Attitudes to revenue model in an online COP
From Dar
Contents |
Introduction
I was asked by CPsquare, my professional association, to write a short report on the so-called "ultra-light" business model behind the ukcider community. This will be compared with other communities and business models in order to help build a useful list of advantages/disadvantages of various methods for funding online groups.
The idea was to conduct a survey of a few 'leaders' of the community, in order to gather information, ideas and attitudes. Due to time pressures, I asked a trusted fellow researcher User:Linda to conduct the interviewing for me, which because of my role as convenor and facilitator of the group is probably good practice for obtaining authentic views. --Andy Roberts 16:07, 1 August 2007 (BST)
Research Plan
I gave Linda a free hand to ask questions with a general aim to try and steer the conversation around to the question of the revenue model as and when she feels it's appropriate.
A concern was that this little research excercise isn't misconstrued by interviewees or their associates as an attempt to suddenly try to justify the imposition of a membership fee on what is currently a free service. That might undermine confidence by casting suspicion on the motives of the convenor.
So the plan was:
1) identify a handful of leaders.
2) Approach by email to ask if they would be willing to answer a few questions. The purpose of the research is disclosed at this point.
"Andy has been asked by CPsquare to gather some information for comparison with some other types of community"
3) Conduct a number of individual, free format, probably synchronous interviews.
I didn't want this to turn into a major project so the data collection part should be completed in a few days. Lessons learned from early interviews can inform the way the researcher conducts subsequent ones in order to improve data quality and relevance.
Rationale:
Investigating the attitudes of leading group members to the revenue model of an online community of practice of small scale artisan producers of craft cider and exploring their perceptions of any impact this may have on the learning capacity of the group.--Linda 13:54, 23 July 2007 (BST)
Methodology Justification
I used an action research approach to gather qualitative data from a selected group of members. I chose to do the research in this way for a number of reasons.
- There were neither the time nor the resources for a large scale 'scientific' research project
- All research has an impact on that which is researched and action research attempts to ensure that any impact is positive.
- Use of the action research method meant that it was possible to gather rich qualitative data from the core of the group.
- It meant that the research could serve several functions:
- 1. The data produced would provide the basis of a report on attitudes to revenue models for CP2.
- 2. Discussing attitudes to learning, teaching and revenue models with the core members of the group might lead to them crystalizing their own attitudes. So that simply by formally exploring these topics an action has been taken and this may have an impact on the group.
- 3. There may be suggestions for improvements within the data which can be acted on and which otherwise would not have been uncovered.
Researcher Assumptions
I am a minor but active participant in the group myself and would be unable to be take the detached view that would be required by many other research methods. I felt that an action research approach with its emphasis on improvement was more appropriate in this instance. My position as a trusted member of the group gave me access to the core which might have been more difficult for an external researcher to achieve. I assumed there might be hostility to any suggestion that there could be changes to the revenue model and was careful to reassure participants that this was not the objective of the research.
Ethics
- All particiants were chosen from within a list of the core agreed with the group's facilitator.
- All were approached by e-mail and assured of the anonymity of the interviews.
- All were asked and agreed to the recording of the interviews, with the understanding that those sound files would not be used except to provide accurate transcripts.
- All interviews were anonymised after transcription and direct references to other group members were removed.
- Times were pre-agreed to suit the interviewee and minimize interuption of their routines.
- Interviews were kept short and focussed and people were thanked for their participation.
- All were told that the final report will be fed back to the group where they can add comments.
- At all times the best interests of the group were taken into account
Timeline
As a small scale project the initial time line for the research is relatively short.
Cycle 1
Planning - July 16th - 17th 2007 Plan actions, gather participants, agree methods.
Action - July 18th - 24th 2007 Conduct interviews
Review - July 25th - 31th - Analyse data
- August 1st. - 3rd Produce findings and discuss
Cycle 2
Planning - plan actions based on discussion of findings - August 3rd - 7th.
Method
I selected and e-mailed 5 members from the core group (about 10 members) to ask if they would be willing to participate. (E-mail template). Interviewees could choose between a telephone or e-mail interview at a time convienient to them. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted and followed a loose template. This was to allow for emergent themes to be explored whilst maitaining focus on the main theme. The e-mail interview followed the same basic structure but was obviously less flexible.
Data Analysis
I used the free version of Hyper Research (add external link)to code the data and then to produce the emergent themes. Although I used the software to speed the process I was careful not to fall into the trap of relying on a quantitative interpretation. An insight might only have one instance and yet be important enough to appear in the findings.--Linda 17:11, 1 August 2007 (BST)
Results of Data Analysis
Emergent themes
1. Uses of group:
- used for learning and teaching (experts and practitioners)
- used for networking
- used to form friendship bonds that increasingly move off line
- increasingly used for campaigns that promote the domain and/ or good practice
- Not used directly for promotion of ciders (though participation may lead to this indirectly)
2. Beliefs:
- that cider makers are special case, (partly because of the nature of their practice)
- that the group facilitates a flow from 'interested drinker' to 'hobbyist cider-maker' (and occasionally beyond) by providing an interesting learning environment.
- that on line information should be free to use
- negative about other groups
- wrong to make money from group (either members or facilitator)
- that the group has no costs (despite knowing that their own sites have costs)
- facilitator has high skill level - his technical stewardship is appreciated (wiki, spam, light touch)
3. The financial model
- financial model largely unconsidered until now
- high level of attachment to current model
- current model suits small scale business model of domain members
- negative about other financial models
- online information should be free to use
- wrong to make money from group (either members or facilitator)
- No idea that the group might incur any costs
4. The future of the group
- that the group could become more involved in campaigning
- that a small cider makers association would be a possible and positive outcome
- that it will just 'evolve' without much intervention.
- a desire for more off line interaction
- introduction of face to face workshop days to share expertise and meet social needs
- that the financial model should not change.
Note At this point I handed the project back to Andy to produce a discussion of the findings and any arising action points. I may be involved in the research aspect of subsequent cycles--Linda 17:19, 1 August 2007 (BST)
Discussion of Findings
Following the data analysis the discussion of the findings will be shared both with CP2 and on the DAR wiki
