Theme 4: Quantitative research

Journal: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (Impact Factor 1.778).

Paper: An Analysis of Language in University Students’ Text Messages (Lyddy et. al. 2013).

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

The data (text messages) were collected through a convenience sample where the subjects (the 139 students) were asked to provide 10 typical text messages (a total of 936 messages after the screening process) and also provide a purpose with the messages. A convenience sample is very easy to use, as the name suggests, because you survey the friends/colleagues/students in your nearest proximity. It is often used to test certain questions, to see what kind of results that arises and later use this as a base for a future questionnaire (Crossman 2013). Although, as a result of this, you cannot always draw general conclusions that apply to many different subject groups (gender, age, race etc.).

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

Mining quantitative data is certainly beneficial for a lot of reasons, one being the ability to find correlations between different self-defined data as they partly did in the paper, like the correlation between female text messagers and the frequent use of emoticons. The quantitative data also made it possible to debunk different predicted correlations such as the connection between longer text messages and the use of formal spelling (no connection). Quantitative data also gains another dimension, from which you can draw conclusions, when compared to similar quantitative data defined prior of the research (as they do in the paper when examining word frequency). Another thing I learned from reading the paper is the definition of the term convenience sample.  

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

I guess they could have chosen a more diverse group of subjects, although this contradicts the principles of a convenience sample. As this is not  an option they could in my opinion have benefited from being a little more subtle about their intentions with the research what kind of text messages they wanted from the subjects as to get more “realistic” text messages. In my opinion they might have, to some degree, lead the subjects into choosing text messages that they wanted to examine on beforehand.

Paper - Physical Activity, Stress, and Self-Reported Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI)

In the paper, the authors examine the relationship between physical activity, perceived stress and incidence of self-reported URTI. They conducted, in my opinion, a very large web questionnaire research from which they were able to mine some very useful data to analyze and draw conclusions from later on. It was kind of a news flash to me that they seeked counsel by an ethics committee, as to help avoid complications concerning consent when people answer the questions. This is perhaps something that will be useful in a future master thesis.  It is clear that their whole paper is based on the extremely quantitative data, which of course have benefits and limitations.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?

As we saw in the paper by Fondell et. al., one advantage of using quantitative data collection methods is that you are able to construct data and to compare different data with each other, as they for example did with the MET values and their collected physical activity data. This method is often used within relatively new areas where a lot of research does not yet exist. To summarize, quantitative research refers to empirical research of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical data or computational techniques.  (Wikipedia 2013a). One limitation is of course the lack of depth in the collected data.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?

The qualitative method of data gathering is all about digging deeper and asking questions like why and how human behavior works. It is not a good data gathering method if you wish to say something in general or apply it to a lot of people, but it is very good for understanding particular, smaller cases to a higher extent, in areas where research often are pre-existing (Wikipedia 2013b). You can gather both qualitative and quantitative data by handing out questionnaires or carrying out interviews (although interviews tends to take a long time). Focus groups are preferably carried out when you want to collect in-depth, qualitative data.

Resources

Fondell, E. et al., 2011. Physical activity, stress, and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 43(2), pp.272–9. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20581713 [Accessed November 25, 2013].

Lyddy, F. et al., 2013. An Analysis of Language in University Students’ Text Messages. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, (2010), p.n/a–n/a. Available at: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/jcc4.12045 [Accessed November 26, 2013].

Crossman, A. Convenience Sample, 2013 - http://sociology.about.com/od/Types-of-Samples/a/Convenience-Sample.htm [retreived on November 26 2013]

Wikipedia, a - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_research [retreived on November 25 2013]

Wikipedia, b - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research [retreived on November 25 2013]

Theme 3: Reflection

In the beginning of this weeks second seminar we talked shortly about our articles that we chose and the main theories used in them. I talked about social presence and telepresence whereupon Stefan suggested that I took a close look on the theory of social capital and how it relates to social presence. I guess that what they have in common is the different benefits you get from your social interactions, be it when playing virtual golf (as in my article) or benefits from social networks (for example for finding a new job via your friends and colleagues on Facebook). We also brainstormed a bit about how you could incorporate the Oculus Rift (http://www.oculusvr.com) into virtual golf to enhance the telepresence (the feeling of presence in the virtual world) which I found very interesting. Although it might be hard to incorporate the use of physical elements (golf clubs, golf balls etc.) in the Oculus Rift technology and thus you might lose some sense of social presence. This of course doesn’t have to be a disadvantage.

Moving on we talked about the theory of cooperative principle and the separation into gricean maxims which is basically a theory of how an effective conversation or communication is built. Together we wrote a short description and concluded that this is what Gregor call an explanation theory. I believe that this is so because it does not contain any predictions of the future and no scientifically testable propositions. Although it goes deeper than to just explain what the theory is about (analysis theory) and partly tells the story of why these maxims are valid. 

After this we talked a bit about theories in general and what they are in reality. Someone asked if we could consider a hypothesis as a kind of theory and we all concluded that this was not the case. I believe that a prediction or hypothesis can be considered as a building stone for a theory but in order for it to be complete it will have to contain some kind of logical argument explaining why it is relevant and how it should be used in the study. These arguments can also be found in the text by Gregor. 

In order for a theory to become generalized (which we concluded is a necessity for strong theory) the common belief in a society has to be that it is in fact valid. This is in my opinion very comparable to the theory of knowledge from last week. Although even if a theory is generalized and considered common belief is has an expiration date, in my opinion. New theories arises constantly and they often render the old ones moot. This of course makes the applied theories (theories that are focused on one specific subject and can be a part of a theory becoming common belief) invalid too.

Theme 3: Research and Theory

Journal - New Media & Society

This is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes peer-reviewed papers on communication, media and cultural studies, sociology, geography, anthropology, economics, the political and information sciences and the humanities. It is a well known journal within media technology studies and it has an impact factor of 1.824. It is an international journal that treats both empirical and theoretical research mainly within new media development.

Paper Summary - Presence in virtual golf simulators: The effects of presence on perceived enjoyment, perceived value, and behavioral intention

In this paper the main problem is about peoples feeling of presence (telepresence and social presence) when they play a golf game using a virtual golf simulator. The perceived enjoyment, perceived value and behavioral intention were measured using questionnaires. The results showed that the social interactions had higher value than the technology of the simulators themselves, i.e. the success of the virtual golf simulators may be more related to an enhanced sense of socialization with other players, rather than the virtual reality technology itself.

Critical examination

In my opinion the authors had a nice balance between telepresence (to which extent the player is present in the virtual world) and social presence (to which extend the player is present in the physical simulator area) in their report. Although the amount of male subjects were significantly higher than the female subjects and the fact that they only tested this feeling of presence on experienced virtual golfers may have affected their results a bit. I believe that the usage of questionnaires were appropriate within these circumstances. They examined many people and the only other alternative would be to use physiological tools to measure cognitive and emotional responses, which would take a lot of time and would not necessarily improve the results.

Moving on, their discussion contain a high amount of extensive information, although the information remain relevant. They conclude that social presence plays an important role in enhancing the experience of presence in virtual golf simulators. Social presence has a very positive effect on perceived enjoyment and perceived value. They also end with a broader look on the psychological benefits of the report when it comes to presence in virtual worlds in general. Another good aspect is the fact that they emphasize their methodological limitations. All and all I think they succeeded in evaluating the results, although I miss some discussion on how and why the subjects did not feel “transported into the virtual environment” (telepresent) to a higher extent.

Briefly explain to a first year student what theory is, and what theory is not.

A theory is something that aims to explain, inform or in some way provide logical grounds for further research. Simply stating facts or referring to different research papers or other sources is not theory due to its lack of logical argument, but it can function as support for theory. Theory at least has to answer the question why. It can also answer the question of what, how, when, where and what will be. Theory can also explain relations between different variables and/or data. A strong theory often contain very few statements and build a logically detailed case from there. It tells a story of why acts, events, structure and thoughts occur.

Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

The main theories used by Lee, Chung and Lee (2012) is about perceived enjoyment, perceived value and behavioral intention and the sense of tele- and social presence. Their empirical research were supported by facts and information from research prior to their own and they also supply a strong hypothesis (a prediction). Their hypothesis is highly testable and they provide extensive discussions and explanations to their results. Because of this I draw the conclusion that their theory should be classified as type four (Explanation and Prediction, EP) (Gregor 2006).

Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

EP theory implies understanding of causes and predictions as well as description of the theoretical constructs and their interconnectedness. This type of theory provide a very solid ground to future arguments and future research and it is applicable in many different research areas (although often very specific sub areas).

The limitations of EP theory is that it is often very specific to one case and is therefore not always applicable on a broader scale. The article I chose, for example, only examines one specific type of golf simulator on a very specific type of people (die hard golfers). Therefore the results may not be applicable to all golfers or all people for that matter, which they clearly state in their discussion.

Resources

Lee, H.-G., Chung, S. & Lee, W.-H., 2012. Presence in virtual golf simulators: The effects of presence on perceived enjoyment, perceived value, and behavioral intention. New Media & Society, 15(6), pp.930–946. Available at: http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/1461444812464033 [Accessed November 18, 2013].

Gregor, S., 2006. The Nature of Theory in Information Systems, 30(3), pp.611–642.

Sutton, R. & Staw, B.M., 2013. ASQ Forum What Theory is Not., 40(3), pp.371–384.

Theme 2: Reflection

In the lecture by Leif Dahlberg he partly talked about, or clarified, what is really meant by (the) enlightenment, which was really helpful to me as I thought that the definition in Adorno and Horkheimer was a bit unclear. In my blog post that connects to this reflection I mainly wrote about how the enlightenments mission or cause is demythologization and putting man in charge of his own life. Dahlberg concluded that this was in fact true but he had some other good points, like a quote from Kant: “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self- imposed tutelage.Tutelage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. [...] ‘Have the courage to use your own understanding,’ is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.” This implies that enlightenment is the liberating force from fear and submission.

Reading through other students blog posts about what enlightenment is, or the effects of it, I noticed that some did not differentiate on enlightenment and the enlightenment which I think is a pretty big deal. I mean that the enlightenment is the era when enlightenment came to be (and many agree with me according to their blog posts). Although in my opinion most of the students got it right and wrote very good summaries about (the) enlightenment. 

Then there is the problem of the culture industry, mass media and mass deception. The enlightenment is of course a big part of what caused of the culture industry, as we read about and heard in the lecture. It is interesting to think about how we personally contribute to the culture industry by for example consuming the new blockbuster movies from Hollywood (that leave us with close to no reflective thoughts afterwards) and how we passively consume televised or web based commercials on a daily basis. It can be very frightening to think about how Facebook and/or Google tracks peoples moves on the Internet and uses it for direct advertising. The phrase “If you are not paying, you are the product” comes to mind in these circumstances. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Prior to the blog post seminar I did a lot of searching on the Internet for interesting sources to use. The hard part was to decide which sources that were credible enough to use as a source of solid information. I found many blogs and forum posts where people from all over the world posted their personal opinions on what enlightenment is, for example, but I did not think that this was good enough to use. It would be very helpful to get some tips on how and where you can find extensive sources to read facing the next lectures and seminars. What constitute a good enough source?

Theme 2: Critical media studies

1. What is Enlightenment?

The enlightenment is the rise of knowledge and the fall of enchantment and mythology. Enlightenment is everything that is arranged according to reason, like science and ethics. It is the “happy match” between human understanding and the nature of things.

2. What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?

Myth is all sorts of knowledge that existed before enlightenment. Myth emphasizes individual experience over what is proved by scientific observations. Enlightenment is known to demythologize but at the same time Adorno and Horkheimer write that “Myth is already enlightenment, and enlightenment reverse to myth”. I believe the meaning of this paradox is that myth is already enlightenment in that they both try to understand and identify with nature in order to control it. Myth is a form of enlightenment even though enlightenment rejects myth (it denies its own sources).

3. What are the “old” and “new” media that are discussed in the Dialectic of Enlightenment?

The authors mean that the new culture system is depicted best in radio, film and magazines. These “new” mass media technologies, that are able to spread opinions all over the world, are the main drivers towards social changes all over the world. These “new” media take up all the space so that there are no room left for “old” media, like for example art (paintings, sculptures etc.). “Old” media focuses on creativity and individualism to a higher degree than “new” media, according to the authors. The “new” media and its capitalist, profit focused purpose, creates some problems as we will see in the answers to the coming questions.

4. What is meant by “culture industry”?

The culture industry is an industry in which millions participate. It is viewed as something open and democratic because everyone can easily be a part of it. The people who are “in charge” of the culture industry decide what counts as culture. Horkheimer and Adorno define culture industry by its focus on media and mass marketing (deception?). They mean that capital decides the outcome of a product today and they break it down to systems, or ideas, of technology, mass production and monopoly. A mass production of technological goods occur because we as customers demand it. Therefore the technology of the culture industry is trying to achieve standardisation and mass production (sometimes monopolistically).  

5. What is the relationship between mass media and “mass deception”, according to Adorno and Horkheimer?

Mass media has the power to mass deceit. The mass media industry produces a range of products to titillate a range of consumers, so that “none may escape”. This of course renders the receivers interaction moot. It leaves the consumer non reflective and/or without critical thought. The authors mean that this is the triumph of capital over culture and that is the “really meaningful content of every (for example) film”.

6. Please identify one or two concepts/terms that you find particularly interesting. Motivate your choice.

I found the concepts of myth and enlightenment to be interesting because of their paradoxical relationship towards one another. Even today I would argue that our (common?) belief  that science will provide us with the answers for a blooming future for example, we cannot know that it will and thus it has some mythical degree to it. Sometimes I feel like we have to believe this in order to be able to carry on, and thus it also serves the same purpose as a myth does, or can do.

In my opinion a difference between myth and enlightenment is that the purpose of myth can be deceitful, whereas enlightenment most of the times aims to explain things based on hard facts. Although, the fact that enlightenment aims to reduce life and nature to the measurable and the controllable (as I wrote about shortly in question 2) makes it myth. Because of this, the contradiction that enlightenment has against myth gets invalid.

References

Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (2002): The Dialectic of Enlightenment, Philosophical Fragments. Standford: Standford University Press.

Alparslan, N. (2008): Concept of Enlightenment – Theodor Adorno & Max Horkheimer. Cultural Studies and Literature Blog. <http://zenfloyd.blogspot.se/2008/11/concept-of-enlightenment-theodor-adorno.html>. Retrieved at November 14, 2013.

Theme 1: Reflection

In my opinion Russells definition of sense-data were easy to relate to as it was presented very rationally and well. Most course participants seems to have come to the same conclusion about sense-data as I have, that it is the things that are immediately known in sensation such as color or sound, which feels good and reassuring. I enjoyed the very simple, but still highly explanatory, summarizing sentence written by Ragnar Schön: "To differentiate between the appearance of an object and the reality or "truth" of an object, Russell introduces sense-data and physical object where the former is the appearance of the latter."

Moving on, I had some trouble to define what was meant by a "statement of fact" and "proposition" in relation to other verbal expressions. This required some querying on the Internet that resulted in a lot of different review sites with many different interpretations, of varying quality, of the same question. I came to the conclusion that a statement of fact is a proposition that many agree on, that is generally accepted as a fact. Some student wrote that a proposition is a statement based on beliefs, but my interpretation of "proposition" was that a proposition is a statement that has to be based on components that we are acquainted with in order for us to understand it. We have to know its sense-data. This renders me unsure if I made the right conclusions about what a proposition actually is according to Russell. I leave this up to discussion. Reading through other students answers it was kind of nice, or mostly reassuring, to see that I was not the only one having trouble defining this.

It was very easy to see which students that had a knack for reading and evaluating complex philosophical texts like this one and which students that behaved more "engineer-like" by trying to interpret the true meaning of the text and get the answers absolutely right. I believe that I myself lie somewhere in the middle, not trying to over complicate things but at the same time focusing on answering the questions as straight on as possible. One thing that I feel is true is that no matter how much time you spend analyzing texts like Russells, you always feel you could have drawn better conclusions, related it to more philosophical works etc. As an engineering student I sometimes feel somewhat frustrated by this, but at the same time I believe that as an engineering student I have a lot to benefit from it.

Theme 1: Theory of science, pre-reflection

Sense-data

Russell defines sense-data as the things that are immediately known in sensation, such as colors, sounds, smells etc. With "sensation" he means something that you do, an experience, and he thereafter exemplifies the object of the experience (i.e. the table) as sense-data. I believe he brings up the notion of sense-data to ask questions like how we perceive and define "physical objects". This then leads to the question of what "matter" really is. Is there such a thing at all, and if so, what is its nature? Sense-data lay the foundation on which Russell develop his thoughts on philosophy.  

Proposition and statement of fact

A statement of fact can be described as a proposition that most people consider valid. Although this proposition that is considered a fact may not always be true or correct; different people have different opinions. A proposition must consist of components that we are acquainted with, i.e. we have experienced it and know its sense-data, in order for us to fully understand it (to be able to call it a statement of fact). This all relates to Russell points about the difference between the knowledge of things and the knowledge of truths.

The difference between "statement of fact" and "proposition" in relation to other verbal expressions is that they addresses some sense of reality. They are applicable to our notion of reality and can be evaluated based on that.

Definite description

Firstly, Russell defines a ambiguous description as "so-and-so". He then proceeds to define the definite description as "the so-and-so". To exemplify this you could say that "a ball" is a ambiguous description where as "the golden ball (ballon d'Or)" is a definite description. 

Russell then concludes that knowledge by (definite) description enables us as individuals to pass beyond the limit of our private experience. This means that we can construct a sense on meaning to (physical) objects that that we have not yet experienced (we have no sense-data about it).

Knowledge (epistemology)

One point that Russell make is about derivative and intuitive knowledge of truth. He concludes that most of what we know should be considered probable opinion, i.e. something that we believe to be true because it is derived from something which has not the highest degree of self-evidence, i.e. things that  we know by acquaintance a complex fact consisting of certain terms in a certain relation.

I believe Russell means that derivative knowledge is some thing that we know where the known conditions are known intuitively. Intuitive knowledge can be valid because of its degree of self-evidence. Our acquaintances with sense-data and how we perceive things are very self-evident.

He proceeds to talk about the nature of "things", or rather a things "nature", and that you cannot understand a the nature of a specific "thing" if you do not know the "things" relation to every other "thing" in the universe. He means that acquaintance of a thing does not involve a knowledge of its relations and a knowledge of some relations does not imply knowledge of all its relations, and therefore nor a knowledge of its "nature". As an example, one might be acquainted with the use of Internet without knowing all about its nature, as a computer scientist might do.