LINKING ICT4D RESEARCH TO PRACTICE:

Two case studies

Raul RomanCenter for Internet StudiesUniversity of Washington

Annenberg School for CommunicationUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, February 17th 2005

Center for Internet StudiesUniversity of Washington

THIS PRESENTATION

•My research projects: a brief overview

•Case study #1: A telecenter project in India

•Case study #2: The evaluation of “The Library in a Box”

•Can ICT4D research be practical?

MY CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

•Telecenter projects in India (IDRC/UNESCO)

•The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (Rockefeller F)

•A research framework for telecenters (Microsoft)

•An evaluation of wireless telecenters in Latin America (USC/ICA)

•E-readiness of African universities (World Bank?)

MY CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

•Telecenter projects in India (IDRC/UNESCO)

•The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (Rockefeller F)

•A research framework for telecenters (Microsoft)

•An evaluation of wireless telecenters in Latin America (USC/ICA)

•E-readiness of African universities (World Bank?)

“CONCRETE OPPORTUNITIES”: TWO CASE STUDIES

Case study #1: Our telecenter project in India

Case study #2: The evaluation of TEEAL

Project descriptionMethodsTheoryResults

UNIVERSITIES AS TELECENTER INCUBATORS

A shared access information and communication resource center situated in a rural area of a developing country, whose objective is to

provide demand-driven services for community development.

OUR RESEARCH STRATEGY

•Qualitative data: 30 focus groups

•Quantitative data: survey (N=750)

•Objectives of data collection:

strategic value: project design and evaluation village awarenessparticipation (telecenter steering committees)

OUR ANALYTICAL APPROACH: DIFFUSION THEORY

Diffusion of innovations, especially in the context of developing countries, tends to widen the socioeconomic gap between the higher and the lower status segments of a social system unless preventive measures are taken (Rogers, 1995).

The ‘motivation-contingency model’ of the knowledge gap hypothesis holds that “the SES-based knowledge gap is contingent on one’s level of issue-related motivational variables. For those with a high level of motivation, we expect a lesser degree of education-based knowledge gap” (Kwak, 1999: 388).

WHAT DO WE PREDICT?

Rural peasants, independently of their socioeconomic status, will be willing to pay for telecenter services if they perceive that these services are relevant in their lives

Motivational factors should exhibit significant influence upon willingness to pay for telecenter services independent of and in addition to SES factors. For those villagers with a high level of perceived importance of telecenter services, we expect a lesser degree of education-based ‘willingness to pay’ gap.

MORE ABOUT OUR SURVEY SAMPLE

Multistage cluster non-probability sampling and quota sampling

Population: (a) all household heads and their spouses (b) living in Village One, Two, and Three in the state of Tamil Nadu, India (c) during the summer of 2001.

A survey of individuals but retaining the household as the sampling unit

MORE ABOUT OUR SURVEY SAMPLE

Limitations

Statistical inference: “a nonmeasurable sample, such as a quota sample or a typical city, may represent a population well or poorly; but statistical theory alone does not suffice for judging its precision” (Kish, 1995: 23).

External validity: specificity of sample; need for replication

MORE ABOUT OUR SAMPLE

Why is this a good non-probability sample?

Careful clustering of relatively manageable and small rural populations (small coverage error).

Strict establishment of quota controls

A relatively big sample size (35% of surveyed population)

Very low incidence of non-response

MORE ABOUT MEASUREMENT

A cross-sectional contingent valuation survey administered face-to-face (pretested and translated to Tamil)

Stratification of access depending on ability to pay for localized demand-driven information and communication services

Dependent variable: Willingness to pay (dichotomous)

Explanatory variables: (a) socio-structural (education as proxy of SES) and (b) situational (perceived importance and trust).

OUR MODEL: ONE EXAMPLE

Socio-economic

status

Perceived importance of

information

Willingness to pay for

information

DV

IVs

LOGISTIC REGRESSION ANALYSIS

TESTING OUR HYPOTHESIS

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Low motivation High Motivation

Perceived importance of information services

Mea

n w

illin

gnes

s to

pay

Low Education

High Education

Closing the gap!

NORMATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY

Potential of locally relevant and contextually appropriate content in helping overcome SES-based differential access to telecenters (although we don’t know if access to this content can help overcome structural gaps).

Evidence of demand: promise of economic self-sustainability

Importance of raising awareness and heightening the perceived functionality of telecenter services among low-SES villagers to narrow access gaps.

e-SCIENCE: TEEAL, THE LIBRARY IN A BOX

•A Cornell University-Rockefeller Foundation project

•CD library for low-income countries

•140 journal titles updated yearly

•400 CDs with more than 2 million pages

•90 TEEAL sets in 45 countries (recently in Iraq)

TEEAL AROUND THE WORLD

Country has at least one TEEAL set

Country eligible for TEEAL

TEEAL: AN EVALUATION

What are the patterns of TEEAL use? What are the factors that explain access and use of TEEAL?

METHODS IN A NUTSHELL:

•In depth case studies in Honduras, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.

•A survey questionnaire sent to 16 institutions in 13 countries in Africa (Bostwana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe), Asia (Indonesia, Nepal), and Latin America (Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru) (N=1384)

•Bibliometric analysis of 33 institutions with TEEAL.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

“The main problem I have using TEEAL is the English language…I think TEEAL is a good information tool, but it is also an important tool to gain familiarity with the new technology”. TEEAL user in Vietnam.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

“Most of the research conducted in the US, as we read in the TEEAL collection, is very different from what we do here. The level of technology, the climate, and the level of scientific preparation and research conditions are different. Here we have a different climate, and less sophisticated technology, and many times we have to conduct research with illiterate farmers”. TEEAL user in Costa Rica.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

“Professors don’t come here very often because they tend to think that libraries are books, not CDs. They don’t know that there are electronic facilities relevant to them”. TEEAL assistant in Indonesia.

THE SURVEY

Theory-based,reliable measures

THE BASIC THEORETICAL MODEL

The Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989)

Perceived ease of use

Intention to use

Perceivedusefulness

The TEEAL survey uses standard measures developed by TAM, theory of planned behavior, and diffusion researchers in information science

PREDICTING INTENTION TO USE TEEAL

Perceived ease of use

Intention to use

Perceivedusefulness

Note: ***p<.001, N=1044

R²=.42

.103***

.589***

PREDICTING INTENTION TO USE TEEAL

Perceived ease of use

Intention to use

Perceivedusefulness

Note: ***p<.001, N=1044

R²=.42

.103***

.589***

Age

-.061**

PREDICTING USEFULNESS

Contentrelevance

Ease of reading English articles

Importance of publishing

Perceived usefulness

Perceived ease of use

Intention to use

R²=.61

R²=.42

Note: **p<.01, ***p<.001, Standardized Betas, N=1044

Trust in TEEAL content

.437***

.171***

.163***

.116***

.219***

PREDICTING USE OF USE

Domain knowledge

Ease of access

English proficiency

Perceived usefulness

Perceived ease of use

Intention to use

R²=.34

R²=.61

R²=.42

Note: **p<.01, ***p<.001 N=1044

Availability of librarian help

.336***

.066**

.113***

.284***

NORMATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY

Improve access via internal networks

Enhance relevance: inclusion of local content and more appropriate search tools

Foster TEEAL awareness: a practical guide for TEEAL administrators

Create incentives for research and publication (TEEAL grants)

BEYOND TEEAL: REACHING THE GRASSROOTS

http:www.cis.washington.edu/manila2005

CAN ICT4D RESEARCH BE USEFUL?

•Foster economically profitable and sustainable solutions

•Respond to the needs of current and potential users

•Design socially sound programs, policies, and technologies

•RaisE awareness about the value of ICT services in developing countries (potential users, government bodies, civil society, and the private sector).

SOME CHALLENGES:

Rigorous research approaches (credibility, validity)

Effective communication of results to different stakeholders

Utilizing research results

THANK YOU

RAUL ROMAN

rroman@u.washington.edu