Information and Telecommunications Needs Research

Philosophy & Methods

Over the last eight years (and during the previous five years as Telecommunications Needs Research Group – TNRG - at RMIT), ITNR has had the privilege of researching the human aspects of telecommunications, particularly in relation to information and communication. Our focus, right from the beginning, has been on people and their needs, long before it became more fashionable to focus on users. Our research has its discipline base in information management, communications, and in the social sciences. From an interpretivist philosophical base, we take constructivist approaches to our research, building upon a close study of how people construct meanings and uses in their everyday lives. By the chosen methods and assumptions, these approaches indirectly critique other research which begins with received concepts and theories and applies them without regard for social change, contextual differences and ideological appropriateness. Because context is important to our research (at least in the sense that people exist within the context of their individual and social lives), we also describe our work as ‘ecological’. We particularly use ethnographic methods to analyse user needs (in relation to information and technology) and to understand how systems and services can be developed, or adapted, to meet those needs. Where appropriate, we then use action research to trial and adjust technology or services in order to achieve an optimal fit with the user.

Despite our emphasis on qualitative/interpretivist approaches, our research methods are flexible: we seek to match the method/s to the research question/s. They are also adaptable to a wide range of fields, e.g., legal and business, as well as the community sector. We are also interested in wide spectrum of users, e.g., people with disabilities, older people, young people, and online investors.

Constructivist approaches underpin much of ITNR’s work. We draw on both personal construct theory, as expounded by Kelly (1955), as well as social constructionist theory, of which Berger and Luckman (1967) are key exponents. On the one hand, we believe that each individual constructs his or her reality, which is always at least slightly different from any other person’s. Guba and Lincoln (1981) have compared the resultant multiple realities with the layers of an onion, each layer providing a different perspective of reality, with none being considered more ‘ true’ than any other (p.57). On the other hand, we also believe that in all societies, people share meanings which are mediated by their particular culture, religion and social network, and that there is usually a range of cultural/sub-cultural impacts on each individual. Another theorist whose work is used in ITNR research is Giddens (1984), whose structuration theory sees culture as comprising both objective and subjective perspectives and the kinds of knowledge implied by both.

Grounded theory is also used in our research.  Originally conceived by Glaser and Strauss (1967), grounded theory fits well with constructivist approaches to research. When we are undertaking an interpretivist/ constructivist study, we attempt to build theory ‘from the ground up’ by collecting and analysing our data and then developing ‘...concepts, insights and understanding from patterns in the data ...’ (Reneker 1993, p.499). Constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz 2003) is particularly favoured by ITNR because this form of grounded theory makes no claim to be objective.  It “recognises that the viewer creates the data and ensuing analysis through interaction with the viewed” and therefore the data do not provide a window on an objective reality (p.273). Thus there is recognition that researchers’ backgrounds will influence their interpretations of the data meaning that, although every effort is made to look at “how ‘variables’ are grounded, there is acceptance of the part played by the researcher.

Ethnography, in its modern form, is a very flexible method. The available techniques include participant and non-participant observation and interviewing of both individuals and in focus groups. All of these techniques are used in ITNR research.

Bibliography
Berger, Peter L. and Luckman, Thomas (1967) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Press.

Charmaz, K. (2003). Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist methods. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (eds), Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry. 2^nd ed. (pp. 249-291). Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage.

Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of a Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press.Guba, Egon G and Lincoln (1981) Effective Evaluation. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.

Glaser, Barney G. and Strauss, Anslem L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine.

Guba, E.G. & Lincoln, Y. (1981) Effective Evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kelly, George (1955) The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Vols 1 and 2. New York: Norton.

Reneker, Maxine H. (1993) ‘A qualitative study of information seeking among members of an academic community: methodological issues and problems’. Library Quarterly, 63 (4), pp. 487-507.