Elon University School of Communications
• One Neighborhood, One Week on the Internet: Elon-Pew research on family Internet use, 2001. Conducted with 25 student co-authors.
This study is the first ever to document Internet users' personally recorded observations over a span of eight days combined with in-depth interviews. Twenty-five families in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Elon, NC, took part in long, focused entry and exit discussions about their Internet use which were sandwiched around a solid week of time-use diary keeping. The student researchers gathered data daily from assigned families, wrote feature stories about those families and also wrote personal stories about the impact the Internet has had on their own families' lives, providing the perspective of the emerging generation of Net-savvy users. Most of the Internet users who participated in the project say going online has transformed their lives in some way: providing crucial health information; facilitating vacation planning, job searches and house hunting; transforming shopping habits; changing the way they operate in the workplace; and, most importantly, increasing communication between family and friends through e-mail and instant messaging. The study was conducted under the auspices of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and general results and a description of methodology are thoroughly documented at this link, the Elon/Pew Web site. USA Today carried a full-page story on the study July 29, 2001.
• Online News Editors Survey 2000 and Links to Web Sites Regarding Structuring Codes and Protocols For Print Publications. Conducted with David Arant, University of Memphis.
This study was an inspiration for the Online News Association's $278,000 Digital Journalism Credibility Study. Editors of online newspapers in the United States say their online products are not as accurate or reliable as their parent print publications. In this study, nearly half of the online editors polled said the ethical standards of traditional print journalism are not being upheld by online versions of daily newspapers. Forty-seven percent of the more than 200 online editors responding to the survey said the speed of the Internet has eroded the key standard of accurately verifying the facts of a story before putting it before the public. Nearly one in three reported that online print outlets are not as likely to follow the general ethical standards of traditional print journalism. It is the first major study to scrutinize ethical issues raised by online news publication. More than 680 online news managers were contacted. The authors conclusions called for a uniform "Corrections and Clarifications" button to be placed on the "front" page of every online news site. Thirty-seven percent of the news managers participating in the study said that high ethical standards not as easy to meet online, where there are an inadequate number of employees staffing news sites that must be refreshed regularly. Twenty-seven percent of the online daily newspaper managers taking part in the survey said they had no full-time staff members and 19 percent had just one full-time worker. This research was presented at the 2000 AEJMC Convention and was published in the fall 2001 issue of Newspaper Research Journal.
• Attitudes of Internet Users, an Analysis of Assimilators, Hoppers and Sensors, 2001: A Q Methodology Study of Internet Uses and Gratifications. Conducted with Byung Lee, Elon University.
Millions of people have gone online in the past five years but not all have completely adopted the Internet. This research employs Q methodology to classify Internet users and find reasons why some users are more or less inclined to embrace Internet technology than others. The respondents were 40 college students who sorted a lengthy 46-statement Q sample. Results revealed 3 distinct viewpoints toward the adoption of the Internet. Assimilators absorb and incorporate the Internet into their thinking and lifestyle. Hoppers, seeking instant gratification, move quickly on the Internet; they hop on to get what they want when they want it and then hop out. Sensors prefer real-life experiences to the virtual ones offered on the Internet. As the most important reason to use the Internet, Assimilators and Hoppers first chose communication, followed by gathering information, gathering news, entertainment, shopping and transactions. However, gathering information was the first choice for Sensors. This research was presented at the 17th Annual Q Conference at Ball State University, 2001. It is also available online at the Pew Internet and American Life Project site.
