Qualitative research
I have chosen the paper Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media by Joanne Gikas and Michael M. Grant [1]. It explores both teaching and learning when devices such as smartphones and cellphones were implemented in higher education.Which qualitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?
The study uses focus groups interviews as its only method. The main benefits of focus group interviews are that they provide an opportunity for free discussion among the participants, it saves both time and money compared to individual interviews and tone of voice, body language and other visual and auditory queues can be detected by the moderator which would go unnoticed in a survey or questionnaire. But there are also limitations to using focus group interviews; since the interview is conducted in a group setting some participants will take more space in the discussion than others meaning that some opinions might not be fully voiced, there could be social pressure to agree with the common opinion and some participants might not be comfortable with sharing certain information in a interview or group setting.
These interviews were conducted online, which provides some extra benefits and limitations. The main benefits are that there is a lower cost to conduct these interviews and it allows for easier participation over long distances, the main limitations are that there might be technical difficulties and delay which could hinder discussion, the participants also won't be able to interact in the same way as they would face to face and auditory and visual queues are much harder to detect in an online setting.
What did you learn about qualitative methods from reading the paper?
I learnt that focus group interview can be used as the only method in a study, I have never really considered it a viable alternative as a sole method. But the study was conducted in a very good way in my opinion, and it also showed how important the opinions of participants can be when conducting research and that quantitative data is not always needed to draw compelling conclusions.
Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the qualitative method or methods have been improved?
I would say say that the main methodological issue in this study is that the interviews were conducted online. While it did make it possible for the researchers to conduct interviews with students from institutions from different parts in the US the technology is still very limiting. I believe that individual interviews are to be preferred when conducting them online, this mainly due to delay which makes group discussions close to impossible, and that this study could have been improved either by having online individual interviews or in person focus group interviews.
Case study
Briefly explain to a first year university student what a case study is
A case study is a reseach method which focuses on one or several specific subjects, or cases, in a specific context; this could for example be persons, events, projects etc. It focuses on understanding the dynamics present and provides an in-depth view into this subject and can be used in both social and natural sciences but is more commonly used in social sciences. Within a case study several other research methods are used, both qualitative and quantitative, such as interviews, observations and experiments. Case studies are used to create new theories and descriptions as well as to test existing theories. [2,3]
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.
I have chosen the study Social Media Competetive Analysis and Text mining: A Case Studt in the Pizza Industry by Wu He, Shenghua Zha and Ling Li [4]. It analyses unstructured text content on the three largest pizza chains in the US's Facebook and Twitter in order to perform a social media competitive analysis.
The main strengths of this study is the first steps in Eisenhardt's eight steps of the process of building theory from case study research. It is very clear and precise when getting started, selecting cases, crafting instruments and protocols, entering the field and analysing data. Especially the selection of cases is done with good reasoning and data behind it. The population "pizza chains" was chosen because it was one of the first industries that entered the social media arena for business purposes and has a large social media user base, then the three largest pizza chains. The outputs Twitter and Facebook because they have been shown by previous research to be the largest social media outlets and lastly the time period of October because it is the busiest period for pizza chains. It has also chosen both a qualitative, text mining and analysis and quantitative, looking at follower count etc, methods of data collection which provides a good ground for theory to stand upon.
The weaknesses of this study would be the latter steps in the process: sharping hypotheses, enfolding literature and researching closure. In my opinion they do not compare the three cases with each other, which one of the research questions was based on. No competitive analysis, meaning identifying and evaluating competitors' strategies and their strengths and weaknesses relative to your own [5], is actually being done in my opinion. There is also a lack of comparison with both conflicting and similar literature.
[1] Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, 18-26.
[2] http://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/fallstudie
[3] Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research.Academy of management review, 14(4), 532-550.
[4] He, W., Zha, S., & Li, L. (2013). Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case study in the pizza industry. International Journal of Information Management, 33(3), 464-472.
[5] http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/competitive-analysis
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.
I have chosen the study Social Media Competetive Analysis and Text mining: A Case Studt in the Pizza Industry by Wu He, Shenghua Zha and Ling Li [4]. It analyses unstructured text content on the three largest pizza chains in the US's Facebook and Twitter in order to perform a social media competitive analysis.
The main strengths of this study is the first steps in Eisenhardt's eight steps of the process of building theory from case study research. It is very clear and precise when getting started, selecting cases, crafting instruments and protocols, entering the field and analysing data. Especially the selection of cases is done with good reasoning and data behind it. The population "pizza chains" was chosen because it was one of the first industries that entered the social media arena for business purposes and has a large social media user base, then the three largest pizza chains. The outputs Twitter and Facebook because they have been shown by previous research to be the largest social media outlets and lastly the time period of October because it is the busiest period for pizza chains. It has also chosen both a qualitative, text mining and analysis and quantitative, looking at follower count etc, methods of data collection which provides a good ground for theory to stand upon.
The weaknesses of this study would be the latter steps in the process: sharping hypotheses, enfolding literature and researching closure. In my opinion they do not compare the three cases with each other, which one of the research questions was based on. No competitive analysis, meaning identifying and evaluating competitors' strategies and their strengths and weaknesses relative to your own [5], is actually being done in my opinion. There is also a lack of comparison with both conflicting and similar literature.
[1] Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, 18-26.
[2] http://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/fallstudie
[3] Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research.Academy of management review, 14(4), 532-550.
[4] He, W., Zha, S., & Li, L. (2013). Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case study in the pizza industry. International Journal of Information Management, 33(3), 464-472.
[5] http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/competitive-analysis
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