Classroom discussion on affordances

The classroom discussion on Tuesday was again very great. Creating our own list of the use of technology in qualitative research enables us to see technology is everywhere in our research process starting from data collection to writing. It reveals the digital tools in qualitative research beyond the use of software packages. Many researchers use various technological tools in their research including video-recorder, flash drive, or like Skype, blogging, word documents even though they do not use any software packages.

The discussion around the meaning of affordances is quite impressive in terms of hearing how other people conceptualize this word. Solomon define affordances as “ possible use”, while Conole- Dyke identifies as “ intended use”. I interpreted affordances as conveniences and new options technology brings.

 I also very much enjoyed talking about factors that abstain qualitative researchers using software programs in their data analysis process. It is pointed out many qualitative researchers concern about institutional access to certain software. In other words, geography and context is a matter in deciding on the software usage in qualitative research. Social norms, political structures, socio-economic condition and even policies of institutions influence individuals’ choices in integrating technology in their work.

I am very thankful to Dr. Lester for her criticism regarding the Straub’ s (2009) ideas about how the context of time influences researchers’ inclination towards the use of digital tools. I also disagree with the statement that “ Early adopters tend to have higher socioeconomic status, have broad access to communication methods, have higher upward mobility within their social culture, are more likely to be literate, tend to be more intelligent, and have higher capacity for uncertainty for change” (p. 631) since various factors including personality, intentions, desires, geographic condition, social context, cultural norms, institutional policies may influence individuals to be early adopter versus late adopter of technology.