Social Media Information Sharing Behaviour and the Critical Incident Technique - Example

CHAPTER _: METHODOLOGY The aim of this study was to create an understanding of social media information sharing behaviour and to identify factors that contribute to the behaviour. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was adopted for use in this study, and semi-structured interviews that provided qualitative data were used as the main data gathering tool. This chapter contains an in-depth description and justification of the CIT, the survey instrument and how it was developed, as well as a description of the pilot study that was conducted by the researcher. It also contains a description of the sampling procedure and the final sample that the researcher used in the study. Finally, this chapter contains a description of the analysis that was done on the collected data. The Critical Incident Technique The critical incident technique (CIT) has been defined as a qualitative research method that encourages the respondents featured in a study to provide descriptive data to the researcher by telling their personal stories (O’Neill, 2013). Flanagan (1954, p. 327 cited by Marcella, Rowlands & Baxter, 2013, p. 247) defines CIT in more detail as a “set of procedures for collecting direct observations of human behaviour in such a way as to facilitate their potential usefulness in solving practical problems and developing broad psychological principles.” As the person who initially conceptualised the CIT, Flanagan indicated that the technique was flexible and researchers could modify and adapt it to serve specific objectives in varying studies (Marcella et al., 2013). Flanagan further suggested that four data collection methods were ideal for use in the CIT. These are: questionnaires, record forms, group interviews, and individual interviews. CIT is therefore exploratory and is ideal for use when the researcher intends to create an enhanced understanding of factors or incidents that are not well understood (Butterfield, Borgen, Maglio & Amundson, 2009). Overall, CIT contains procedures that researchers use to collect information that helps them in understanding human behaviour and hence facilitating practical problem-solving and the development of psychological standards (Borgen, Amundson & Butterfield, 2008). In this study, semi-structured individual interviews were used. Specifically, respondents were asked to give examples of when they had shared information using social media tools. Additionally, individual respondents were asked to state what motivated them to share the information using social media tools. Moreover, respondents were asked to describe who they shared the information with and what the recipient used the information for. Further, respondents were asked how the technology they used supported them in information sharing. Finally, the respondents were asked to state their opinions on how the technology they had used in information sharing could be improved to enhance better sharing of information in the future. By adopting the CIT as a method of study, this paper has already chosen the qualitative research method as what it will use, and inductive analysis as the method of analysing data. As indicated by Butterfield et al. (2005), by using CIT, the researcher acts as the main data collection instrument. Additionally, CIT uses qualitative data which is observed through interview observations or open-ended questions, while analysing data is done through the inductive approach. Notably, the focus of CIT is on obtaining the perspective of the respondents (Butterfield et al., 2005). Development of the Survey Instrument A survey instrument is defined as a tool that researchers use for purposes of implementing a consistent data-obtaining protocol (OBSSR Textbook, 2015, para. 1). In this study, standard interview questions were developed. The researcher paid attention to the development of simple and succinct questions, all the while acknowledging that all the respondents would only give accurate answers to the interview questions if they clearly understood the questions. To enhance the ease of comprehension of the interview questions, the researcher followed several guidelines while developing the interview questions. First, each question was constructed with only one idea. Secondly, the researcher used a neutral language when formulating questions. Thirdly, the researcher avoided using leading questions. The researcher also paid attention to question ordering and questionnaire layout – all intended to make it easy for the respondents to navigate through the questions. Overall therefore, the interview questions were characterised by simple and clear wording, were specific, did not have foreign phrases or jargons, and abbreviations were kept at the bare minimum. As well, the interview questions avoided biases, were not incriminating in any way, and used complete sentences. The process of developing the survey instrument commenced with the clarification of what the study intended to achieve. Next, the researcher confirmed the research design and selected the respondent sample. The researcher then designed the interview questions and later conducted a pilot test. Based on the results of the pilot test, it was discovered that revising the interview questions was not necessary, and as a result, the researcher commenced working on the main study. After obtaining data from all targeted respondents, the researcher edited and coded data from the open-ended interview questions. Thereafter, the researcher undertook to verify data while documenting it in a computer. Finally, the researcher analysed the data and prepared a report that documented the research findings. The questions that the researcher used to bring out critical incident stories from the respondents were as follows: 1. Can you give me an example of when and what kind of information you shared using social media tools? 2. What motivated you to share the information in your example? 3. Who did you share it with? What did you end up doing with it? 4. How did the technology you used support you in sharing information? 5. How might the technology that you use be improved to support better sharing of information? All incidents indicated by the respondents were recorded and tabularised. All successful critical incidents were identified as those that featured a web-based service, which enabled the respondent to create a public profile, communicate to other people within the web-based system and view and interact with other connections within the system. The foregoing identification was done in recognition that social media has been defined as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2015, para. 1). Unsuccessful critical incidents were those where respondents identified e-mail as the tool that they used in sharing information. As Bradley (2010) notes, there is a distinction between email, which is a distribution mechanism that targets an identified person or groups of people, and other mediums of networking such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn among others, since the latter are a collective mechanism which thrives on mass collaboration. Pilot Study The pilot study was administered to three respondents personally known to the researcher in the same manner that it would have been administered during the main research project. The researcher however encouraged the three respondents to identify any ambiguities or difficulties encountered in answering the interview questions and to provide feedback regarding the same. The respondents were also requested to record the time that each one of them would take to answer all the interview questions and include their feedback on whether the time requirement was reasonable. Following Peat et al.’s (2002) recommendations, the researcher intended the responses obtained from the pilot study to provide a basis from which it could be assessed whether respondents were able to interpret the interview questions as intended and hence provide the right responses. Pilot Study Results From the responses provided by the three pilot study participants, it was clear that the first set of five questions were at best vague. All five were therefore reworded as can be seen in the section below. It also emerged that on average, all the three respondents used 45 minutes each to respond to the five questions. The fifteen minutes’ time commitment was regarded as reasonable to any potential respondent. Based on the responses obtained from the pilot study, the researcher therefore reworded some of the questions that did not elicit the expected responses. For example, all the three respondents in the pilot study felt that the first question was too vague. The researcher therefore revised the question to include time (the last four weeks). Overall, based on the pilot, the researcher shortened some questions and revised others. In the end, the five questions that were used in the main study were as follows: 1. Kindly give me an example of some information you have shared on social media in the last four weeks (one month). 2. What were your reasons for sharing the information on social media and not on any other forum (e.g. by texting your close friends)? 3. Did you tag anyone (or call specific people’s attention) to your post in the social media? Why or why not? 4. Which technological device (smart phone, tablet or personal computer) do you often use when posting messages on social media and why? 5. Which improvements would you like to see in your device of choice in question 4 above that will help you to better share information on social media? The five re-written question were further shared with the three participants for a brief re-piloting, and it was agreed that the questions) were clearer and much precise. It was therefore decided that the new set of five questions was more likely to elicit responses that would help the researcher obtain data that would help in meeting the aim of the study. Sampling procedure Purposeful sampling was adopted for use in this study. Purposeful sampling is defined as a technique that is used in identifying and selecting “information-rich cases for the most effective use of limited resources” (Palinkas et al, 2013, p. 2). With purposeful sampling, the researcher was able to select respondents based on their knowledge and use of social media, which was the topic of interest for the study. Moreover, purposeful sampling enabled the researcher to identify respondents who were available and willing to participate in the study, as well as those who were able to express their answers to the interview answers in a clear and reflective manner. Specifically, the study used Criterion-i purposeful sampling strategy, since it enabled the researcher to identify and pick respondents that met the social media usage criterion. Criterion-i was chosen because as Palinkas et al. (2013) observe, the strategy shares several characteristics with the more popular random probability methods of sampling. In particular, the Criterion-i strategy encourages researchers to draw respondents from a knowledge base. In this case, respondents had to have some knowledge in the use of social media. It is assumed that with such a sample, the data obtained by the researcher will be detailed and can be generalised (Palinkas et al., 2013). Random sampling was avoided because the researcher had to conform to a sampling criterion that required respondents to be frequent users of different social media forums. The Final Sample In total, 20 people participated in the study. As is the norm in most qualitative studies, this research did not aspire to obtain a sample that would be a proportionate representation of social media users and the information they share on social forums. Rather, the study aimed to attain a diverse coverage among social media users. It is for the foregoing reason that the purposeful selection criterion was used. Respondents were monitored for diversity areas, which include their ages, ethnicity and gender. For practical reasons, most specifically time and budget restrictions, respondents were sampled from a limited geographical location. It is worth noting that there are no definite findings that would indicate that a limited geographical sampling has an explicit impact on the findings of social media studies. Specifically, social media does not seem to be limited by geography in most developed countries. The data was collected in 10 days, which happened in the course of two weeks with the exception of weekends. Subjects and Settings All 20 respondents were sampled from the *** region. The selection criteria was that all respondents needed to have some basic knowledge about social media and at least an account with three social networking sites which could include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, MySpace or any other social media application. Additionally, the respondents were required to have shared some information on any of their three social media platforms in the past one month. Recent media activity was included as part of the selection criteria because it would enhance the respondents’ recollection of all critical incidents. The researcher interviewed all respondents at a place of their convenience. This meant that the researcher travelled from one location to another, and would need to make appointments with the respondents. In order to obtain responses that were a reflection of the diversity in the society, the researcher worked with a purposely sampled group of respondents who included the young adults (ages 18 to 35), mature adults (36 years and above), different genders, and different racial backgrounds. Research Rigour To enhance rigour or validity in this study, the researcher kept a reflective journal, validated all 20 respondents as users of social media, observed the respondents persistently throughout the research period, and engaged in peer debriefing. The researcher was guided by information from Hammersley (1992), which indicates that rigour in qualitative studies is enhanced through different activities by the researcher, which could include triangulation, auditing the researcher’s decision trail, reflectively keeping of a research journal and observing the respondents persistently in order to get cues that could inform the study. Data Analysis The grounded theory was used as the main premise in data analysis. Charmaz (2003) defines grounded theory as a combination of inductive research methods used for purposes of obtaining qualitative results, which are then used for theory development. The grounded theory emphasises the importance of flexible strategies, which the researcher uses to construct theories based on the results of the analysed data. In other words, the grounded theory creates room for new theories to be hypothesised by researchers based on findings obtained from new research projects. Grounded theory relies on the inductive thrust of researchers and the methods of study used in the research, and it is expected that the analysis of data provides a strong empirical base for emergent theories. The analyses are the source of focused and conceptual theories, which give an explanation of the subject of study. In other words, the data obtained from a research project acts as the ‘ground’ on which the theoretical categories formed during result analysis are anchored. To make the use of grounded theory easier, the researcher strived to observe the situations, intentions, significance and actions of the respondents throughout the study period, and especially when conducting the interviews. Through such observations, the researcher was able to develop specific theories, which were refined as gathering and analysing the qualitative data obtained through the critical incident technique took place. Just as Charmaz (2003) observes, the inductive processes starts when the researcher interacts with the first respondent. Such an interaction forms the basis upon which the study forms its first abstract ideas and categories. As the researcher interacts with more respondents, the tentative ideas, theories and categories are refined as the researcher identifies patterned relationships in the collected data. In the initial stages of the study, all possible theoretical concepts are considered. True to Charmaz’s (2003) observations however, the researcher should identify the most promising theories after gathering enough data, and pursue them. Summary This chapter provides a detailed description of the methods that were used to collect data, including the research tool, the development of the survey instrument, the sampling procedure and the data analysis method. Moreover, the chapter contains a description of how the pilot study was done and the impact that it had on the research. The chapter that follows will include a description of the collected data. References Borgen, W., Amundson, N., & Butterfield, L. (2008). Critical incident Technique. The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. Retrieved from http://srmo.sagepub.com/view/sage-encyc-qualitative-research-methods/n84.xml Bradley, A.J. (2010). Why isn’t e-mail (and other channels) considered social media? Retrieved from http://blogs.gartner.com/anthony_bradley/2010/05/17/why-isnt-e-mail-and-other-channels-considered-social-media/ Butterfield, L., Borgen, W., Amundson, N., & Maglio, A. (2005). Fifty years of the critical incident technique: 1954-2004 and beyond. Qualitative Research, 5, 475-497. Butterfield, L., Borgen, W., Maglio, A-S., & Amundson, N. (2009). Using the enhanced critical incident technique in counseling psychology research. Canadian Journal of Counseling, 43(4), 265-282. Charmaz, K. (2003). Grounded theory. In J.A. Smith (Ed.). Qualitative psychology : a practical guide to research methods. London: Sage (81-110). Hammersley, M. (1992). What is wrong with ethnography? London: Routledge. Marcella, R., Rowlands, H., & Baxter, G. (2013). The critical Incident technique as a tool for gathering data as part of a qualitative study of information seeking behavior. Proceedings of the European Conference on Research Methods for B, Conference Proceedings, 247-253. O’Neill, B. (2013). Assessing program impact with the critical incident technique. Journal of Extension, 51(3), 1-4. OBSSR Textbook. (2013). Sample surveys. Developing a survey instrument. Retrieved from http://www.esourceresearch.org/eSourceBook/SampleSurveys/6DevelopingaSurveyInstrument/tabid/484/Default.aspx Oxford Dictionaries. (2015), Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/social-media Palinkas, L., Horwitz, S., Green,C., Wisdon, J., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2013). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administrative Policy in Mental Health. 1-12. DOI 10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y Read More