Journal: Computer-mediated
Communication
Impact factor: 3.54
Article: Evolving Mobile Media: Uses and Conceptualizations of the Mobile Internet
Article: Evolving Mobile Media: Uses and Conceptualizations of the Mobile Internet
1. In this paper the
semi-structured interview method was used. The interviews were conducted
face-to-face by a student research assistant, because they wanted the
participants (students) to feel comfortable to talk.
The benefits of a semi-structured interview
are that there is more flexibility. There is a topiclist, but topics that are
not directly related can also be discussed. This can lead to understanding the
topic from another perspective and the interviewee feels more free to talk, as
this method is more like a dialogue. If the semi-structured interview is done
face-to-face, like in this paper, social aspects can also be considered, so
body language, voice, intonation etc.
The limitations of a semi-structured
interview are that you can barely take notes, as it is important that the
interview is focused on the conversation.
The interviewer
can ask leading question, what affects the answers of the respondents.
There can’t be
a lot of interviews conducted as they normally take a long time, because of
this the results are not representative for a large group. Comparing the
results of the interview is difficult as the information differs and is unique
for each person.
2. I learned that if you want to understand ‘meanings’
from people’s reality this method is a good one to use, as it can provide this
in an in-depth way. I also understand that the interviewer needs to be skillful
in this kind of interview as the way the questions are asked influences the
given answer.
3. The problems of this
study are the way the questions were asked, an example to illustrate what I
mean is; question: ‘Ok and have you ever used the expression mobile Internet,
if yes, in which context?’ Answer: No, never.
When it comes to questions like these you are expecting the interviewee to
think really hard about his/her word choices from years ago until the presence.
The chance that the given answer is reliable is really small, as the
interviewee can’t remember all his/her word choices. The question is rather
leading, what is affecting the way it is answered. This is one of the advantages
of the semi-structured method, but in this case the questions could have easily
been reframed and would still be understandable. For an example; Do you use the
expression ‘mobile internet’ if yes in which context?
Another
point is that they made their own interpretations, some of the participants
used the word ‘addictive’. As the semi-structured interview allows the
interviewer to be flexible, he/she could have asked what do you mean with
addictive or till what extent? (As they were talking about Internet use on the
mobile phone) Instead of asking, the researchers interpret it by themselves.
Their interpretation might not be what the participants meant.
The
interviews were conducted in German and English, but the results were analyzed
in English, this means that the German interviews were translated into English
and this may have an affect on the interpretation of the results, as the word
choices aren’t the same.
4. A case study research is studying a certain
situation in detail. This study is flexible and is a good method if the
research field is broad and limiting the field is needed. The aim of this study
can differ as it can provide description or test theory or models, this is
tested to eventually generate new theory or models from evidence of case
studies. This evidence can be qualitative as quantitative or both methods at
the same time.
Journal: New Media & Society
Impact factor: 3.11
Study: “All over the place”: A case study of
classroom multitasking and attentional performance
5.Strengths & Weaknesses
From
the beginning it is clear what the problem is, technology use during lectures
and how this ‘media attention’ is influencing the concentration of students
during lectures. The researcher describes that he is a teacher and that
experiences this first hand.
The
researcher goes undercover in a course, as this course is known to be a traditional
lecture with an active learning model. He assumes that the students should
participate during the lecture and actively engage. That is the reason why he
taught this class would be useful to focus on for his case study.
He
uses a semi-structured interview and observations to gain his data. The
researcher observes the behavior of a class during a semester. Based on his
observations he approached students for an interview. According to the article “Process of Building Theory from Case Study
Research” using multiple methods to collect data strengthens the study. However,
his methods were both qualitative and the combination of qualitative and
quantitative methods to get data strengthens the study even more.
He
confirms that the use of technology during the lectures influences the amount
of concentration and participation of students by analyzing his observation
notes. He sharpens this by adding that students do participate and concentrate
during the lectures that ‘matters’, so for an example when the lecturer is
explaining a topic that will be discussed in the exams. This information was
gained during an interview. This strengthens his grounding, but he also made
adjustments when needed.
The
results of his observations are only based on the students who weren’t engaged
during class, while there were students who did participate. Also he only
observed only class and one course. For this reason his data isn’t gained through
different perspectives.
His
results from the interview can’t be generalized as he only managed to interview
one student. But (internal) validity was build as he wanted to analyze the
distractions of technology use during the lecture and he did to that, he
measured what he claimed to be measuring.
This
case study was rather descriptive, there were no continuously comparisons made
neither were there theories tested or build.
Sources
Humphreys, L. Von Pape, T. (2013) Evolving Mobile Media: Uses and Conceptualizations of
the Mobile Internet. Volume 18, Issue 4.
Hassoun, D. (2014) “All over the place”: A
case study of classroom multitasking and attentional performance. Vol 17, no. 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment