One more response to my "can I use the lists questions": I don't mind it either. In fact, I wonder if any one could stop you since
the archives are public access (I found some threads by googling). In any
case, it is quite elegant and professional of you to ask.
There was JD and coke last night with NK. Am still drowning sorrows.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
17 July 2008
Just had a meeting with Phil
He wants me to :get RO a context; read weick - bridging indiv/instit gap; change time q
justify why that ro (it cant be disjointed from lit); scope each question out; get karahanna misq paper and see what I can do with the framework in terms of extending it from the lit...
He also (accidentally) used the word perspective instead of perception. I like that word better. Though it seems more objective and cognitive. It is less cumbersome than perceptions, attitudes, beliefs...
He hadn't read the bit where I try to tie together the method to the questions, which would have been nice and maybe more productive... he wants me to work on the lit... when I want to work on archives.
I had some very warm responses on the archives:
"I'm sure the owners would not mind you mining; i used it to recruit. this one is bigger, not necessarily better educators@lists.secondlife.com, same owners.
I'll twitter him and ask him to look at ur posting."
"it's a public forum and everyone ought to stand behind his or her
words. that said, if you're not actually identifying anyone and just
using generic statistical analysis, there's definitely no reason you
shouldn't feel free to go ahead with your research."
"I think it's correct that you can do it.
Why not?
We need an open minded, collaborative and constructive approach.
I hope the manager of this mailing list will open contents archive not only
for you, but for the whole community at all.
maybe open only to the registred users; anyway, open :)"
Hmmm, the SLRL list minder wants to know what I'm up to... I hope he says ok.
He wants me to :get RO a context; read weick - bridging indiv/instit gap; change time q
justify why that ro (it cant be disjointed from lit); scope each question out; get karahanna misq paper and see what I can do with the framework in terms of extending it from the lit...
He also (accidentally) used the word perspective instead of perception. I like that word better. Though it seems more objective and cognitive. It is less cumbersome than perceptions, attitudes, beliefs...
He hadn't read the bit where I try to tie together the method to the questions, which would have been nice and maybe more productive... he wants me to work on the lit... when I want to work on archives.
I had some very warm responses on the archives:
"I'm sure the owners would not mind you mining; i used it to recruit. this one is bigger, not necessarily better educators@lists.secondlife.com, same owners.
I'll twitter him and ask him to look at ur posting."
"it's a public forum and everyone ought to stand behind his or her
words. that said, if you're not actually identifying anyone and just
using generic statistical analysis, there's definitely no reason you
shouldn't feel free to go ahead with your research."
"I think it's correct that you can do it.
Why not?
We need an open minded, collaborative and constructive approach.
I hope the manager of this mailing list will open contents archive not only
for you, but for the whole community at all.
maybe open only to the registred users; anyway, open :)"
Hmmm, the SLRL list minder wants to know what I'm up to... I hope he says ok.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
16 July - Nvivo 8
I just downloaded Nvivo 8. 30 day free trial. It looks complicated. Most people here rely on Excel. That makes very little sense to me. I watched some Nvivo tutorials and it can record sound and images and all sorts of other things. Possibly even video. A truly multimedia tool. I'm still reading about discourse analysis. Not entirely sure about the whole mailing list thing. I need to justify bounding it to just the mailing lists. I need to figure out how store the text, to import it. I think I need a framework to analyze it and I'm not sure what technique I want to use. Content analysis. Grounded theory. COnversation analysis (mostly not appropriate I think). A strain of discourse analysis? Ethnomethodological analysis? Is that even possible? It must be. The first virtual worlds were purely textual.
I'm having a sad day. I don't wanna really talk about it. But this journal ought to record stuff that's significant. Everything makes me nostalgic. Everything is a reminder. And this is not a good day generally. I just want it all to be over. The sadness. I want a life back. One where I don't spontaneously "leak". It's uncomfortable. Miserable. Much easier to think about data collection.
Ethics of data recording. I've asked the mailing list maintainers for permission to use the archives. Now I think I will just ask the list themselves...
"Hello everyone,
My name is Niamh ("Neave") O Riordan. I'm doing my phd in Second Life. Go me! Anyway, I would like to use these mailing lists as a source of data. I've contacted the list managers to ask permission to use the archives but they haven't responded... Rather than just doing it anyway, I thought I would ask the lists themselves if there is any reason why I should not do this. I want to mine the archives for themes and topics and opinions and issues. I mainly want to count things in order to see trends and patterns in topics over time. I have no interest in identifying anyone...
So, any thoughts??
Sincerely,
Niamh ("Neave") O Riordan
Business Information Systems
University College Cork, Ireland.
SL: Logos Sohl"
I am reading about approaches to narrative analysis in Wood on p. 104: approaches to narrative analysis include social constructionist, literary... blah blah... well, I am so into the social constructionist thing. But I don't quite know how to distinguish it from sybolic interactionism. And I'm not sure that I know much more than the label itself implies... and information processing and cognitive approaches...
Im reading about sociolinguistics and corpus analysis now. It looks more promising. But I know I need to nail down the purpose of the analysis before I can start. And I need to figure out how nvivo works... 30 day trial. And I need to do the stats stuff for tomorrow...
I'm having a sad day. I don't wanna really talk about it. But this journal ought to record stuff that's significant. Everything makes me nostalgic. Everything is a reminder. And this is not a good day generally. I just want it all to be over. The sadness. I want a life back. One where I don't spontaneously "leak". It's uncomfortable. Miserable. Much easier to think about data collection.
Ethics of data recording. I've asked the mailing list maintainers for permission to use the archives. Now I think I will just ask the list themselves...
"Hello everyone,
My name is Niamh ("Neave") O Riordan. I'm doing my phd in Second Life. Go me! Anyway, I would like to use these mailing lists as a source of data. I've contacted the list managers to ask permission to use the archives but they haven't responded... Rather than just doing it anyway, I thought I would ask the lists themselves if there is any reason why I should not do this. I want to mine the archives for themes and topics and opinions and issues. I mainly want to count things in order to see trends and patterns in topics over time. I have no interest in identifying anyone...
So, any thoughts??
Sincerely,
Niamh ("Neave") O Riordan
Business Information Systems
University College Cork, Ireland.
SL: Logos Sohl"
I am reading about approaches to narrative analysis in Wood on p. 104: approaches to narrative analysis include social constructionist, literary... blah blah... well, I am so into the social constructionist thing. But I don't quite know how to distinguish it from sybolic interactionism. And I'm not sure that I know much more than the label itself implies... and information processing and cognitive approaches...
Im reading about sociolinguistics and corpus analysis now. It looks more promising. But I know I need to nail down the purpose of the analysis before I can start. And I need to figure out how nvivo works... 30 day trial. And I need to do the stats stuff for tomorrow...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
15 July 2008 Discourse Analysis
Went to oxegen last weekend. Had never been to a big music festival before. Needed to get away from it all. Made the decision on Friday. Or at least finally convinced Emma to go with me on Friday. SO went awol. Headed up with Emma. Had a good time. Am in danger of turning into an android. Need to get out more! Came back down Sunday night but spent the night in Waterford and came back to Cork monday evening.
Am reading about conversation and discourse analysis. They talk about "talk and text" but there is no turn taking in text. So I don't think conversation analysis will work. Discourse analysis looks more interesting. Still considering grounded theory based on symbolic interactionism (see Charmaz). But want to make an informed choice.
"The pragmatic functions of language" Wood, p. xiv...
Mytext:
Hampshire (1978) is quoted in Wood (p. xi) "Human beings... must pursue at least two ireeplaceable types of inquiry because of their own nature is embodied and self-conscious thinkers. One is an inquiry aiming at a purely theoretical understanding of their own physical functioning, in which human beings are seen as objects that confrom to universal laws of nature; the other is an inquiry aiming at an undesrtanding of their own thinking, and the thinking of others, in various normal social settings and in different languages. (p. 67)". Wood argues that the first concerns objects of inquiry as res naturam and the second as res artem. This study seeks to incorporate both by examining perception (the first) and how we solve problems (the second).
Am reading about conversation and discourse analysis. They talk about "talk and text" but there is no turn taking in text. So I don't think conversation analysis will work. Discourse analysis looks more interesting. Still considering grounded theory based on symbolic interactionism (see Charmaz). But want to make an informed choice.
"The pragmatic functions of language" Wood, p. xiv...
Mytext:
Hampshire (1978) is quoted in Wood (p. xi) "Human beings... must pursue at least two ireeplaceable types of inquiry because of their own nature is embodied and self-conscious thinkers. One is an inquiry aiming at a purely theoretical understanding of their own physical functioning, in which human beings are seen as objects that confrom to universal laws of nature; the other is an inquiry aiming at an undesrtanding of their own thinking, and the thinking of others, in various normal social settings and in different languages. (p. 67)". Wood argues that the first concerns objects of inquiry as res naturam and the second as res artem. This study seeks to incorporate both by examining perception (the first) and how we solve problems (the second).
Thursday, July 10, 2008
10 July 2008 conversation Analysis
Starting with a distraction: Mandela's 8 leadership rules from an article in Time:
Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it
Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind
Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front
Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport
Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer
Appearances matter — and remember to smile
Nothing is black or white
Quitting is leading too
Reading Wooffitt: you got the idea that utterances perform actions (Sacks)and the idea that utterances are not an objective representation of reality(Gilbert and Mulkay). Both lead to an interest in language. In comes Chomsky and argues that the spoken and the ideal are not the same and that we should look at competence rather than performance. This contradicts Sacks who saw great order in spoken language.
""there are other approaches to the study of discourse and communciation... discourse analysis... discursive physchology, rhetorical psychology, speech act theory, critical discourse analysis and Foucauldian forms of discourse analysis..." p. 1
The plot thickens: conversation analysis is related to ethnomethodology and both appear in a handbook of symbolic interactionism (remember I was interested in this a few days ago)... I can't imagine why... more questions...
The problem with the way you're meant to do research: making all decisions according to the research goal is that the goal itself is shaped by the decisions and one needs information to make decisions which a student of research does not have up front. This is why it's slow and tends to go wrong.
Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it
Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind
Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front
Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport
Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer
Appearances matter — and remember to smile
Nothing is black or white
Quitting is leading too
Reading Wooffitt: you got the idea that utterances perform actions (Sacks)and the idea that utterances are not an objective representation of reality(Gilbert and Mulkay). Both lead to an interest in language. In comes Chomsky and argues that the spoken and the ideal are not the same and that we should look at competence rather than performance. This contradicts Sacks who saw great order in spoken language.
""there are other approaches to the study of discourse and communciation... discourse analysis... discursive physchology, rhetorical psychology, speech act theory, critical discourse analysis and Foucauldian forms of discourse analysis..." p. 1
The plot thickens: conversation analysis is related to ethnomethodology and both appear in a handbook of symbolic interactionism (remember I was interested in this a few days ago)... I can't imagine why... more questions...
The problem with the way you're meant to do research: making all decisions according to the research goal is that the goal itself is shaped by the decisions and one needs information to make decisions which a student of research does not have up front. This is why it's slow and tends to go wrong.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
8 July 2008
More Holsti: "categories should reflect the purposes of the research, be exhaustive, be mutually exclusive, independent, and be derived from a single classification principle."
So based on my RQs, what are my variables (conceptual definitions) and what are my operators (operational definitions)? You see I don't have these yet and I now realize my research objective and questions will not do at all. I haven't properly thought out the relationship between them and the methods I want to use, largely because I just don't know enough about the methods. Not that I couldn't have seen this coming. I know Pat talked about conceptual and operational definitions twelve months ago.
I've come across Bales 1950 categories for verbal interaction. I may get the book on inter library loan. It looks very promising. Maybe. Interaction Process Analysis. An alternative is sign process analysis. A Leary approach.
So based on my RQs, what are my variables (conceptual definitions) and what are my operators (operational definitions)? You see I don't have these yet and I now realize my research objective and questions will not do at all. I haven't properly thought out the relationship between them and the methods I want to use, largely because I just don't know enough about the methods. Not that I couldn't have seen this coming. I know Pat talked about conceptual and operational definitions twelve months ago.
I've come across Bales 1950 categories for verbal interaction. I may get the book on inter library loan. It looks very promising. Maybe. Interaction Process Analysis. An alternative is sign process analysis. A Leary approach.
Monday, July 07, 2008
7 July 2008 - Content Analysis
I'm reading about content analysis... something about categories... do i need my conceptual framework now?... can i derive it from data... is that grounded theory... how do the two differ... holsti stays objectivity, system and generality are common to most definitions of content analysis... objectivity means clear rules and procedures... if others can follow my path and have similar findings, well, that is a test of objectivity.
Objectivity
I'm thinking of a content analysis of the educators and researchers mailing lists. why them? interlinked. managed by linden labs. much mentioned sources of information. very active lists. there are associated wikis. not sure how much used these are. also there are the personal blogs of the second life celebs. why not those? i suppose i like the conversation of the mailing lists versus the broadcast nature of blogs (though with comments this is not always the case) and of wikis. wikis are also snapshots. hard to see the edit history.
Sytem
"Systematic means that the inclusion and exclusion of content or categories is done according to consistently applied rules. This requirement clearly eliminates analyses in which only materials supporting the investigator's hypotheses are admitted as evidence"... hmmm, this is a problem. Or is it? Yeah sure, most on these boards are in favour of virtual worlds. But I'm interested in use rather than non-use. It goes back to the questions.
The research objective derived is to explore the formation of individual perceptions/attitudes/beliefs regarding online VLEs in virtual worlds, the evolution of those perceptions/attitudes/beliefs over time and their impact on online VLE usage. Research questions have been derived from the research objective. The research questions are:
1. What are individual perceptions of virtual worlds, how do they change over time and what factors (e.g. human and technical) affect them? In particular, how do they relate to institutional perceptions?
2. What are institutional perceptions of virtual worlds, how do they change over time and what factors (e.g. human and technical) affect them? In particular, how do they relate to individual perceptions?
3. What is the nature of virtual world usage?
4. What is the relationship between perceptions and usage?
Maybe I need to look at usage and non-usage... continuance and 'stoppance'... therefore I need more sources than these lists... are there mailing lists for non-adopters? I guess there are not.
Generality
"a datum about communication content is meaningless until it is related to at least one other datum. The link between these is represented by some form of theory. Thus all content analysis is concerned with comparison"... Ah, I have no idea what this means for me, right now. But it's good to know.
Quantitative? Hmm. Does it have to be
Manifest versus latent content? Is CA restricted to the former or not?
When to use CA: Woot!
"The investigator who has direct access to his subjects may prefer to collect his data through some form of content analysis. Despite their very real merits... even the best experiment of survey studies the subject and his responses in a highly artificial situation... Especially when it is important to get repeated measures of the subjects' values, attitudes, and the like over a period of time, and if one has reason to believe that continued interaction between analyst and subject may affect the nature of responses, then content analysis of the subject's statements may be a useful way to gather the required data. An important feature of content analysis is that it is a 'non-reactive' or 'unobtrusive' research technique" p. 16
Objectivity
I'm thinking of a content analysis of the educators and researchers mailing lists. why them? interlinked. managed by linden labs. much mentioned sources of information. very active lists. there are associated wikis. not sure how much used these are. also there are the personal blogs of the second life celebs. why not those? i suppose i like the conversation of the mailing lists versus the broadcast nature of blogs (though with comments this is not always the case) and of wikis. wikis are also snapshots. hard to see the edit history.
Sytem
"Systematic means that the inclusion and exclusion of content or categories is done according to consistently applied rules. This requirement clearly eliminates analyses in which only materials supporting the investigator's hypotheses are admitted as evidence"... hmmm, this is a problem. Or is it? Yeah sure, most on these boards are in favour of virtual worlds. But I'm interested in use rather than non-use. It goes back to the questions.
The research objective derived is to explore the formation of individual perceptions/attitudes/beliefs regarding online VLEs in virtual worlds, the evolution of those perceptions/attitudes/beliefs over time and their impact on online VLE usage. Research questions have been derived from the research objective. The research questions are:
1. What are individual perceptions of virtual worlds, how do they change over time and what factors (e.g. human and technical) affect them? In particular, how do they relate to institutional perceptions?
2. What are institutional perceptions of virtual worlds, how do they change over time and what factors (e.g. human and technical) affect them? In particular, how do they relate to individual perceptions?
3. What is the nature of virtual world usage?
4. What is the relationship between perceptions and usage?
Maybe I need to look at usage and non-usage... continuance and 'stoppance'... therefore I need more sources than these lists... are there mailing lists for non-adopters? I guess there are not.
Generality
"a datum about communication content is meaningless until it is related to at least one other datum. The link between these is represented by some form of theory. Thus all content analysis is concerned with comparison"... Ah, I have no idea what this means for me, right now. But it's good to know.
Quantitative? Hmm. Does it have to be
Manifest versus latent content? Is CA restricted to the former or not?
When to use CA: Woot!
"The investigator who has direct access to his subjects may prefer to collect his data through some form of content analysis. Despite their very real merits... even the best experiment of survey studies the subject and his responses in a highly artificial situation... Especially when it is important to get repeated measures of the subjects' values, attitudes, and the like over a period of time, and if one has reason to believe that continued interaction between analyst and subject may affect the nature of responses, then content analysis of the subject's statements may be a useful way to gather the required data. An important feature of content analysis is that it is a 'non-reactive' or 'unobtrusive' research technique" p. 16
Friday, July 04, 2008
4 July 2008 Content analysis
So I'm looking at content analysis. It's an escape from a framework and needed before the survey. I'm going to try to download a demo of Nvivo, which has supplanted NUDIST. I'm also investigating AnSWR, which is a text only version. It has the advantage of being free but the multimedia aspects of Nvivo seem compelling given my interest in a graphical, audio based, text based virtual world. I'm watching an Nvivo tutorial (http://download.qsrinternational.com/Document/NVivo8/NVivo8-Introducing-NVivo.htm) and I'm also reading about code books on the AnSWR webpage. Hmmm. Codes. Study Codebooks.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
3 July 2008 - Anthropology
Anthropology
- Holistic study of humans
- Ethnography: primary method and the resulting text (Malinowski's; Boas promoted it)
- Four fields approach: physical, archaeological, linguistic, social/cultural
- Context, comparison, experience (participant observation): important
- Recently, local emphasis conjoined with interest in global too
Cultural Anthropology
- A reaction to culture versus nature opposition and to ethnology
- Culture is human nature
- Independent invention v. diffusionism (or both)
- C20th people argue that cultures are not all on the same evolutionary path
- Focused on symbols and values
Social Anthropology
- Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown's students created it in the UK
- Focuses on social groups and institution rather than symbols and values
- More interested in cultural relativism than in cultural comparison
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: language influences thought
- Holistic study of humans
- Ethnography: primary method and the resulting text (Malinowski's; Boas promoted it)
- Four fields approach: physical, archaeological, linguistic, social/cultural
- Context, comparison, experience (participant observation): important
- Recently, local emphasis conjoined with interest in global too
Cultural Anthropology
- A reaction to culture versus nature opposition and to ethnology
- Culture is human nature
- Independent invention v. diffusionism (or both)
- C20th people argue that cultures are not all on the same evolutionary path
- Focused on symbols and values
Social Anthropology
- Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown's students created it in the UK
- Focuses on social groups and institution rather than symbols and values
- More interested in cultural relativism than in cultural comparison
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: language influences thought
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