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Poor response rate, self-selection bias, and item noncompletion negatively impact the generalization of results from surveys. This study examined differences in these factors between a paper and online survey among allied health clinicians. Clinicians within a large local health district were initially invited to complete the Research Capacity in Context Tool online via an e-mail link. Following a lower-than-expected response rate, potential selection bias, and item noncompletion, the survey was readministered in paper form to the same cohort of clinicians 6–12 months later. The response rate to the paper survey was higher than to the online survey (27.6% vs. 16.5%). Selection biases were evident, characterized by seniority and discipline: Junior clinicians responded at rates significantly less than expected to the online survey but as expected to the paper survey. Occupational therapists, speech pathologists, and podiatrists responded more highly to the online survey, while other disciplines responded more highly to the paper survey. The rate of item noncompletion was higher for online than paper survey (6.72% vs. 3.8% questions not completed, respectively), with patterns of noncompletion also differing. These data suggest paper surveys are likely to produce less biased and more generalizable data from allied health clinicians.

Surveys of health professionals typically have low response rates, and these rates have been decreasing in the recent years. We report on the methods used in a successful survey of dentist members of the National Dental Practice–Based Research Network. The objectives were to quantify the (1) increase in response rate associated with successive survey methods, (2) time to completion with each successive step, (3) contribution from the final method and personal contact, and (4) differences in response rate and mode of response by practice/practitioner characteristics. Dentist members of the network were mailed an invitation describing the study. Subsequently, up to six recruitment steps were followed: initial e-mail, two e-mail reminders at 2-week intervals, a third e-mail reminder with postal mailing a paper questionnaire, a second postal mailing of paper questionnaire, and staff follow-up. Of the 1,876 invited, 160 were deemed ineligible and 1,488 (87% of 1,716 eligible) completed the survey. Completion by step: initial e-mail, 35%; second e-mail, 15%; third e-mail, 7%; fourth e-mail/first paper, 11%; second paper, 15%; and staff follow-up, 16%. Overall, 76% completed the survey online and 24% on paper. Completion rates increased in absolute numbers and proportionally with later methods of recruitment. Participation rates varied little by practice/practitioner characteristics. Completion on paper was more likely by older dentists. Multiple methods of recruitment resulted in a high participation rate: Each step and method produced incremental increases with the final step producing the largest increase.

This paper is motivated by the premise that little is known about the use of requestive strategies in request emails in Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) context. Specifically, the paper examines and compares requestive strategies in request emails between two groups of university students, namely English majors (EM) and non-English majors (NEM). It then explores whether the assessments of three situational factors: assessments of social distance, power and rank of imposition, either alone or combined, has a statistically significant effect on the choice of requestive strategies by the two groups. In reference to some existing similar research, the paper argues that both groups under study seemed to exhibit inadequate sociopragmatic competence and pragmalinguistic knowledge. The study thus sheds some light on Interlanguage Pragmatics research on the Chinese EFL context. The paper finally offers some pedagogical implications in foreign language settings.

Travel surveys can reach potential survey respondents in many ways, including intercepting them at activity centers or on transit vehicles and contacting them by telephone, mail, or online. The selection of a survey recruitment approach should consider whether the population from which a sample is drawn is fully covered in order to avoid coverage error. This paper presents two case studies that review data collected in travel surveys in metropolitan areas in the United States to identify coverage error, specifically whether lack of Internet access by a segment of the population leads to coverage error. The first case study analyzes data from several road pricing surveys to quantify differences between those who have and do not have Internet access. The second case study analyzes data from two transit origin–destination surveys in which respondents were invited to provide contact details for additional market research. This paper compares the overall sample with those willing to be surveyed in the future by telephone and those willing to receive a future survey invitation by e-mail. Both case studies find that the samples with access to the Internet are similar to the larger full samples that include those without Internet access and therefore that the coverage error found in the Internet-only samples is small. The results suggest that, for surveys of general populations of drivers or transit riders, surveying only those with Internet access does not introduce significant coverage error into travel survey samples.

The popularity of Internet worldwide has transformed the way individuals and companies carry out their daily transactions. Electronic mail a.k.a. email is a subset of the big Internet world. It is a communication facility that is slowly replacing the conventional mail. Its advantages had pursued individuals and businesses to adopt email facility as part of their daily life. However, many media headlines, including the court of law judgments, have highlighted the risk and the danger of emails facility at work. The way it has been misused, abused and violated has jeopardized the employer and has placed the relevant parties at risk. This and other reasons have led the management to monitor the emails usage by its employees. This paper examines the need for monitoring email usage at the work place. It looks into the extent of misuse of the facility by employees in general and with reference to Tenaga National Engineering and Consultancy (TNEC), Malaysia in particular. The paper also sheds light on employees’ perception on email monitoring. A well-defined organizational policy on email surveillance is the need of the hour, proposes the paper.

In this editorial article I review the first decade of published papers in Theory & Psychology, particularly noting several tensions and problems manifested in contemporary theory. One of these is the tension between the universal and the particular, another is captured by the way in which the work of James Gibson and Ludwig Wittgenstein is in a limited sense representative of the kinds of problems articulated in the journal. I discuss the changing social context of the academy and the publishing industry and how these are likely to influence journal publishing, and Theory & Psychology, in the next decade. Finally I introduce the papers that make up this special issue and that bring together a broad set of concerns that will likely define the problems of theory for the future. Theory & Psychologybecame a possibility on an August day in 1986 when I was discussing the state of theory in psychology with the editor of a small publishing house at the American Psychological Association Convention in Washington, DC. She asked if I would be interested in founding a journal, then the furthest thing from my mind. I circulated the idea and began an informal discussion with various colleagues. Before long, however, the pub- lishing house involved was taken over by a large international publisher and the editor who had popped the question moved to another company. Never- theless, the idea had taken on a life of its own and continued to float, supported by a group of about 10 or 12 individuals from North America (mostly Western Canada) and Europe who met irregularly and carried on a discussion on an early incarnation of electronic mail on the potential of a journal devoted to theory but not rigidly defined by the limits of the discipline. Because many of us were members of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, the journal has always had a strong but informal link with this group. It was Sage Publications in London who took the leap of faith, and along with the support of a distinguished triumvirate of

Digital media and digital data processing have substantially influenced public institutions in recent years and changed their efficiency, effectiveness and organisational set-up (nature of organisations). Based on Fountain’s Technology Enactment Framework (TEF), this paper argues that, firstly, in a circular process, digital requirements transform the bureaucratic features of school organisation, and that the effects of digital technologies on the performance and efficiency of schools as bureaucratic organisations are ambivalent. We use interview data from a sample of 51% of the head teachers of vocational school centres in the jurisdiction of Bavaria in order to substantiate these assumptions by means of structured qualitative analysis. Email technology seems particularly significant from a quantitative perspective. Indications for the transformative nature of objective digital technologies with regard to the school bureaucracies can be found for all bureaucratic categories under consideration in this analysis, particularly for the feature ‘standardisation’. The examples presented here seem to highlight that gains in efficiency or reductions of losses in efficiency caused by digitalisation are mostly caused by the concrete use of digital technology within the respective school organisation.

Even though there are demonstrated benefits of using online tools to support student musicians, there is a persistent challenge of providing sufficient and effective professional development for independent music teachers to use such tools successfully. This paper describes several methods for helping teachers use an online tool called iSCORE, including embedded online support, targeted email messages, webinars, and face-to-face workshops. Using contemporary frameworks for characterizing continuing professional development, the success of each of these teaching approaches, separately and in combination, is considered through an examination of teacher feedback, uptake of the tool by students, and the interview data from an advisory board made up of teachers, educators, software designers and developers, publishers, and business leaders. Inherent tensions and difficulties in designing appropriate professional development are discussed.

Background: Academic probation is a nearly universal but underresearched policy practiced at most postsecondary institutions. Objectives: To evaluate the impact of probation warning letters on students’ academic performance. Research design: Employing the inferentially strong regression discontinuity design, we evaluated the impact of two versions of warning letters (U.S. mail and email), noting their impact on next semester grades. Subjects: Probation and nonprobation students at a large, Midwestern college enrolled during two, successive fall–winter semester pairs ( n > 17,000, for each pair). Measures: Fall and winter grade point averages (GPAs) were identified for each individual student in the study sample. Results: Using both parametric and nonparametric analyses, we found that neither delivery method, paper or electronic, had a consistent, significant impact on subsequent GPA or odds of a GPA ≥ 2.0 during the next semester. Four of the eight measures of effect for GPA were small and positive (0.02–0.15; one significant positive outcome), and four were negative (−0.02 to −0.08; one significant negative result). A separate set of analyses that excluded students who took a single course led to further inconsistency in results. Supplementary analyses that excluded students scoring far from the cut-point yielded results consistent with a no-difference conclusion. Our findings also indicated that, after being placed on probation, only a small percentage of students were able to avoid movement to the next stage of academic sanction. Conclusions: Warning letters notifying students of probation status, lacking a staff-focused intervention, had little impact on academic performance.

In this paper, we describe and evaluate two state-of-the-art systems for identifying and correcting writing errors involving English articles and prepositions. Criterion SM, developed by Educational Testing Service, and ESL Assistant , developed by Microsoft Research, both use machine learning techniques to build models of article and preposition usage which enable them to identify errors and suggest corrections to the writer. We evaluated the effects of these systems on users in two studies. In one, Criterion provided feedback about article errors to native and non-native speakers who were writing an essay for a college-level psychology course. The results showed a significant reduction in the number of article errors in the final essays of the non-native speakers. In the second study, ESL Assistant was used by non-native speakers who were composing email messages. The results indicated that users were selective in their choices among the system’s suggested corrections and that, as a result, they were able to increase the proportion of valid corrections by making effective use of feedback.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have made it possible for members of any profession to contact other professionals or communicate on a group level that was not possible in the past. It is due to the availability of ICT-based social networking software. LIS professionals in Pakistan are not behind in adopting modern technologies. They have been using mailing groups since December 2000. Pakistan Library Automation Group (PakLAG), a group of volunteer LIS professionals, launched the first ever mailing group in Pakistan known as plagpk. The impact of the plagpk mailing group is very positive. It provides a useful forum to professionals to share their experiences and solve their problems. It is helping in the placement of fresh graduates by posting jobs. It helped a lot in the revival of a dead national library association. The group has created awareness among Pakistani LIS professionals in using new ICT-based social networking software. Following its example, many other mailing groups have also been launched by LIS professionals. This paper presents the results of content analysis of 5216 e-mail messages posted on plagpk till December 2008. The results of a survey of users about the usefulness of this group are also presented.

Reflection is an important aspect of learning in groups. In collective moments of reflection, learners can share and compare their ideas with others, and by doing so can reach an articulated and personal understanding of a learning task and domain. In the research presented here, e-mail is examined as a means for reflection in the context of group learning. In two design experiments, an e-mail tool is developed that seeks to (1) support collective reflection, and (2) overcome practical problems related to e-mail use in primary classrooms. Two prototypes of the tool are presented and tested in five primary classrooms. We conclude that e-mail supports collective reflection on a learning task after adding the following supportive measures to the regular e-mail program: (1) a fixed partnership, (2) fixed timing, (3) an exercise of individual freewriting, and (4) collective use of a paper worksheet.

This paper reports results of a study aimed at assessing agricultural researchers’ access to information technology facilities. It also examines to what extent such facilities are used in facilitating researchers’ access to scientific information. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey to 321 agricultural researchers selected randomly at 13 research centres throughout the country. The response rate obtained was 76.3%. Out of 244 respondents, 170 (69.7%) reported having access to internet or e-mail facilities. While 79.3% of the respondents having access to the internet reported using the facility frequently for information search, the e-mail facility was not popularly used by the respondents for information requests to sources outside respondents’ institutions. CD-ROM technology was found not to be readily available to many respondents because of the unavailability of such facilities at their research centres and minimal use of e-mail facilities for resource sharing with other centres’ CD-ROM databases. It is concluded that, along with a low level of information technology development in the country, the available information technology facilities have not been fully exploited to facilitate agricultural researchers’ access to information. Some measures to improve information technology infrastructure and its use for improvement of research productivity are recommended.

The use of electronic mail and the non-use of an accounting information system (IS) by a group of executives at a major telecommunications company provided the opportunity of exploring the reasons why executives use information technology (IT). The paper draws on qualitative and quantitative research data to give a holistic and integrative explanation. This is based on the perceptions of executives and is interpreted through a wide range of prior research which incorporates media richness theory, social interaction theories and technology acceptance modelling. The case study draws particular attention to the concept of media style. Structuration theory is used to draw together the several factors which are to be found in the existing literature and in the case study. Individual action and structure interacted to create the changing conditions which typify the context for executive use of IT at the case study site. The structure comprises IT itself, task and social and technological factors.

Procedures and results associated with a unique approach for conducting commuter surveys in San Antonio, Texas, are presented. This approach was specifically developed in association with a before-and-after evaluation of Phase II of San Antonio’s advanced transportation management system (ATMS), known as TransGuide. The primary purpose of the surveys is to identify user understanding and utilization of ATMS components. The surveying approach used a geographic information system (GIS) application that would identify the appropriate group to survey on the basis of the location of the incident and the route information supplied by the survey panelists. This automated approach reduced the number of nonapplicable surveys that were distributed, was easy to use, and could identify the survey panel very quickly. Using the results of the GIS application, surveys were distributed in both paper and electronic formats. The electronic method consisted of sending via electronic mail a request to complete a survey that would guide the respondent to an on-line survey that they could use to answer the questions. The electronic survey significantly reduced the labor and materials costs associated with distributing the survey. The preliminary response rates indicate that, at a minimum, the electronic survey will provide the same response rate with a reduction in cost. Although issues concerning sample bias must be considered, the electronic survey method has the potential to be more effective and more efficient than most of the other surveying techniques commonly used in current practice.

Using content analysis, the authors categorize all Social Issues in Management (SIM) Division papers and abstracts (636) from 1972 through 1996 by subject matter and methodology. Showing the development of the field over time, the authors integrate their findings into previous SIM frameworks. Adaptation to the changing business environment is apparent in the subject matter. Although terminology and context (such as employee rights concerning electronic mail) may have changed, the topics are similar. Nevertheless, evolution in the SIM field is apparent. Methodology has become much more sophisticated as researchers use existing and newly created databases and more rigorous techniques-such as event studies and meta-analysis.

Local authorities (LAs) exist to provide a variety of services to their citizens, and they have a responsibility to communicate information, in increasing quantities, to the people within their locality. This communication has traditionally been paper-based, but information technology may offer some advantages. The aims of this study were to survey the use of the World Wide Web by LAs, to identify the reasons for its adoption, the benefits and disadvantages, and the types of information being disseminated by this means. The survey was conducted by questionnaire, sent to 161 LAs, mainly by electronic mail. All the Web sites were observed and assessed for relevance and quality, and four LAs were used as case studies. Adoption of the Web by LAs increased sharply during 1996, as it was perceived as a medium for improving communications and disseminating information. Some LAs have discovered the value of the medium for promoting their area to a wider, national and international audience, especially for tourism and economic development.

In this article, we demonstrate how faculty can integrate World Wide Web projects into course assignments, We explore: (a) implementation of electronic term papers (ETP), (b) pedagogical objectives of the assignment, (c) educational benefits of the ETP, (d) an exemplar ETP, (e) grading of ETPs, (f) resource and copyright issues, and (g) student evaluations of the approach. Our goal is to demonstrate how students and faculty can join together to use new technologies in a collaborative fashion that results in student self-discovery and self-construction of knowledge.

The Internet and electronic mail increasingly offer the research community opportunities that it did not previously have. Access to information has increased as has access to and discussion with those working in similar areas. One other aspect of ‘cyberspace’ which presents enormous possibilities to the research community, currently in its infancy, is the use of the Internet to reach individuals as research subjects. In particular, there may be significant research benefits to be gleaned where the group being researched is normally difficult to reach and/or the issues being researched are of a particularly sensitive nature. This paper outlines some recent survey research using the Internet as the interface between researcher and researched. The target group, illicit ‘drug dealers’, are difficult to access under normal conditions and contacting a spread of such individuals across international borders was previously prohibitive. A discussion of sampling issues is undertaken which concludes that the Internet can be a valuable source of indicative as opposed to easily generalizable data. A practical guide to undertaking research via the Internet is also included.

This paper demonstrates how an electronic dialogue with a panel of human factors experts was used effectively as an augmentation to traditional classroom instruction. Nine students spent a one and one-half hour class session using a variety of commercial electronic mail software packages available on their own desk-tops (not in a university computer lab) to engage in discussion with remotely distributed instructors on topics generated by the students themselves. Ninety eight messages were exchanged, with about 60% having technical content. Interaction content and style were analyzed, and a survey was distributed to participants to evaluate the session. Process observations by this author augmented these data. Strengths and weaknesses of using technology not specifically designed for this function are discussed.

This paper examines social and nonsocial uses of electronic messaging systems, their determinants, and their impacts on direction of communication, perceived quality of work, and decision-making. A survey was conducted in 1992 in the headquarters of a large, geographically dispersed telecommunications company in Maryland which used an in-house electronic mail system. The findings showed that electronic messages were not widely used for socioemotional purposes but were certainly more common among certain groups. Messages pertaining to socioemotional content were generally avoided in downward and diagonal communication. Younger employees who had worked for the organiza tion for a shorter period of time and were holding lower level jobs were more likely to communicate socioemotional content via electronic messages. These people were less often involved in the decision-making process and felt they did not make effective decisions. However, socioemotional use was positively related to perceived quality of work...

This study is an exploratory survey of current electronic mail (E-mail) use, attitudes toward E-mail and likelihood of future E-mail use among freshmen university students. Increasingly, universities are giving students access to their campus E-mail systems. In this case study, the administration of the college of communication in a Northeastern university was interested in implementing an E-mail system as part of a larger organizational shift toward electronic communications. As digital media become a reality, it was deemed important that students become familiar with electronic communications. An E-mail system would be the first entry for students into the production and receipt of digital information. This study was carried out prior to and in preparation for the implementation of a college-wide E-mail system into the curriculum. By exploring students' current E-mail use patterns, attitudes about Email, and a few correlates, this study hopes to shed some light on the factors that facilitate adoption and use once the system is formally implemented. Describing E-mail E-mail is a subset of computer networking. Along with other computer-mediated communication applications like individual and group scheduling, and collaborative workgroup software, the purpose of E-mail is the facilitation of information exchange between members of an organization, whether an office, a university community, a real or "virtual" collaboration, or a commercial information service like CompuServe or Prodigy (Rapaport, 1991). Basically, electronic communication technology combines computer text processing and communication tools with the speed and reach of a computer network. The result of this is that anyone with a computer account or "address" can send and receive information to any other members of the network (Sproull and Kiesler 1993). The importance of introducing students to E-mail is highlighted by the growing number of studies reporting on using Email as a means of university teaching, and the growing use of E-mail among corporations and businesses. D'Souza (1991) studied the impact that E-mail has on the instructional process. In this study, students in a class went on-line with E-mail. Class material dissemination, discussion and paper collection were performed on-line. D'Souza (1991 ) found that the E-mail system helped the shy or passive students overcome communication anxiety that might be present in the classroom setting. They expressed themselves more freely (both positively and negatively) to the instructor and classmates. Another benefit of the system described by D'Souza (1991) was more efficient completion of group projects through E-mail. Students could collaborate with other class members, ask questions, share data and keep up on events through the svstem. The one negative result of the system was that it lacked the traditional non-verbal cues of face-to-face communication. Some students found this system to be too impersonal, and felt awkward communicating electronically. The possibility for a "virtual classroom" was also explored by Hiltz (1986). Her study wondered if an interactive learning experience could be created within a computer system that would be as effective as traditional classroom education. Hiltz (1986) taught two sections of a class; one traditional and one on-line. Students taking the on-line class didn't feel inhibited about taking part in "discussions" over the E-mail system, and felt that the system provided good access to their instructors (Hiltz,1986). Graduate students were more negative about the course than the undergraduates, a fact Hiltz (1986) attributes to the greater presence of undergraduates on campus where terminal access is more convenient. This study focuses upon describing and assessing variables that predict student use of E-mail. Its purpose is to study non-curricular E-mail use patterns among students before implementing a college of communication-wide E-mail system. …

The use of electronic bulletin boards is increasing dramat ically ; they are now a significant source of opinion and experience-related commentary from a wide variety of people over a large range of topics. As such, they are a major information resource and potentially suitable as a vehicle for questionnaire distribution. To date, there has been no formal discussion of this vehicle - a deficiency this paper attempts to address. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this medium, and compares it against the other possible alternatives. We believe this comparison shows that the medium has a great deal to offer and a wide degree of applicability, especially within the area of exploratory research. The main deficiency with the medium is that it poten tially suffers from a large-scale self-selection bias. To inves tigate this, we have conducted a questionnaire study through this medium, and subsequently replicated it using a traditional mail distribution approach. We believe that this experiment provides evidence that, for populations without a sampling frame, the effect is of a similar magni tude for both bulletin board distributed and mail distrib uted surveys. We conclude that surveys using this new medium are valid, given the above restriction.

Conventions and etiquettes evolve or are developed for technologically mediated modes of communication. The Internet is now over a decade old, and the use of its pre decessor networks and multiuser computer systems for computer-mediated communication (CMC) dates back to the 1960s. However, although the Internet is increasingly a feature of the global popular culture as a concept, and in the construction of its various associated images, its system atic use for CMC has only recently begun to extend beyond the sub-cultural. Although at its deeper social and psycho logical levels the use and effects of CMC present a fertile new field of investigation for communication researchers, in many of its general aspects conventions for courteous and effective networking behaviour have long been codified and widely documented. The present paper identifies some of the main electronic and print sources of 'netiquette' advice and provides a digest of their consensus.

Nurses working within a variety of research paradigms, and using both qualitative and quantitative methods, frequently gather data by interview or questionnaire. This paper discusses the use of electronic mail (e-mail) as a means of interviewing research subjects, and suggests that it could be more widely used by nurses with access to the Internet. The author's experience in using this method outlines the problems and advantages of this medium for obtaining interview data. One of the main advantages is that the need for transcription of interview data prior to analysis is totally obviated.

Edited version of a paper presented at the conference: 'Information for the nation: appropriate technologies for information transfer' of the South African Institute for Library and Information Science in September 1992. For many South African librarians, appropriate technology means affordable technology. Part of the library community in the country has been preoccupied with expensive state-of-the-art information technology. Small information centres can use electronic bulletin boards to participate in local bulletin board networks linking a wide range of libraries and information centres in specific areas. Possible applications of such a system are outlined.

This study examined the effects of computer network technologies on teacher-student and student-student interactions in a writing course emphasizing multiple drafts and collaboration. Two sections used traditional modes of communication (face-to-face, paper, and phone); two other sections, in addition to using traditional modes, used electronic modes (electronic mail, bulletin boards, and so on). Patterns of social interaction were measured at two times: 6 weeks into the semester and at the end of the semester. Results indicate that teachers in the networked sections interacted more with their students than did teachers in the regular sections. In addition, it was found that teachers communicated more electronically with less able students than with more able students and that less able students communicated more electronically with other students.

satellite connections joining together computers the world over. Its main use, at least for those in the information field -librarians, publishers, information workers is for the transfer of mail (electronic mail, or e-mail) or documents (file transfer). All of the papers on the Internet in this issue were delivered to the editor by the Internet using e-mail and file transfer. In the field of development, electronic mail has special usage. As development is an international activity, it is essential for ideas to be exchanged between workers in different parts of the world. As well

Electronic mail-like systems are becoming a popular way of conferencing in organizations, while real-time computer conferencing (RTCC) facilities are virtually ignored. It is the suggestion of this paper that in a computerized organizational environment for group decisions made through consensus development, RTCC may have some advantages over electronic mail-like conferencing. The experimental study comparing RTCC and electronic mail as modes of computer-mediated communication during group decision making is described. The post-experimental preferences-difficulties questionnaire revealed that: (1) a majority of the participants clearly preferred face-to-face communication to computer-mediated (76% vs. 22%) and RTCC to electronic mail (93% vs. 7%); (2) since 79% of the participants were willing to give up their own opinion and simply agree in order to get away from the discussion, because communication via computer is frustrating, it is possible that the quality of the decisions may suffer due to the deficiences of the computer media; (3) The participants encountered significant cognitive difficulties in both modes of computer conferencing. These difficulties are addressed in the design recommendations for both RTCC and electronic mail.