Phase One: The Expert Panels

In Phase One, an online discussion took place as part of the modified Delphi method introduced in Section 6.3.2. The data collection technique adopted for this phase was an expert panel, which operated by employing an online focus group. This technique is described in this section.

Experts for the expert panel were selected from academics with multiple backgrounds of expertise that were related to the area of study. The discussion was similar to a focus group but instead was conducted online. This online discussion provided more flexibility to the experts as they were located in several geographical locations, which would have made it impossible to conduct a face- to-face focus group.

The online bulletin was developed and participants were invited to provide their comments and feedback on the related issues pertinent to the initial conceptual research framework. The discussion consisted of five rounds (approximately five weeks; each week one different issue was discussed). The comments and feedback

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from participants were analyzed and the initial conceptual research framework was revised. Summaries of the revised framework were sent to all participants for their comments, at the conclusion of all discussion.

Focus group

“ Focus groups provide a special type of information…..They tap into the real-life interactions of people and allow the researcher to get in touch with participants’ perceptions, attitudes, and opinions in a way that other procedures do not allow’”

Krueger (1988, p. 177) cited in Mann & Stewart (2000)

Recently, focus groups have been widely used in qualitative studies (Mann & Stewart, 2000). According to Mann & Stewart (2000), focus groups are a specific group discussion that usually involves between five and ten participants. A focus group is a planned discussion with the purpose of obtaining perceptions and views of defined areas from the selected group in a relaxed environment. A focus group is about interviewing a group of selected participants at the same time and highlights the responses by participants in answering the questions as well as the interaction between participants and the researcher. Nevertheless, a focus group is not a group interview. It is about a group of people gathered together to discuss the issues being discussed (Liamputtong, 2009a).

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Liamputtong (2009a) and Williamson (2002b) discussed the advantages and disadvantages of focus groups. It is claimed that conducting a focus group is a quick, low cost and efficient approach for gathering in-depth information from participants. However, focus groups may only represent the perspectives of participants and do not indicate the range of views of a large population or community.

Focus groups provide the opportunity to obtain knowledge on sensitive subjects that may be hidden from verbal responses. However, the discussion may be dominated by some participants and other participants may not feel comfortable or easily able to express their views (Liamputtong, 2009a; Williamson, 2002b). Liamputtong (2009a) and Williamson (2002b) also indicated that there is an opportunity to clarify certain responses and follow up questions. The researcher can observe the body language of participants, which may be useful to help interpret as a verbal response. Nevertheless, there is the possibility of bias as participants are driven by the researcher’s interest, which might not be the same as the participants’ interests.

The open responses of a focus group contribute a large amount of data in the participants’ own words. Listening about other’s experiences can help stimulate to their own ideas, and, thus, help to ‘break the ice’ for shy participants.

Liamputtong (2009a) and Williamson (2002b) added that focus groups are generally controlled by a moderator. Thus, the focus group should generally be

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led by a trained moderator. An inexperienced moderator may prevent participants from expressing their views about the issues concerned.

Online Focus Group

The Internet offers a new dimension and domain to which focus groups can be adapted and transformed (Mann & Stewart, 2000). There are two types of online focus group, the real-time focus group (synchronous) and the non-real-time focus group (asynchronous) (Mann & Stewart, 2000).

The real-time Focus Group

A real-time focus group is conducted synchronously in which all participants will be online for discussion at the same time. This type of discussion can be fast and interactive (Mann & Stewart, 2000).

The non-real-time Focus Group

For this study, the online focus group was conducted asynchronously, where it is not necessary for participants to be online at the same time. This type of discussion provides benefits as it can overcome differences in the time zone of participants (Mann & Stewart, 2000). For this study, the researcher applied non- real-time focus group as the study involves a group of experts from different countries and time zones.

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With the growth of the Internet, the use of qualitative data collection via the Internet is also expanding (Mann & Stewart, 2000). Several qualitative studies have been used for the Internet in collecting research data. For instance, Molla & Licker (2005a) in their pilot study used expert panels to judge the degree of relevance of the instrument items on e-commerce adoption factors. The degree of relevance of variables was measured on a five-point Likert-type scale. Karanasios (2008) used an online focus group with a group of expert panels in a phase of data collection. The expert panel was used to provide feedback on the initial framework that had been developed through a literature review. The feedback received from the expert panel is used to further refine the framework in this study.