Data collection

This section presents details on the methods used during the different data collection phases of this study. Different types of data were collected during the four study phases highlighted in the last section. As mentioned earlier, the data collected during the first three phases, i.e. the planning phase, the pre-design research phase, and the design phase, were aimed to inform the design and development of an EfS website that served as the research instrument during the fourth study phase.

Table 4.2 presents a summary of the data collection phases, methods, and other associated issues related to the design and development of the EfS website. Details of the methods from these three study phases were indicated in the last section. In addition, further details of this design and development process follow in Chapter 5, which presents the application of the theoretical model from Chapter 3 in the context of the target community in Chile.

Table 4.2. Data collection phases, methods, and associated issues related to the design and development of the EfS website Lanalhue Sustentable.

Research

Research

- Observations 11 - Invitation - Networking

(*) Note that phases 1a and 1b, and 2a and 2d involved the same cohort of participants respectively.

The fourth study phase, the evaluation, included four data collection instances related to the assessment of the use of the EfS website by participants. These four data collection stages of the evaluation phase were the following:

I. Pre-intervention questionnaire (see Appendix E);

II. Intervention: use of the EfS website;

III. Post-intervention interview (se Appendix F);

IV. Follow-up online survey (seen Appendix G).

Table 4.3 presents the data collection phases, methods and associated issues related to the assessment of the use of the EfS website by community members of the target community. Participants of this evaluation phase were contacted and invited to participate by means of advertisement in public areas of the chosen target community, and by direct invitation while approached in public areas by the researcher. The recruitment of participants considered their own agreement and willingness to participate.

Table 4.3. Data collection phases, methods, and associated issues related to the evaluation of the use of the EfS website by local community members (i.e. evaluation phase).

Research Phase Objective Methods Sample

(n)

the use of the EfS website Google Analytics

Note that all recruitment was done through public advertisement and direct invitation.

This included seeking participants’ consent to get involved in the research through an invitation letter that explained the objectives of the research and the expected involvement by the participants. Twenty-four local community members accepted the invitation and were recruited to participate in this evaluation phase. Participants represented a mixed cohort in terms of gender, age, and place of residency, but were all considered members of the target community (more details are provided in Section 6.2.1).

Below follows some brief descriptions related to the data collected during the evaluation phases of this study presented in Table 4.3.

I. Pre-intervention questionnaire

During this stage, participants were asked to complete a pre-intervention questionnaire before visiting the EfS website for the first time. The questionnaire aimed to identify each participant’s demographic characteristics, existing knowledge regarding the chosen sustainability issue, and background concerning the level of skills of ICT and Internet use. To achieve this, the questionnaires included close-ended demographic questions, open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions, dichotomous questions, and rating scale questions. This questionnaire was approximately 5 to 10 minutes long, depending on each participant, and included a total of twenty questions.

II. Use of EfS website by community members

Immediately after the pre-intervention questionnaire survey, participants were invited to visit and browse the EfS website for the first time. During this stage, quantitative data regarding the use of the EfS website as a cohort was retrieved using Google Analytics (Google, 2012) tools, about the type of usage of the EfS website Lanalhue Sustentable during the intervention period. Further details on this method are discussed in Chapter 6. But in essence, this method helped quantify the type of use of the EfS website in relation to the type of content visited at the cohort level.

The use of the EfS website by participants lasted between 10 to 20

minutes, depending on participants’ motivation and time availability; and was carried out in public areas of the target community (i.e. such as library, community house or cafes), and through the use of a laptop and/or desktop computer provided by the researcher. In some occasions participants were able to browse the EfS website from their own computer.

III. Post-intervention interview

In order to assess the experience of participants from their visit to the EfS website, an interview was carried out immediately after participants’ first use of the website. The interview principally allowed evaluating if participants felt they had enhanced their understanding around the existing sustainability issues at the target community. This interview was a semi-structured type of interview, principally based on open-ended questions such as: what did you learn? Did you or did you not know about this before (a particular issue related to the chosen sustainability issue)?

Did you know about the existing relationships between these aspects and these other aspects of the sustainability issue? What does it mean to you?

Do you care? Why did you visit this particular topic, and what for? And so on. The objectives of these questions were to evaluate not only change in understanding, but also motivations to take action and to adopt sustainable living principles, as well as participants’ perceptions towards the EfS website.

IV. Follow-up questionnaire survey

The follow-up online questionnaire survey, carried out 5 months after participants’ first visit to the EfS website, aimed to assess the types of use of the EfS website by participants over time, i.e. revisits during the follow-up period. In particular, this follow-follow-up stage investigated if participants retained knowledge, sought more knowledge, presented an understanding change over local socio-ecological sustainability issues, and/or carried out any particular action related to local sustainability issues, based on revisits to the EfS website. This follow-up online questionnaire took approximately 10 minutes to complete, and consisted of an online survey accessible from a link sent through email to follow-up participants (18 of the original 24

participants chose to participate in this stage, n = 18/24). The survey included open-ended questions, close-ended questions, multiple choice questions, and dichotomous questions. In addition, as part of the follow-up, the five apparently most committed participants were identified and asked to be part of an intensive group. This group had more regular contact with the researcher (i.e. by email), providing more depth of data related to their revisits to the EfS website during the follow-up period. The principal involvement of the intensive group was to clarify responses of the follow-up survey, e.g. clarification of type of actions undertaken based on the EfS website.

Finally, it needs to be mentioned that prior to this data collection phase using the EfS website as the research instrument, a pilot phase was carried out to ensure that the data collection instruments were meaningful in the same terms to both the researcher and to participants. This pilot stage included the participation of five local community members who were recruited through the same procedure as above. For further details on each research instrument used during this study, please refer to the appendix.

The next section introduces the data analysis procedures employed in this study, including issues related to data validity and trustworthiness, and issues related to ethical procedures adopted during data collection phases.