[Air-L] Internet User Research

Mon Jun 29 01:25:34 PDT 2009

Hi John,

I am also conducting a research based on a user-centered approach and it
inquires the internet on the everyday life. At the moment it has a small
sample as well -in my case they are frequent users. I have struggled with
the sample problem with a theoretical sample. I guess that I will have
problems with this kind of methodology but currently I am more concerned
with an exploratory research than with another one with generalization
capacity.

Another issue that I would like to highlight is the hardness of this
approach, it is very time consuming, and it generates a huge amount of data,
well perhaps it is due to the fact of frequent users.   I also have combined
online and offline techniques.

Thanks Ronald for the papers,

Roser Beneito-Montagut
School of Computing, Multimedia and Telecommunications
UOC (Open University of Catalonia)

2009/6/29 Ronald E. Rice <rrice at comm.ucsb.edu>

> See, for example:
> Anigbogu, J. & Rice, R. E. (2001). Expectations and experiences of seeking
> infertility information via the Internet and telephone directory. In R. E.
> Rice & J. E. Katz (Eds.), The Internet and health communication:
> Expectations and experiences (pp. 121-143). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
>
> Cheong, P. H. (2008).  The young and techless?  Investigating internet use
> and problem-solving behaviors of young adults in Singapore.  New Media &
> Society, 10(5), 771-791.
>
> =======================================================
> Ronald E. Rice
> Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication
> Co-Director, Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media
> President of the International Communication Association 2006-2007
> Dept. of  Communication, 4840 Ellison Hall
> University of California
> Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4020
> Ph: 805-893-8696; Fax: 805-893-7102
> rrice at comm.ucsb.edu
> http://www.comm.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/rice.php
> http://www.cftnm.ucsb.edu/
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Meryl Krieger" <
> meryl.krieger at gmail.com>
> To: "John Stephen Veitch" <john.s.veitch at gmail.com>
> Cc: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 6:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Internet User Research
>
>
>
>  John:
>>
>> I can't say I fit in that majority if people aren't believing your results
>> because of sample size. While I don't do this everyday, my significant
>> other
>> does tech support at a major university (to remain nameless) and comments
>> on
>> this all the time. I find it interesting that there is such a disconnect
>> between the experiences of everyday computer users and those of us who are
>> immersed in technology - we ourselves *don't* represent the mainstream and
>> I
>> think that can be easy to forget. I find as I teach in the classroom that
>> I
>> am easily the best computer person in the room - my students are not IT
>> people they are taking gen ed classes in university and community college
>> classes. The range I see varies from people who don't know the difference
>> between a Mac and a PC (not kidding) to those who don't understand that
>> the
>> internet isn't a place on their computer. One student told me last week
>> that
>> his paper was saved "in" Microsoft Word - because that was the only way he
>> understood how to retrieve the file - rather than on a network drive. The
>> only reason he gets *there* is because that's how he was taught to save
>> files.
>>
>> You must have done so pretty fast talking to get these people to let you
>> watch them use their computers! Best of luck,
>>
>> Meryl
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 9:20 PM, John Stephen Veitch <
>> john.s.veitch at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  Hello Everyone
>>>
>>> It's a long time since I've contributed here.
>>> Six years ago I visited the homes of 14 randomly selected people and took
>>> notes as they used the Internet. (I don't recommend that you try that.)
>>>
>>> Several important things seemed to come out of that.
>>> The most startling for me was the poor level of knowledge and the LACK of
>>> use.
>>> Also that Internet use was private, and that people felt uncomfortable
>>> using
>>> the Internet while being watched, and I felt uncomfortable being there.
>>> That report is here.
>>> http://www.ate.co.nz/internet/bryndwr.html
>>>
>>> At the time members of this forum disbelieved my results. The sample is
>>> too
>>> small! Well yes it was, nobody can argue against that. However, as I
>>> think
>>> I
>>> now show, six years ago I was on the correct track. I should have
>>> followed
>>> that more vigorously. The summary says:
>>>
>>> "My research suggests that it will be many years before people understand
>>> how the internet can make a real difference in their lives. They use it
>>> in
>>> a
>>> manner that ensures that little difference is made. Most people would
>>> struggle to use it for more than 2 hours a week, including email.
>>>
>>> Most people have just enough knowledge to send an email and to search for
>>> and find a web site. People are not joining listservs, and for the most
>>> part, they do not buy things on the Internet. An internet connected
>>> computer
>>> is much more complex than a VCR machine. We know that most people can't
>>> programme their VCR's, so in a nutshell that's the problem."
>>>
>>> Six weeks ago I asked several local people to do something online that I
>>> thought was simple and that most people would do easily. No response,
>>> nothing. That got me thinking about the 2003 work, again.
>>>
>>> I prepared a list of about 30 Internet behaviours, and asked people to
>>> check
>>> their machines when the need to do so, and to count the number of times
>>> these behaviours occurred. People had time to prepare their replies. I
>>> only
>>> collected NUMBERS from them, relevant numbers that they had chosen. I
>>> found
>>> most people were very keen to help, and worked hard to give me sensible
>>> numbers.
>>>
>>> The results were reported back by telephone. That conversation often
>>> revealed more information about why this person used the Internet in the
>>> way
>>> they did.
>>>
>>> It's important to note that the homes in which this work was done were
>>> selected randomly.  However, the people who did the survey in each house
>>> were really volunteers. My request to them was that the "person who was
>>> most
>>> active on the Internet" should be the respondent.So the results should be
>>> heavily biased towards active use and towards the behaviour of the most
>>> knowledgeable users. It's therefore, very disappointing for me to see how
>>> little use is made of the technology.
>>>
>>> In particular, the feedback process, the self publishing possibilities of
>>> Web 2.0 technologies, seem to be used hardly at all. The failure of
>>> people
>>> to embrace social networks and social media surprises me.
>>>
>>> http://www.ate.co.nz/survey2009.html
>>>
>>> --
>>> John Stephen Veitch
>>> http://www.ate.co.nz/internet/
>>> http://www.openfuture.co.nz/
>>> http://openfuture-network.ryze.com/
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>>> http://www.aoir.org/
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> J. Meryl Krieger
>> Ph.D., Folklore & Ethnomusicology
>> Associate Instructor, xxxxxx University
>> Adjunct Instructor, xxxxx Community College
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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