Researchers in Education: Their Professional Usage of the Internet

Michael Søgaard Larsen &

Sam Saunders:

Something in the net?

Researchers in education: Their professional usage of the Internet.

A Danish survey - compared with a British

1. The aims of the investigation

The investigation deals with researchers in education and teaching. It aims at elucidating the amount and the character of their use of the Internet in their professional capacity.

In this paper, the investigation is presented and a discussion of possible consequences is opened.

1. Background and the field of investigation

The background and field of investigation is explained by looking at the following: the population and the research field of education, professional use of the Internet, earlier research in the field, and methodical considerations.

2.1The population investigated and the research field of education

The population of the investigation is made up of researchers in education and teaching in Denmark. In the following, both the persons (researchers in Denmark) and their field of research (education and teaching) are defined.

The concept researcher is interpreted to include Ph.D.-students and also not to be wholly exclusive. Apart from staff in the usual research post structure of the universities and independent (but state funded) research institutions, research assistants and other research staff with an academic background as well as staff with research management tasks are included. It has not been a requirement that the researchers use the majority of their working hours on research, but only that they do research or manage research.

Questionnaires were sent to 670 research staff at 47 departments and institutions. In principle, that’s all the places where educational research – to a greater or lesser extent - is conducted in Denmark. UK data was gathered in an opportunistic way from 175 educational researchers. 18% of these completed printed questionnaires, 72% used an on-line form.

The research field of the researchers, education and teaching, has been interpreted broadly in this survey.

The latest and largest investigation into Danish educational research was conducted in 1999 on the initiative of the Ministry of Education. (1). The investigation surveys the research in the period 1994-99 and is based on the accounts of the institutions of their own research activities. The investigation records the activities of each institution in the field as to contents, research methodology, and extent. On a background of a qualified impression of the accounts, the report’s status of the research characterizes it as having a ’lack of fundamental research’ – the amount of research requisitioned by outside parties has increased considerably. Furthermore, it is characterized as being unco-ordinated and marked by contingencies and lack of strategic considerations. There are many research environments, and they seem to be too small. Moreover, the content, form and extent of the research are described using a classification which has been used as a base for the broad definition of the field in this survey:

A)Form of knowledge: Educational psychology, educational sociology, educational anthropology, educational philosophy, educattional technology

B)Aspects of life history: The areas of children, schools, adolescents, adults, and the elderly

C)Type of research: practical research versus fundamental research, empirical research versus theoretical research, evidential research versus research that develops theory

The foundation of the Danish University of Education (DUE) in 2000 has signified a centralization of educational research in Denmark, but the numerous small environments still exist.(2). Both the researchers and the research are marked by great heterogeneity. When this survey asks how the researchers use the Internet, the responses must be seen in this light also.

Finally, it has not been a requirement that the researchers only work in the fields of education and teaching but only that it’s a part of their research.

2.2Professional use of the Internet

The Internet started as a narrow military and strategic project and has, for the time being, evolved into a popular and democratic project marked by great growth and technical development, at least in our part of the world.(3).

In Denmark, just under one half of the families had access to the Internet from their private households in 2000. 42% of the population used the Internet at least once a week. The most widespread uses were e-mail and search for information. Only in the elderly part of the population the use of and access to the Internet is not so widespread. These numbers – seemingly still on the rise – make Denmark one of the countries of the world, where use of the Internet is most widespread.(4).

If one has a closer look at the most widespread use of the Internet, the picture is complicated. In a recent characterization of the Internet it is said: ’The Internet today is a medium for the public, for the market and the civil society. It is a place to seek news, information, knowledge, art, entertainment, amusement, trade and a place to meet other people.’(5).

It is probably not possible to say anything for certain of the use of the Internet, but some indication may be found by looking at the statistics of the search objects that some of the large search engines publish, e.g. LYCOS ( Actors, and pop and sports stars have high scores on such lists. Entertainment seems to play a large role in the use of the Internet.

In this survey the Internet is viewed from two special angles.

In the first place it is viewed with a special focus on information seeking. This may still be seen as one of the most important aspects of the Internet. Ministries, research and educational institutions, libraries and other information suppliers use quite large amounts of money to make information accessible, including information on education and teaching. The survey investigates the information seeking of the researchers on the Internet. Other possible foci on the Internet are treated marginally or not at all.

In the second place the individual researcher’s professional use of the Internet is explored. This should be understood as the use taking place in the researcher’s working environment, as most researchers have other tasks apart from research: Teaching, guidance, administration and so on. The use of the Internet in this broader sense is taken into account.

2.3Earlier research

Before this survey there have been no Danish surveys on the ways researchers in education and teaching use the Internet. However, a minor foreign survey has been made.

In 2000 Sabine Manning carried out a survey of the Internet use of European researchers of occupational training. (6). 34 researchers were surveyed. The material is limited, but some interesting tendencies could be noted:

-national addresses on the Internet seem to be used a lot more than European or American

-across the different work situations the Internet was used a lot. Most often, the use was in connexion with finding materials sources to research and teaching

-researchers at the start of their careers experienced greater difficulties using the Internet than those at later stages

There are a few surveys of how researchers in other fields use the Internet. It seems that there are quite large differences in the use from subject to subject.(7)

2.4The chosen method of investigation and analysis

When it was decided to carry out a Danish investigation, a British one had been started. That meant that the survey form used in the British investigation, which itself was based on the questionnaire used by Manning, was also used in the Danish. This limited the possibilities of changing the questionnaire used in the survey.

The British questionnaire was made available on the World Wide Web as an html form, with small number distributed as printed booklets. It was decided to send out the Danish questionnaire by traditional mail to get hold of the whole population, both the part accustomed to the Internet and the part unaccustomed. The unaccustomed couldn’t be expected to respond to a questionnaire send out as an html file. Some of the Internet accustomed in the population remarked in their responses that they found it strange that they hadn’t received the questionnaire in a more modern form, but they responded anyway.

The questionnaire used is in the first instance a direct translation of the British, which was based on the one developed by Sabine Manning. However, items specifically concerned with British conditions have been replaced by analogous or corresponding Danish items. The IT area in general and specifically the Internet are marked by a lot of technical jargon. As the competence of the population must be considered to be of great variance, the use of such terms has been brought to a minimum in the questionnaire. The translated and adapted questionnaire was investigated in a pilot project. It is a conscious choice that the don’t know category was not used. Instead, the population was instructed to add remarks if anything seemed unclear. These remarks are part of the discussion of the results.

Since the Danish data were orignally entered into a spreadsheet only, the original possibilities of calculations were limited. Further analysis will be possible and some additional tests of the results have already been carried out following a conversion of the data onto a data sheet for the statistical software programme SPSS.

There can be little doubt that later, more qualitative investigations in this field will be required if the meanings and full consequences of the statistical results are to be understood.

1. Data collection and data

The Danish data were collected from February 12th until April 19th 2001. UK data was gathered between September 200 and August 2001. 409 Danish and 200 UK questionnaires were completed. 55 in the Danish sample stated that they did no research in the field or were not/no longer were researchers. 30 of the UK sample were also outside the scope of the investigation. For the main survey reported in this paper (the Danish data) this brought the total population of the survey to 615. The 409 responses corresponds to 67% of the population. This represents a very high response rate. The non-respondents were identified by institution, and the possibility that some instituions were over or underrepresented was examined. Such a bias could not be established. Other individual characteristics among the non-respondents may reduce the degree to which the sample represents the total population.

Furthermore, it is probable that a (lesser?) part of the non-respondents of the population no longer do research in the fields of education and teaching. Apart from this, it would have been desirable to ensure that the 409 respondents do not differ from the 206 non-respondents insofar as the Internet is concerned. By carrying out the survey with traditionally mailed questionnaires, not-so-advanced users of the Internet have had the chance to respond. However, the non-respondents have to be taken into consideration in the interpretation of the data.

1. Results

4.1 Main results

About the Danish researchers themselves, the survey shows that the age distribution is skewed: 11% are below 35, 41% are between 35 and 50 and 48% are older than 50. UK figures are distributed in a similar pattern but with a less marked skew towards the older group, with 17% below 35, 49% between 35 and 50 and 34% over 50. In the Danish senior positions (professors, associate professors, senior researchers) 67% are older than 50. It also shows that there is a predominance of men (55%). females in the UK sample outnumbered males by 6 to 4, a nearly exact reversal of the Danish figures. This difference may relate to the differences in sampling approach. In the Danish survey, 67% of those in senior positions are men. Among the Ph.D. students 58% are women. (Appendix: Tables 1-4).

When asked about their own Internet competence, half of the Danish researchers answer that they are expert or competent users. The other half call themselves users or beginners. (Appendix: Tables 5 ). The UK question was slightly different, but more classified themselves as expert (25% compared to 7%) and less as beginner (7% compared to 10%). The large number completing the internet form is a factor to bear in mind here, although the 18% of UK respondents who did use the printed questionnaire were just as likely to resport themselves as expert internet users.

Danish and UK educational researchers are nearly all regular Internet users. About 2/3 of the Danish sample use the Internet "almost daily" and three quarters of the UK sample use it "regularly". In both groups less than 10% use the internet "seldom" or "rarely".

When asked about their opinion of the Internet it turns out that in the Dansih sample:

-About three quarters think that the World Wide Web is an efficient tool for the dissemination of research and that the fluctuating quality of information on the Internet is a problem;

-About two thirds respond that the Internet already has changed the way they work, and almost the same proportion responds that they expect further changes in the immediate future;

-86% agree or strongly agree that a large collection of web addresses in the fields of education and teaching would be useful.

In the UK sample:

-Nine out of ten think that the World Wide Web is an efficient tool for the dissemination of research and 87% agree that the fluctuating quality of information on the Internet is a problem;

-About three quarters respond that the Internet already has changed the way they work, and almost the same proportion responds that they expect further changes in the immediate future;

-96% agree or strongly agree that a large collection of web addresses in the fields of education and teaching would be useful.

When they are asked about the use of the World Wide Web in work situations and the results it brings, this pattern emerges for both Danish and UK groups:

-about 2/3 or more have used the World Wide Web to find material on or sources to research or teaching, get information on contemporary events or politics, find special expertise, get information on project applications or management, prepare trips, get information on conferences, on courses and studies, on research and educational institutions, on researchers, and on research projects and networks

-less than half have tried to find material or sources to use for administrative purposes, to find new collaborators for research, to publish research results, to publish other material, or to compile or exchange research results in collaborative efforts

-if one looks at the degree of success in using the World Wide Web for specific purposes, the material shows deviation: 16-35% answer that the use for a specific purpose has had little or no success, and 18-66% answer that the use has had some success or been successful

Very few of the researchers expect less use of the Internet in work connected situations.

In all investigated connexions except finding material or sources to use for administrative purposes, the majority expects increasing use. The largest majority, 72%, expects increasing use of the Internet when finding material on or sources to research.

The survey shows much use of the net but also deviations in competence. The assessment of the researchers as to what could better the use of the World Wide Web in the future has also been investigated. A majority finds the following of great importance: Information organized better, accessibility of more of the right sorts of information, an educational gateway set up for professional users, and more time. That personal help and further education or courses are accessible is stressed less and by somewhat fewer respondents.

When finding information on the World Wide Web, there are many different possible starting points. The researchers often use search engines and own bookmarks as starting points. Once in a while, many use subject gateways, web sites with links, printed references, mass media and recommendations from colleagues. Similar patterns are to be found amn ght UK educational researchers.

75% of Danish researchers use the Danish Article Base and 49% report using ERIC. Most UK researchers make the British Education Index and the US ERIC via the Internet. 77% have used an on-line BEI more than once, and 75% have used ERIC more than once. Danish use of the European databases EURYDICE and EUDISED is very much lower, with 73% and 93% respectively reporting that they have never used them. UK figures for non-use of these databases is similar, with 83% for EURYDICE and 94% for EUDISED. The focus for both samples seems to be on national collections, with ERIC providing a global outlook. The European dimension does not seem to be represented in patterns of reported Internet use. 93% of the Danish sample have not used CD Bildung which covers German educational literature. In each group, the use of national government sites and newspapers is reported by many respodents as frequent.

Other uses

The response of the researchers to the open question on which web pages they use most often when working with education and teaching shows great differences. However, Danish libraries, ministries and other governmental departments, and research institutions play large roles on the list. The UK equivalents are inspection and regulatory bodies and the National Grid for Learning, which associates a large number of UK websites relavnat to teaching and learning within UK systems of education.