Theme 1:
You wrote in you comment:
"A statement of fact is generally more trustworthy because many
different people agree on the facts. This means that a proposition, if believed
to be true by very many people, turns in to a statement of fact."
I believe that I can state the following fact: "The sun is square". Now this would
be a statement of fact, however the fact that I am stating we both know is
wrong. From my point of view the statement of fact does not take into
consideration if the fact itself is true or false, more the phrasing of the
statement itself.
What are your thoughts on that?
- Comment to Simon Schmitz on his blog post Nov 9:
Hi Simon,
I read your comment regarding the propositions and
statements of fact, and I thought you explained this really well. I found this
concept a little bit difficult to grasp, and it took me some extra reading to
understand the concepts. When reading several others explanation on this topic
seems that more people are struggling with the definition. I found this lecture
on the internet given by Bertrand Russell himself in 1918-1919, which also
explains what he means:
http://www.users.drew.edu/~jlenz/br-atomism-1-2.html
However if I had read your comment first I might not have
had to read that. Well written!
Your comment below: "Whereas a propositions may be
true or can be doubted, a statement of fact can be evaluated as true or false
due to its fact and might in some cases be derivative from true propositions
(Moore, 1953: 308). Other verbal
expressions don’t share the value as being evaluated as true or false by
evidence."
- Comment to Aikaterini Ioanna Kourti on her blog post Nov 13
Great, and
important point that rejecting other people's statements is also an important
way to get a better understanding, and for you to re-evaluate your own idea.
Great and
important personal statement, which was not completely understood by many of
the peers in their blog posts on this theme!
I read your statement, which is correct according to Russell, that in essence the difference between the definite and ambiguous description is the definite article. I read an amusing fact on the Stanford Ecyclopedia of Philosophy, that although this has been discusses for over a hundred years, the fact is that only a small subset of natural languages use these articles at all.
I read your statement, which is correct according to Russell, that in essence the difference between the definite and ambiguous description is the definite article. I read an amusing fact on the Stanford Ecyclopedia of Philosophy, that although this has been discusses for over a hundred years, the fact is that only a small subset of natural languages use these articles at all.
- Comment to Oskar Andersson on Nov 7
Hej Oskar!
I believe that you are on the right track when questioning who has the
authority to decide about the truth of a statement of fact. "One could
argue, however, about who is given the mandate of credibility, and what impact
this has on “statement of fact”? "
I had some difficulty to understand the definition of "statement of
fact" and found a really great lecture by Bertrand Russell himself on a
website.
Russell expains it like this:
"Facts and Propositions" (1918-1919) “Gravitation varies
inversely as the square of the distance,” my statement is rendered true by
astronomical fact. If I say, “Two and two are four,” it is arithmetical fact
that makes my statements true. On the other hand, if I say “Socrates is alive,”
or “Gravitation varies directly as the distance,” or “Two and two are five,”
the very same facts which made my previous statements true show that these new
statements are false”.
So, whether the fact is true or not is not important, it is the action
of making a statement of fact on something that he is making a definition
of.
- Comment to Andreas Sylvans post on Nov 8:
You say that Russell claims that philosophy could help us
reduce the risk of making errors. I missed that in the book, but it is an
interesting idea. I guess that if you translate that into your daily life; if
you first consider why and how to do something then as a result your actions
will be more well chosen. That off course does not stop you from making errors
altogether, but they should be far less.
- Comment to Oscar Friberg on his post on Nov 8:
Hej Oscar!
Well written. Reading your last statement regarding facts based on other peoples statements made me think of an old friend of mine who always refers to other peoples opinions as his own.
One example: You should go to the restaurant "X" because the food there is so good! As simple and non-threatening as this might seem, knowing that my friend has never been to restaurant "X" and only has heard other peoples opinions about the place, only results in the fact that people does not believe in any statement my friend makes.
As it might very well be true that the food at "X" is really yummy, it might also be that my friend wouldn't like it at all, and therefore his recommendation would not be appropriate.
Just a slightly different phrasing by my friend would have a very different meaning, and have people trust him on his words:
You should go to the restaurant "X" because I HEAR the food there is so good!
Well written. Reading your last statement regarding facts based on other peoples statements made me think of an old friend of mine who always refers to other peoples opinions as his own.
One example: You should go to the restaurant "X" because the food there is so good! As simple and non-threatening as this might seem, knowing that my friend has never been to restaurant "X" and only has heard other peoples opinions about the place, only results in the fact that people does not believe in any statement my friend makes.
As it might very well be true that the food at "X" is really yummy, it might also be that my friend wouldn't like it at all, and therefore his recommendation would not be appropriate.
Just a slightly different phrasing by my friend would have a very different meaning, and have people trust him on his words:
You should go to the restaurant "X" because I HEAR the food there is so good!
- Comment to Henrik Norman on his post on Nov 8:
Hej Henrik!
Regarding you discussion on knowledge to be equal to
truth, I agree with your reasoning, and I believe that we can also add the fact that what is true to
one person, might not be true to another person. Truth varies greatly depending
on the surrounding environment of a person, between different cultures,
religion, climates etc.
As an example: for a Muslim it is wrong to eat pork, for a
person who believes in Jainism it is wrong to eat meat altogether.
Hej Ekaterina!
I enjoyed reading your comment: "I do not want to
offend someone’s feelings, but in my opinion, with such a philosophy we can not
go very far. If all scientists believed that, they could just explain that
there is the will of God to all things."
I think that this is a very important fact, for us as
people, and maybe especially for scientists. If you only accept the world
around you for what it happens to be right now, you will not have any reason to
progress in your science or in your life. It is an important life lesson to be
a little critical on what is going on around you, and to evaluate if this is
really the best solution.
Hi Lucy,
Important discussion on the discoveries (and truth) of
science.
We could also add to this topic that when doing a science
experiment it is often difficult to study a phenomenon without limiting
disturbing factor (i.e. disregarding everything else that is going on in the
world). Then later we have to consider the implications of the amazing
discoveries that you (the scientist) just proved when you release your
experiment in the REAL WORLD. Contraceptive medicines that helps you and me not
get pregnant when we do not want to, also "help" the fish not get
pregnant any more, which might not be what we intended.
- Comment to Nicholas Ojala on his post Nov 14:
I completely agree with your point about how interesting
it has been reading this weeks reflections on how we have all experienced and
learned from the text is so varied. Partly maybe because the reflections of
this week are more personal than the answers from the week before. Really
interesting.
It will be interesting to see what happens after the lecture
and seminar next week.
- Answer to Katerina-Ioanna Kourti on her comment to my blog post
Thank you Katerina,
I was lucky to find that lecture on the web, as I found that topic not very well explained in the text we read. When reading the posts it seems as many people were struggling to understand the idea of the "proposition" and "statement of fact", and since there unfortunately was no lecture and seminar to follow-up this reading we were are all left a little bit still not clear on our interpretations.
I was lucky to find that lecture on the web, as I found that topic not very well explained in the text we read. When reading the posts it seems as many people were struggling to understand the idea of the "proposition" and "statement of fact", and since there unfortunately was no lecture and seminar to follow-up this reading we were are all left a little bit still not clear on our interpretations.
Theme 2:
- Comment on Alexander Busnyuks post on Nov 15:
Hej Alexander!
Very well written. I like how you can name examples on the
different questions, such as the car industry vs culture industry and the myth
of the polar bears vs the scientific global warming. Needless to say your music
example was brilliant and really proved your point. It was difficult to tell
when one song was ending and the other starting.
Thanks for sharing!
- Comment to Torbjörn Axelsson, on his ost Nov 15:
Good comment about mass
deception used by authority leaders as a way to deceive the masses and spread
their message using it's extensive reach to a wide audience.
I agree with you on your comment that the discussion is
eerily the same today vs 70 years ago regarding the cultural consumption of
people. We can just hope that people actually do lift their eyes and look for
something above what is readily available for the masses.
Great example of current mass deceptions that make young
(and old) girls feel not so good about themselves, even though the ideal they
are striving for does not exist even in the person on the picture. I believe that is a great example of what
Adorno and Horkheimer were discussing themselves.
I agree with you that the
authors did not describe what they ment by old and new media, but my
interpretation was the same as yours; the mass produced, quantity productions
are part of the new media vs the old media productions where cultural quality
was the main focus.
Your reflection about amusement made me think of a passage
in this book where the authors talked about how a housewife that escapes from
her reality by going to the movie theater and watching a film. The way they
described this notion really stood out to me, and it was like they wanted to
say that this housewife was escaping from her duties towards her home and
family. I wonder what they would say about all the facebook'ing and other
things we waste time on today neglecting our duties whilst amusing ourselves
with simple pleasures of the culture industry...
Good point on media deception. I agree that we too easily
accept everything served to us by the media, especially if it is from a source
that you are trusting. It is correct that it is easier today to check the
validity of the information, but I think that the fear that Adorno and
Horkheimer expresses is that the passive and indifferent audience does not
bother to do so.
Hej Matteo, I beleive that this comment of your about media
today is very insightful: "This reflections lead me to feel that probably
we urge to reflect on this dynamics the media use to set off, in order to
preserve our integrity and awareness, the media want us to hear and not listen,
to watch and not observe and eventually to talk and not express."
The society today is very fast paced, and it is easy to get
absorbed by the messages we are bombarded with and not reflect too much about
what we would want to do with our own lives, and what ideas we do have
ourselves as individuals. This is true with
commercials as well; you buy that detergent that seems familiar to you,
and do not realize that you maybe only know it from the commercials on TV, who
are telling you to buy exactly that.
Hej Filip!
I agree that it was easier to escape the message of the mass media 70 years ago than today. Today we can find commercials and other media information on all levels of society and all throughout your day, and this starts at a very young age. Media in the 40's as described by A&H seems very naive in comparison.
I am not sure I agree with you when you say that it was harder to escape the media message and avoid propaganda 70 years ago. Yes, we have more options today, but if you consider the fact that if somebody really wants to spread a propaganda message and buys all available channels today it would really be very hard to look the other direction and avoid it. Commercials are so absolutely everywhere today, even in your email inbox.
I agree that it was easier to escape the message of the mass media 70 years ago than today. Today we can find commercials and other media information on all levels of society and all throughout your day, and this starts at a very young age. Media in the 40's as described by A&H seems very naive in comparison.
I am not sure I agree with you when you say that it was harder to escape the media message and avoid propaganda 70 years ago. Yes, we have more options today, but if you consider the fact that if somebody really wants to spread a propaganda message and buys all available channels today it would really be very hard to look the other direction and avoid it. Commercials are so absolutely everywhere today, even in your email inbox.
I
do not take the subway so haven't seen that commercial, but I agree with that
message. It is very difficult to get help by a company or shop in Sweden, even
if you show clear interest in buying their products. One example: a year ago
our family had just returned from several years abroad and I needed to open a
mobile phone account. I went to the shop of a major mobile operator and got the
answer: I am sorry I cannot help you, you need to go home and subscribe over
the internet. Why do they even have a shop (with two bored people on the pay
roll) if I cannot even sign for an account there?
I feel sorry for the elderly people in Sweden today, it cannot be easy when all the human interfaces have been cost-cut and referred to internet or never ending phone-queues.
I feel sorry for the elderly people in Sweden today, it cannot be easy when all the human interfaces have been cost-cut and referred to internet or never ending phone-queues.
- Answer to Lucy Armelin on her comment to my blog post
Thanks Lucy,
I think you are right about the companies and their advertisements. Clearly people finds ingenious ways to raise money to buy products they might not actually need but very much want. Maybe that is the tragic fate of mankind to walk through fire and neglect the people close to you in order to buy worldly things; and maybe that was especially clear to two Jewish people who had escaped death and found themselves in a superficial world with non-important values.
I think you are right about the companies and their advertisements. Clearly people finds ingenious ways to raise money to buy products they might not actually need but very much want. Maybe that is the tragic fate of mankind to walk through fire and neglect the people close to you in order to buy worldly things; and maybe that was especially clear to two Jewish people who had escaped death and found themselves in a superficial world with non-important values.
- Answer to Simon Schmitz on his comment to my blog post
Hej Simon!
That is a good question: how can we be individual when we let our individuality be defined by products we buy and produced music that we listen to.
We are all buying an iPhone, and then we try to make it personal by buying a pink diamond cover to show our personality, how individual is that when in fact we are all part of the crowd with the same iPhone. And tomorrow again it's something else we want.
That is a good question: how can we be individual when we let our individuality be defined by products we buy and produced music that we listen to.
We are all buying an iPhone, and then we try to make it personal by buying a pink diamond cover to show our personality, how individual is that when in fact we are all part of the crowd with the same iPhone. And tomorrow again it's something else we want.
- Answer to Andreas Sylvan on his comment to my blog post
I must say
that the arguments of A&H sometimes are rather amusing. However, I believe
that they are maybe a little too critical of the new culture at times. If the
masses, for whatever reason, need to learn to take their punishments, why not
do that in a fun and innovating way?
70 years down the road, we can still find stupefying culture (and maybe even more so), but we still have "high art" culture performances around for the likes of Adorno and Horkheimer.
70 years down the road, we can still find stupefying culture (and maybe even more so), but we still have "high art" culture performances around for the likes of Adorno and Horkheimer.
Theme 3:
- Comment to Kristoffer Ljung on his post Nov 21
I must say that I like your kind of
backwards way of explaining what theory is. Sometimes it can be very effective
of stating what something is by excluding what it is not. It adds some kind of
excitement of what you mind end up finding in the end. :-)
The end of that statement did not come out right. What I wanted to
say was: It adds some kind of excitement of what you might end up finding in
the end.
- Comment to Martin Johansson on his blog post Nov 22
Hej Martin!
Interesting article you found. Facebook can be a great tool to maintain and keep up with friendships, but I am not so sure that I agree with recommendations of the authors to the students with low life-satisfaction and low self-esteem.
I have read articles in the newspaper about studies showing that Facebook can quite contrary make users feel even more isolated, and add social stress, as they read about all the cool and fun things their FB-friends do with other people.
Did they have any findings stating that these low-self esteem people did in fact gain friendships, connections and self-esteem using Facebook?
As you say yourself; college/university is a great place to meet new people, we just all need to try to push our confidence to reach out to some new people "In Real Life".
Interesting article you found. Facebook can be a great tool to maintain and keep up with friendships, but I am not so sure that I agree with recommendations of the authors to the students with low life-satisfaction and low self-esteem.
I have read articles in the newspaper about studies showing that Facebook can quite contrary make users feel even more isolated, and add social stress, as they read about all the cool and fun things their FB-friends do with other people.
Did they have any findings stating that these low-self esteem people did in fact gain friendships, connections and self-esteem using Facebook?
As you say yourself; college/university is a great place to meet new people, we just all need to try to push our confidence to reach out to some new people "In Real Life".
While speaking (or trying to
speak) other languages than your mother tongue it is very clear that one of the
most difficult things to master in this foreign language is telling a joke, or
even more difficult - using irony. It takes a lot to get the message of irony
across to the receiver in order for them to perceive it as irony and not just a
rude or weird statement even face-to-face with the receiver.
I would be interested to see if they were in fact really able to detect irony. Did they manually read all the 50 000 tweets to confirm?
I would be interested to see if they were in fact really able to detect irony. Did they manually read all the 50 000 tweets to confirm?
- Comment to Lucy Armelin on her blog post Nov 22
Hi Lucy!
Well written. I am curious to understand how the authors tried to define if the authors were from a privileged group or not? I mean, you can still be unprivileged even though you live in Europe and go to the library to post something on the free online computer.
Well written. I am curious to understand how the authors tried to define if the authors were from a privileged group or not? I mean, you can still be unprivileged even though you live in Europe and go to the library to post something on the free online computer.
Hi Zahra,
well written overview of your study. Mass media effects are interesting, and unpredictable. You say that it is a descriptive study and that he can find patterns, but offer no predictions. It would have been interesting (and maybe super-scary, if used to get political influence) if Potter could have offered some recipe on how to phrase your message in order to get an immediate shift mass-media effect.
well written overview of your study. Mass media effects are interesting, and unpredictable. You say that it is a descriptive study and that he can find patterns, but offer no predictions. It would have been interesting (and maybe super-scary, if used to get political influence) if Potter could have offered some recipe on how to phrase your message in order to get an immediate shift mass-media effect.
Well written and well explained!
I have read several blog posts describing the same article and I thought you
did a really good job! You also managed to describe the theory type, and it's
pro's and con's in a very clear and definite way. Well done!
It might be easy to criticize a study for, like in this case, use only one community as test subjects, but on the other hand, which I am beginning to understand, if you try to study too much at once you cannot be sure of what your findings are, or how to interpret them as it can be clouded in too many variables. As th is was one of the firsts studies on Facebook, it needs to set a small goal to start with.
It might be easy to criticize a study for, like in this case, use only one community as test subjects, but on the other hand, which I am beginning to understand, if you try to study too much at once you cannot be sure of what your findings are, or how to interpret them as it can be clouded in too many variables. As th is was one of the firsts studies on Facebook, it needs to set a small goal to start with.
- Comment to Olle Bergendahl on his blog post Nov 22
Great description of your
article. Interesting reading. It was interesting to hear that males who were
heavy users could feel more lonely while using social media, when heavy females
users could feel less lonely. Maybe your idea is on the right track, that the
type of media they are consuming - and how much feedback it provides, is the
explanation to the feeling of (or lack of) loneliness.
I think what we can all agree on, is that it is important to meet, and interact with, people in the real world. Social media, like Facebook, should maybe be seen as an advanced address-book as was proposed by Leif Dahlberg during his lecture.
I think what we can all agree on, is that it is important to meet, and interact with, people in the real world. Social media, like Facebook, should maybe be seen as an advanced address-book as was proposed by Leif Dahlberg during his lecture.
- Comment to Vaidotas Urbanaivicius on his blog post Nov 22
Interesting
article. I believe there is still a lot to of improvements to be made in how
you can use electronic media as a complement for learning.
This blog is a great example of a tool, which has made an interactive discussion available between students, which was not possible while I did my bachelor studies for instance.
I am sure there will be many more interactive possibilities help to improve learning and engage students, we just have to make them!
This blog is a great example of a tool, which has made an interactive discussion available between students, which was not possible while I did my bachelor studies for instance.
I am sure there will be many more interactive possibilities help to improve learning and engage students, we just have to make them!
- Comment to Cim Nordling on her reflection post Nov 28
I agree with you. I also found
the naive theory, which you brought up at our seminar, very interesting. It is
something we all have experienced but not really put in words to define.
Just like you say, a message will be interpreted very differently by individual receivers; according to their background knowledge, mood, stress level etc. If you want to be sure that what is received is what you intend it to be you need to weigh your words carefully. It is never the less very easy to forget when you yourself find something very clear and obvious. Try explaining the times tables to a five year old.
As you say, media are experts at using this for their own purposes. We should always try to remember, and be critical about this fact before we believe something we read on the headlines.
Just like you say, a message will be interpreted very differently by individual receivers; according to their background knowledge, mood, stress level etc. If you want to be sure that what is received is what you intend it to be you need to weigh your words carefully. It is never the less very easy to forget when you yourself find something very clear and obvious. Try explaining the times tables to a five year old.
As you say, media are experts at using this for their own purposes. We should always try to remember, and be critical about this fact before we believe something we read on the headlines.
- Comment to Marit Aldén on her reflection post Nov 28
Great example from real life,
Marit! It just proves that it is important to have some kind of tests, research
and evidence that proves your case when you release or use a theory.
At the seminar we discussed the phrasing something like that a theory can be said to reflect the truth if a majority of people believes in it. I think this is a good example of a case where this phrasing is proven not to be enough.
At the seminar we discussed the phrasing something like that a theory can be said to reflect the truth if a majority of people believes in it. I think this is a good example of a case where this phrasing is proven not to be enough.
- Answer to Zahra Al Houaidy on the comment to my blog post
The
high quality of the website is not the same as the signals and cues. An example
of signals by the authors: the website can have a system for customers to give
feedback on the products, and generally the customers will regard this as very
positive, since the owner would likely not be willing to take the risk of
getting bad feedback if he wasn't sure about the good quality of his products.
The author talks about extrinsic and intrinsic cues, where extrinsic cues are
information that does not refer to the quality of the product itself, such as
price. The intrinsic cues could be the hardware of the computer they are
selling. What the authors managed to prove was that when there were low amounts
of cues and signals, the more important the quality of the website.
I think you are absolutely right, that a high quality website always help selling whatever product.
I think you are absolutely right, that a high quality website always help selling whatever product.
Theme 4:
- Comment to Malin Westerlind on her blog post on Nov 29
Interesting study. I suppose that
a study can have both quantitative and qualitative properties at the same time.
In this case it probably depends on the nature of questions that were used
during the interview:
"How do you feel about the success of spreading your campaign message?" or
"Did you use Facebook as a tool for communicating your message" - are questions that have different purpose and different type of data connected with it.
I agree with you that 31 must be a fairly large percentage of the responsible people for the biggest political parties in the USA, even though the US is a big country, or how many political parties do they have?
"How do you feel about the success of spreading your campaign message?" or
"Did you use Facebook as a tool for communicating your message" - are questions that have different purpose and different type of data connected with it.
I agree with you that 31 must be a fairly large percentage of the responsible people for the biggest political parties in the USA, even though the US is a big country, or how many political parties do they have?
- Comment to Mikaela Wahlstedt on her blog post on Nov 29
That is a very good point about the target group when doing a
study. I guess that is a very important part of the challenge for the
researcher to make sure that the people answering your question is
representative of everybody. I mean you cannot post your questions on Facebook,
and expect to receive ideas from people who do not like Facebook, as they will
likely not be there at all. Your target group must be equally important as
eliminating disturbing variables from your test case.
- Comment to Olle Bergendahl on his blog post on Nov 29
Very illustrative explanations on quantitative and qualitative
research methods. Election polls is a great example on quantitative research
methods. It is always really helpful to have a familiar subject to explain a
concept. Well done!
- Comment to Maria Strömbäck on her blog post on Nov 29
I think you drew very good conclusions on the data collection
methods in Olle Bälters research.
Another reason that you need a lot of participants, which I saw in another study reported at this blog this week, was that the number of withdrawals can be quite substantive. I cannot recall the exact numbers off the top of my head, but for the first questionnaire about 75% replied, but for the third questionnaire they only received replies from about 35% of the participants.
Another reason that you need a lot of participants, which I saw in another study reported at this blog this week, was that the number of withdrawals can be quite substantive. I cannot recall the exact numbers off the top of my head, but for the first questionnaire about 75% replied, but for the third questionnaire they only received replies from about 35% of the participants.
- Comment to Anton Warnhag on his blog post on Nov 29
Hej Anton!
Based on my understanding the difference between a quantitative and a qualitative study is not only the number of data collected, it is the type of questions that are asked.
I believe the qualitative research equivalent in your stock market vs tweet mood example would be the researchers interviewing your five tweeters on their "experience" of the tweeting vs its predictability on the stock market or what they their "opinion" was on the topic.
I guess we are about to find out during these next two weeks :-)
Based on my understanding the difference between a quantitative and a qualitative study is not only the number of data collected, it is the type of questions that are asked.
I believe the qualitative research equivalent in your stock market vs tweet mood example would be the researchers interviewing your five tweeters on their "experience" of the tweeting vs its predictability on the stock market or what they their "opinion" was on the topic.
I guess we are about to find out during these next two weeks :-)
- Comment to Lousie Heurlin on her blog post on Nov 29
Well written
post! It is clear that you have been thinking about this, and I liked how you
shared your experiences and thoughts about your own Bachelor thesis study. Very
informative and interesting to read. A big study, needless to say, requires a
lot of time and resources, which might not be available to all researchers.
- Comment to Adam Rosén on his blog post on Nov 29
Interesting
study. It seems to prove the saying that "Lika barn leka bäst" (with
the english translation courtesy of Wikiquotes "Birds of a feather flock
together"), or the fact that you tend to listen to people or ideas that
resemble your own. Brilliant idea to collect these huge amount of data using a
simple python script.
- Comment to Cim Nordling on her blog post on Nov 29
I think you have a very valid
point when you say that if you are willing to critique your own study or your
own methods your credibility increases. It does take some guts and some confidence
to do that. Off course it is equally important to motivate your choices. Good
conclusion!
- Comment to Katerina-Ioanna Kourti on her reflection post on Dec 4
Hi Kat,
I agree with you that the best research would probably be a mix of quantitative as well as qualitative methods. That would probably help give a wider and more in depth picture of the problem. However I realize, just like you say yourself, that preparing for each research type is very time consuming, and also expensive, and unless you have a big organization to back you up it might not be feasible to execute.
I also agree with you, and Simon, that all the statistics behind these studies are an art in itself, and not very easy to follow when you are not up to date with all the terms.
I agree with you that the best research would probably be a mix of quantitative as well as qualitative methods. That would probably help give a wider and more in depth picture of the problem. However I realize, just like you say yourself, that preparing for each research type is very time consuming, and also expensive, and unless you have a big organization to back you up it might not be feasible to execute.
I also agree with you, and Simon, that all the statistics behind these studies are an art in itself, and not very easy to follow when you are not up to date with all the terms.
- Answers to Zahra Al Houaidy and Katerina-Ioanna Kourti on their comments on my blog post
Hi Zahra and Katerina,
Even though the data is surely affected by the test person being observed behind his/her back, I believe that it is fair to say one thing: if you cannot resist yourself from checking your Facebook account at least once during a 15 minute study session when you are being observed by somebody it is likely happening at least the same amount of times when not observed (if not a lot more often).
Even though the data is surely affected by the test person being observed behind his/her back, I believe that it is fair to say one thing: if you cannot resist yourself from checking your Facebook account at least once during a 15 minute study session when you are being observed by somebody it is likely happening at least the same amount of times when not observed (if not a lot more often).
- Answer to Filip Erlandsson on his comment to my reflection
Yes, the Boggle competition was a very clever way to make us think
a little bit extra hard on benefits and disadvantages of the quantitative and
qualitative studies. Well designed seminar.However, I also agree with you that
some of the discussions were a bit too detailed-focused and long.
Theme 5:
- Comment to Malin Westerlind, on her blog post on Dec 6
Hej Malin!
I like that you gave the examples of the three very clear factors that affect the users perception of usability; effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
Those are obviously important deciding factor whether or not to continue with the study, or even moving on towards a production of your new idea/product.
I like that you gave the examples of the three very clear factors that affect the users perception of usability; effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
Those are obviously important deciding factor whether or not to continue with the study, or even moving on towards a production of your new idea/product.
Hej Isabella!
You say that "I don’t think it’s possible to tell the actual impact of a product, or get the more credible results until the product is fully developed and used in by a broader audience that a test audience and then examined."
I agree with you. I think that you can also add that sometimes people start using products in a way, different to what they were originally intended for. Like text messaging, sms, which today is the most widely used data application, was designed to send short messages when the signalling traffic systems were free of use.
You say that "I don’t think it’s possible to tell the actual impact of a product, or get the more credible results until the product is fully developed and used in by a broader audience that a test audience and then examined."
I agree with you. I think that you can also add that sometimes people start using products in a way, different to what they were originally intended for. Like text messaging, sms, which today is the most widely used data application, was designed to send short messages when the signalling traffic systems were free of use.
Hej
Mårten!
I think that Fernaeus et al would like to offer another way of "programming" the robots, something for non-technology nerds. I would enjoy having mood-stickers on my vacuum cleaning robot (if I had one) and watch it tackle my dust-bunnies with different character. Then maybe I could match my own mood at the moment and we could be angry or happy together. That could make cleaning fun, for a change. :-)
I think that Fernaeus et al would like to offer another way of "programming" the robots, something for non-technology nerds. I would enjoy having mood-stickers on my vacuum cleaning robot (if I had one) and watch it tackle my dust-bunnies with different character. Then maybe I could match my own mood at the moment and we could be angry or happy together. That could make cleaning fun, for a change. :-)
- Comment to Mimmi Albertsson, on her blog post on Dec 6
Maybe the real use of this football feature in your mobile phone is
being able to follow a game in your pocket while at a meeting at work or hiding
your compulsive-football-disorder from your better half? ;-)
I am unfortunately not at all interested in sports, but I thought it was a really interesting idea, and I am sure that by training you could use vibration senses for other types of communication/information transferal.
I am unfortunately not at all interested in sports, but I thought it was a really interesting idea, and I am sure that by training you could use vibration senses for other types of communication/information transferal.
- Comment to Filip Erlandsson, on his blog post on Dec 5
Hej Filip!
Very good comments and discussion about prototypes. One important point you bring up is that one characteristic of the prototype is that it presents a compromise of the final design. Well phrased. I think you have a good understanding of the design concept
Very good comments and discussion about prototypes. One important point you bring up is that one characteristic of the prototype is that it presents a compromise of the final design. Well phrased. I think you have a good understanding of the design concept
- Comment to Andreas Sylvan, on his blog post on Dec 5
Very well written! I enjoyed reading
your post!
I liked the video clip with the remote control app for the Roomba, and the super-NOT-enthusiastic German robot-dudes.
However I do not agree with you on this topic being obsolete. I would really enjoy having mood stickers on my Roomba, and watching it being annoyed or shy. That would make my cleaning day more fun! On the other hand I would even more enjoy the Roomba not breaking down due to cat hair in its rotational parts.
You clearly have a good understanding of the design process and prototype production and evaluation. Well done!
I liked the video clip with the remote control app for the Roomba, and the super-NOT-enthusiastic German robot-dudes.
However I do not agree with you on this topic being obsolete. I would really enjoy having mood stickers on my Roomba, and watching it being annoyed or shy. That would make my cleaning day more fun! On the other hand I would even more enjoy the Roomba not breaking down due to cat hair in its rotational parts.
You clearly have a good understanding of the design process and prototype production and evaluation. Well done!
- Comment to Martin Johansson, on his blog post on Dec 6
Hej Martin!
You bring up a very important aspect of why prototypes are important namely:
"In a development process it’s easy to become attached to your own product. You might not see the flaws and weaknesses that seem great to you but would only confuse the majority of the end-consumers"
When you are developing something yourself everything is super clear to you and you become blind for the weak spots and its dysfunctional sides as you know how to handle the system in order for it to work as its best.
This made me think about SEB, where I am a customer. They recently changed their user interface for their internet-banking. In my opinion, this new interface is so completely backwards I find it difficult to handle it correctly. I really think they should have used a larger test group for that development!
You bring up a very important aspect of why prototypes are important namely:
"In a development process it’s easy to become attached to your own product. You might not see the flaws and weaknesses that seem great to you but would only confuse the majority of the end-consumers"
When you are developing something yourself everything is super clear to you and you become blind for the weak spots and its dysfunctional sides as you know how to handle the system in order for it to work as its best.
This made me think about SEB, where I am a customer. They recently changed their user interface for their internet-banking. In my opinion, this new interface is so completely backwards I find it difficult to handle it correctly. I really think they should have used a larger test group for that development!
I
think you have a great comment here: "making research without testing the
theories in some way is like saying one can drive a car without practice; it
can work fine or it can go wrong."
Testing is always important, and almost always you realize something that you hadn't prepared for, or were able to foresee, no matter how hard you tried to avoid errors.
Another insightful point you make is that you need to adjust your evaluation method depending on the type of research you are making.
Testing is always important, and almost always you realize something that you hadn't prepared for, or were able to foresee, no matter how hard you tried to avoid errors.
Another insightful point you make is that you need to adjust your evaluation method depending on the type of research you are making.
Hej Nicholas!
I like your parallel to your bachelor thesis design work. It explains the iterative design and prototype process. Although the prototypes might have several shortcuts it still gives a good feeling of the final product, and I am sure your prototypes helped the final game be a better one in the end. Right?
I like your parallel to your bachelor thesis design work. It explains the iterative design and prototype process. Although the prototypes might have several shortcuts it still gives a good feeling of the final product, and I am sure your prototypes helped the final game be a better one in the end. Right?
- Comment to Matteo Campostini, on his blog post on Dec 5
Hi
Matteo,
I agree with you that they research done by H. Li et al was really fascinating. I am sure that we will see more of this in the future, as it is an available communication form not in use in this highly noisy environment today. I am also sure that we could learn to use this sense a lot more than we do today.
One example on something that you could train yourself to do is reading by sign language. I have tried a few times but for me it is absolutely impossible to tell the different letters apart, however I am sure with enough practice also I could learn to do that (or at least I like to believe that I would).
I agree with you that they research done by H. Li et al was really fascinating. I am sure that we will see more of this in the future, as it is an available communication form not in use in this highly noisy environment today. I am also sure that we could learn to use this sense a lot more than we do today.
One example on something that you could train yourself to do is reading by sign language. I have tried a few times but for me it is absolutely impossible to tell the different letters apart, however I am sure with enough practice also I could learn to do that (or at least I like to believe that I would).
Theme 6:
- Comment to Victor Arvid Ignacio Olsson Vesga, on his blog post Dec 13, (including an answer to a comment to him by Lucy Armelin)
Hi,
I like the conclusion you have drawn from your qualitative paper this week,
that the qualitative methods have "value in using the similar methods to
identify potential insights and information about the subject in question,
which would otherwise be unnoticed".
The more in depth interviews/conversations can give more detailed answers and
allows for more reflection and evaluated answers.
I also agree with Lucy's comment above that a face-to.face conversation is more
"true". It seems easier to lie or exaggerate things over the phone
(if you would want to?). However phone-interviews might be easier to handle if
you aim at having lots of interviews, and it might be easier to get people to
agree on being interviewed if they do not need to meet up somewhere
- Comment to Ingrid
Larsson on her blog post on Dec 13
I think it was an interesting
idea to hire somebody to perform the interviews to make the interviewee's more comfortable.
This might especially be important if the professor is not so social and
capable of talking to people. However I wonder if the professor does not miss
out on the chance of following up with one or a two more questions if they
receive some really interesting answer during the interview?
- Comment to Stefan
Etoh on his blog post on Dec 13
You say that you need to conduct
as many interview as it takes to get the information sought, but is there any
guideline on how many that might be? No critique here, I am just curious. You
might get the information you are looking for in the very first interview, but
what you are looking for might not be the real answer to the question? I guess
more interviews, however time consuming, always (?) provide more general and
more statistically correct answers?
- Comment to Torbjörn
Axelsson on his blog post Dec 13
Hi,
I am not sure that the authors referred to the focus group interview with the professionals as a pilot-study, but I think you night be able to refer to it as such, and that seems to have been a good idea in this study. I am sure that these professionals who meet these visually impaired people in their daily life also have some interesting insight that the visually impaired themselves cannot formulate or realize.
I am not sure that the authors referred to the focus group interview with the professionals as a pilot-study, but I think you night be able to refer to it as such, and that seems to have been a good idea in this study. I am sure that these professionals who meet these visually impaired people in their daily life also have some interesting insight that the visually impaired themselves cannot formulate or realize.
- Comment to Marit
Aldén on her blog post on Dec 13
Really interesting article you
found. I think I have to read it myself. I would also, just like Filip, know if
they came to any conclusions if watching TV did in fact affect their Theory of
Mind. In my opinion children today in many ways have a greater awareness
compared to what I can remember of myself at the same age.
As this study was done on children I think the only option is to have the interviews separately, otherwise if one child would have answered that the cat is in the garage, then everybody would have agreed that the cat is in the garage.
As this study was done on children I think the only option is to have the interviews separately, otherwise if one child would have answered that the cat is in the garage, then everybody would have agreed that the cat is in the garage.
- Comment
to Oscar Friberg on his blog post on Dec 13
I
had not heard about the problem of self-identification before I read this blog
post. It is an important issue to remember (also in daily life). It is easy to
declare yourself as a democratic, a vegetarian, or an environmentalist, but who
knows what that persons definition is of that terminology. A person can also
have a strong desire to, for whatever reason, want to be or belong to something
even though they are not.
It must have been an interesting article. I have
a lot of experience with Chinese people in China, and they are experts at
reading between the lines, listening to gossip, and things that are NOT said. I
assume the Russian people, who live under the same lack-of-real-news situation
have a similar experience.
- Comment
to Adam Rosén on his blog post Dec 12
Really
interesting study. I see that the study had only three perpetrators as
interviewees, and it made me consider if they had chosen another way of
collecting data (such as email-interview) could have increased this number.
Even though, as I assume, you are anonymous in this interview - who wants to be
interviewed on your actings as a bully? At least I hope that they have the
self-awareness to be ashamed of what they do...
I can also imagine that one bully, at least in theory, can have many victims so that it might also be less bully's to find than victims.
I can also imagine that one bully, at least in theory, can have many victims so that it might also be less bully's to find than victims.
- Comment to Havva Göcmenoglu on the blog post Dec 13
Maybe a focus group setup was not the best option in this case with
young teenagers, or maybe they should have chosen quite small and intimate
groups of 3-5 people in order to relax the students.
Middle and High School Students are in a very sensitive age and they are
extremely aware of their peers and do not want to stand out in a negative way
(which sometimes make them very shy and quiet). One thought that popped into my
head though, was that maybe the authors were trying to be too relaxed and cool.
Sometimes it is better just to take charge, be yourself and not try to be
somebody you are not. I am not user how strict of an atmosphere there usually
would be in their focus group meeting.
- Comment to Ragnar Schön on his blog post Dec 14
I
like your idea to follow up with a little questionnaire after the focus group
sessions. I can see several advantages with his:
1) for people who were too shy to speak out during the focus grow session
2) for ideas that popped into your head afterwards. Normally a focus group discussion stays in your head, and you might afterwards think of several great answers to questions discussed. That often happens to me.
3) in order to afterwards state any ideas discussed that you maybe do not agree with but were not able to "voice a protest" on during the session.
1) for people who were too shy to speak out during the focus grow session
2) for ideas that popped into your head afterwards. Normally a focus group discussion stays in your head, and you might afterwards think of several great answers to questions discussed. That often happens to me.
3) in order to afterwards state any ideas discussed that you maybe do not agree with but were not able to "voice a protest" on during the session.
- Comment to Zahra Al Houaidy
Hi Zahra,
I am impressed. It seems like it was a well
conducted study that you found. To have observations from a period of a year,
to have interviews performed in three different ways, and a large spread of the
age of the test-subjects (between the age of 9-43, and not only college
students which seems to be very common). It must have taken a long time to
analyse this data. I agree with you that the different types of interviews
might affect the data, but perhaps in this qualitative study they could observe
the responses to a few of the interviewee's and then it might be enough
to collect the opinion of others.
It would have been interesting to hear if they were
able to draw any conclusions about the age difference, and if they had
different opinions on what was private information and what is public. I assume
there should be a big difference, having younger people being more
"public-minded".
- Comment to Cim Nordling on her blog post Dec 13
I found that topic a little hard to grasp myself, and was lucky to find that really clarifying lecture on the web. After reading several of the comments on the blog , I believe that this was in general a difficult statement, and not very well answered in the original writing.
Since the lecture and seminars were cancelled this week, I think that we are all lacking a clarification and discussion about this topic, which left us all hanging in the air a little bit.