Proposal for qualitative research of the sociotechnical labour phenomenon
Dr. Tamaro Green, DS
The convenience of technology enables human rights violations. The lack of standards in practices and procedures embeds personal bias in activities related to computing. The career journey of the field of information technology has provided me the opportunity to learn and share observations of the industry. I have had the experience of gleaning from a variety of small and large companies and their operations. This journey has also provided the ability to view a perspective to supplement research. This journey has provided the opportunity to discuss with peers ways for improving potential problems in the industry. This research area of technology labour continues to change and I look forward to keeping up to date with the latest research to gain a mastery of understanding the environment. I would like to learn more about how the concepts of technology labor apply to practice on an international scale to effectively document and report on findings.
Technology labour topics emerge from a spectrum of sociotechnical issues that arise in technology and labour markets. The analysis of sociotechnical data often relies on access to sources of data often restricted from the public. However, qualitative research often provides flexibility and a depth of understanding about events. Sociotechnical research may lead to proposals for new regulation for the information technology industry. Professionals may benefit from sociotechnical research in science, engineering, and management. In some form, sociotechnical research represents research of the phenomenon of technology labour. Giorgi and Giorgi (2008) describe the origins of phenomenological research to the late 18th century poet and humanist Johann Goethe. Phenomenological research then branched off by early 19th century physiologists (Palinkas et al., 2015). As phenomenological research developed in the late 19th century, views of the description and interpretation differed Giorgi and Giorgi (2008) Views developed from epidemiological and ontological perspectives. In the 20th century, phenomenological research developed into interpretive phenomenology. This type of research is also termed as hermeneutic phenomenology.
Legislation has emerged for the consumption of technology, such as the Health Information Portability Act, HIPPA, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA. However, legislation is lacking for the creation of technology. Understanding the phenomenon of sociotechnical labour may provide insight for the development of technology creation legislation. A phenomenological qualitative research study may provide insight by the participants on their observations that in technology labour (Creswell, 2014). A phenomenological qualitative study may also provide conceptual ideas that build a theoretical concept or framework for an area of study. A theoretical concept of technology labour may allow the research body to develop an area of understanding that can guide further research and improve methodologies and techniques. Qualitative research is often common in nascent fields of study such as technology labour. Qualitative research requires further analysis of the findings when compared to quantitative research. Qualitative research studies may be designed to allow participants to formulate responses from their observations or experiences (Creswell, 2014).
Identifying themes from the interviews of technology professionals is part of the qualitative research process. Paine (2015) proposes an interview method of a research approach that works in data collection and theme identification. This method consists of finding the opposing ideas on the topic then identifying the middle ground on the topic. The research of the sociotechnical labour phenomenon may include a similar technique for identifying new concepts that can provide insight of the impact on higher education by the participants. The interview method proposed by Paine has six steps (Paine, 2015):
1. ask the participants to list characteristics of the topic
2. the participants list characteristics of their impact on the topic
3. the participants identify links between the items in step one and two
4. the participants describe the reasoning behind the links
5. the participants find a word to sum up their discussion
6. the participants find another word to sum up their discussion
Goals of this semi-structured interview are to maintain focus and control of the interview while providing the participants with the greatest opportunity to tell his or her story about their experiences in technology labour. Providing a comfortable setting allows the participants to provide spontaneous responses that may provide new insights on the sociotechnical labour influences. Follow up interviews provide the researcher and the participants opportunities to expand on information that they discover after the initial interviews.
Pomeroy (2014) provides a phenomenological study of big data in higher education. This dissertation describes the theory of academic capitalism and its implications on higher education. This phenomenological study identified four barriers to the adoption of big data analytics in higher education which include organizational climate, organizational policies, training, and infrastructure. Pomeroy (2014) identified many similar challenges in the research of the adoption of big data in higher education. Pomeroy (2014) also describes similarities between the financial industry and the education industry. In the phenomenological study, many of the barriers to big data also present opportunities to improve methods and processes in the technology. In higher education, data analytics can improve processes for both students and administration (Pomeroy, 2014).
As organizations examine how to address diversity issues, they can examine how to improve organizational problems of obtaining knowledge and making decisions. The proposed phenomenological research can examine diversity in technology labour. Additional topics may include how the sociotechnical labour markets influence the infrastructure of health and world economies. Theoretical studies can examine how sociotechnical labour markets influence existing labour theories. As a growing topic, qualitative studies of sociotechnical labour markets may organize much of the discussion around technology labour, present new theories, and explain complex topics. Qualitative research in sociotechnical labour markets may review ethical and social boundaries, theoretical frameworks, and personal accounts for how the emerging labour markets influence the field of computer science and create new opportunities for organizational change.
References:
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Los Angeles: Sage publications.
Giorgi, A. P., & Giorgi, B. (2008). Phenomenological psychology. The SAGE handbook of qualitative research in psychology, 165–179.
Paine, G. (2015). A pattern-generating tool for use in semi-structured interviews. The Qualitative Report, 20(4), 468.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533–544.
Pomeroy, W. L. (2014). Academic Analytics in Higher Education: Barriers to Adoption. (3666435 Ph.D.), Walden University, Ann Arbor. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.cecybrary.com/docview/1640934557 ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database.
