different depend on what case it is.

Single user setting more focus on the individual changes, but a collaborative setting is more like to find the relationship between individuals.

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

Qualitative methods are more like the subjective and inductive explanations for the questions. Quantitative methods are the objective and deductive analysis according to the numbers. We complement them when we have bot qualitative and quantitative data. Use numbers support the subjective explanations is the combination of both two methods. And inductive explain the relationship between data.

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

To understand a phenomenon, we can’t just think about it without any objective data. But also, the data can’t give us the result we want unless we subjective analyze them.

For example we know that the cloud computing become more and more popular in the world nowadays, we need to know how popular it is by collecting the data about how many people use cloud computing applications now, but we can’t say it is popular just because of the data, we need to think why it is so popular now. So here the subjective and objective methods are both important for us to understand the phenomenon.