scholarly journals Computer-Mediated Communication to Facilitate Synchronous Online Focus Group Discussions: Feasibility Study for Qualitative HIV Research Among Transgender Women Across the United States

10.2196/12569 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. e12569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L Wirtz ◽  
Erin E Cooney ◽  
Aeysha Chaudhry ◽  
Sari L Reisner ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Hiv Research

scholarly journals Computer-Mediated Communication to Facilitate Synchronous Online Focus Group Discussions: Feasibility Study for Qualitative HIV Research Among Transgender Women Across the United States (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L Wirtz ◽  
Erin E Cooney ◽  
Aeysha Chaudhry ◽  
Sari L Reisner ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Computer Mediated

BACKGROUND Novel, technology-based methods are rapidly increasing in popularity across multiple facets of quantitative research. Qualitative research, however, has been slower to integrate technology into research methodology. One method, computer-mediated communication (CMC), has been utilized to a limited extent for focus group discussions. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess feasibility of an online video conferencing system to further adapt CMC to facilitate synchronous focus group discussions among transgender women living in six cities in eastern and southern United States. METHODS Between August 2017 and January 2018, focus group discussions with adult transgender women were conducted in English and Spanish by research teams based in Boston, MA, and Baltimore, MD. Participants were sampled from six cities: Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; and Miami, FL. This was formative research to inform a technology-enhanced cohort study to assess HIV acquisition among transgender women. This analysis focused on the methodologic use of CMC focus groups conducted synchronously using online software that enabled video or phone discussion. Findings were based on qualitative observations of attendance and study team debriefing on topics of individual, social, technical, and logistical challenges encountered. RESULTS A total of 41 transgender women from all six cities participated in seven online focus group discussions—five English and two Spanish. There was equal racial distribution of black/African American (14/41, 34%) and white (14/41, 34%) attendees, with 29% (12/41) identifying as Hispanic/Latina ethnicity. Overall, 29 of 70 (41%) eligible and scheduled transgender women failed to attend the focus group discussions. The most common reason for nonattendance was forgetting or having a scheduling conflict (16/29, 55%). A total of 14% (4/29) reported technical challenges associated with accessing the CMC focus group discussion. CMC focus group discussions were found to facilitate geographic diversity; allow participants to control anonymity and privacy (eg, use of pseudonyms and option to use video); ease scheduling by eliminating challenges related to travel to a data collection site; and offer flexibility to join via a variety of devices. Challenges encountered were related to overlapping conversations; variable audio quality in cases where Internet or cellular connection was poor; and distribution of incentives (eg, cash versus gift cards). As with all focus group discussions, establishment of ground rules and employing both a skilled facilitator and a notetaker who could troubleshoot technology issues were critical to the success of CMC focus group discussions. CONCLUSIONS Synchronous CMC focus group discussions provide a secure opportunity to convene participants across geographic space with minimal time burden and without losing the standardized approach that is expected of focus group discussions. This method may provide an optimal alternative to engaging hard-to-reach participants in focus group discussions. Participants with limited technological literacy or inconsistent access to a phone and/or cellular data or service, as well as circumstances necessitating immediate cash incentives may, however, require additional support and accommodation when participating in CMC focus group discussions.

scholarly journals Competing Cultural Worldviews in the United States: A Phenomenological Examination of the Essential Core Elements of Transnationalism and Transculturalism

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Orbe ◽  
Darlene Drummond
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Cultural Worldviews ◽  
Core Elements

The objective of this study was to explore inductively the complex ways in which everyday discourse reflects larger - and often competing - cultural worldviews. A phenomenological framework was used to analyze transcripts generated through 13 focus group discussions involving 100 individuals. This particular analysis highlights how individuals who adopted a transnational worldview worked to transform cultural divisions through criticism of existing labels that failed to capture the multicultural nature of their identifies. Alternatively, individuals who adopted a transcultural worldview worked to transcend traditional cultural divisions through a rejection of traditional labels that worked against one unified social identity. The thematic insights generated through the study are significant in that they provide a heuristic framework for scholars and practitioners who are interested in promoting greater understanding through engaging transnationalism, transculturalism, and related issues.

Toward Developing Questionnaire Items to Measure Effectiveness of Computers in Teaching

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Mitra
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Liberal Arts University ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Reliable Scale

This article reports on a longitudinal study of the effectiveness of computerizing a liberal arts university in the United States. The article uses data from the study to develop a reliable scale to measure attitudes related to four parameters of the learning process. Specifically, the scale reported here can be used to measure the climate of interaction developed by computerization, the specific communication patterns offered by computer mediated communication and the different perceived expectations about the promise of technology provided by the computerization process. It is expected that the statistically reliable scale can be used for measurements across different institutions.

‘Over to you’: Can Europe restrain Microsoft's threat to freedom of musical expression in computer-mediated communication?

Popular Music ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
ARNOLD S. WOLFE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Open Nature ◽  
Human Enterprise

The United States Supreme Court characterised the trend toward the convergence of the communication, music and computer worlds as ‘a promising new medium that could empower citizens and promote democracy in the next millennium’. Yet inquiry into United States vs Microsoft, the case that may determine whether ‘the free and open nature of … computer-assisted communication’ will remain ‘free and open’ has been lacking. This study focuses on the antitrust and First Amendment implications of Microsoft's disputed strategy of marrying its Web browser to its operating system (OS) software.The study argues that rulings on the legality of this strategy have ramifications for Microsoft's subsequent move to suture its streaming audio and video software to its OS product. Implications of this case – and the European Commission's similar inquiry into such suturing – for popular music as an industry, as an industrialised technology, and as a form of communication are discussed. Scholars, practitioners, and fans must be ever mindful that when one firm dominates a human enterprise as central to contemporary life as personal computing, the opportunity for abuse exists.

Social Presence in the Web-Based Classroom

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senem Yildiz
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Graduate Courses ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Social

Social presence is a theory derived from social psychology to explain social interactions in a mediated communication and is defined as the degree to which interlocutors in a communications medium perceive each other as real. This study investigates the effect of computer-mediated communication on the social presence of international students who spoke English as a foreign language in two Web-based graduate courses offered in the United States and aims to explore how linguistic and cultural differences influenced their social presence.

scholarly journals Investigating uses and perceptions of an online collaborative workspace for the dissertation process

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Management ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Limited Basis ◽  
Microsoft Office ◽  
Dissertation Process

The intent of this study was to investigate 93 doctoral candidates’ perceptions and use of an online collaboration workspace and content management server, Microsoft Office SharePoint, for dissertation process. All candidates were enrolled in an Ed.D. programme in the United States. Descriptive statistics demonstrate that candidates frequently use SharePoint for a variety of reasons, including assisting them in sharing and gaining information, improving the flow and organisation of the dissertation process and collaborating with their advisors mentors, in the dissertation process. Results of the multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that doctoral students’ who extensively use SharePoint have significantly higher student-to-student connectedness and student-to-advisors connectedness than doctoral students who use it moderately and on a limited basis. Additional results revealed that sense of connectedness and satisfaction are positively associated with the different features of SharePoint. Since using SharePoint to facilitate the mentorship during the dissertation process is positively associated with connectedness and satisfaction, it may positively influence completion and time to completion of a doctoral programme.Keywords: doctoral education; computer-mediated communication; cooperative/ collaborative learning; distance education(Published: 24 September 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18192 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18192

scholarly journals Multilevel model of meme diffusion of fracking through Twitter

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adiyana Sharag-Eldin ◽  
Xinyue Ye ◽  
Brian Spitzberg
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technology ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Multilevel Model ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated

The recent identification of potentially extensive shale-gas resources within the United States has generated mixed public and political responses. The purpose of this study is to apply the Multilevel Model of Meme Diffusion (M3D) in an empirical case study of the fracking controversy. This analysis supports the heuristic value of the M3D and the value of digital technologies as indexes of controversial opinions, showing the potential of monitoring and registering social opinion trends with geospatially sensitive methods. This study integrates the fields of geography and computer-mediated communication technology to account for social processes.

scholarly journals The Use Of Computer Mediated Communication In Consumer Complaining: A Study In Higher Education

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Beth Pinto ◽  
Phylis Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Eastern Half

The electronic channel for consumer complaining has increased dramatically in recent years and continued growth is expected in the future. The objective of this research was to explore how computer-mediated communication is being used as a channel for complaining in higher education. A study was conducted of the complaint intentions of 222 students at one college in the eastern half of the United States.  Four complaining dimensions were studied:  Voice, Negative Word-of-Mouth, Third Party, and Exit.  The results indicated that the most common behavioral intentions are: Complain to other students face-to-face, complain to the professor in office, and never take another class from the professor. The research findings also indicate the number of students who are likely to use computer-mediated communication to complain. In addition, the results show strong correlations between computer-mediated complaining and other complaining responses.

Innovation and Utility in the Optical Transport Network

2011 ◽  
pp. 773-790
Author(s):  
R.K. Koslowsky
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Market ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Service Provisioning ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Optical Transport Network ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The World

This chapter addresses the introduction of a Multi-service Provisioning Platform (MSPP) into the transmission segment of the communication network. The first company to do so was Cerent Corporation. Although it was initially introduced in the United States in 1998, acceptance was rapid, and MSPPs found there way into the balance of the world market shortly thereafter. MSPP innovation enabled both new and existing service providers to leverage existing optical transmission infrastructure with increased functionality. Introduction of MSPPs enabled the proliferation of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) through the synthesis of traditional voice and emerging Internet traffic. The bandwidth bottleneck created by voice-only-based equipment was broken by the MSPPs and positioned the Internet for carriage of even higher bandwidth video traffic. The utility of the MSPP approach, as viewed by the telecoms, made it both a market success and a new standard to which all manufacturers adhere.

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