Some Ideas about ICTD Research Or, how can I remove this foot from my mouth

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Some Ideas about ICTD ResearchOr, how can I
remove this foot from my mouth?

• Kentaro Toyama
• Assistant Managing Director
• Microsoft Research India
• TIER Workshop What is ICTD Research?
• October 17, 2008

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From Melissas Summary
Research in General
Specifically ICTD
?
Novelty
Relevance to ICTD
Generalizability
?
Research Multi-disciplinarity
Applicability
?
Audience Multi-disciplinarity
Rigor, verifiability, replicability
Empiricism
Thick Description
Accuracy
Other Key Elements
0 Hype
Negative Results
Related Work
Surprise Results
Diversity
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But, first, about me

• Physics bachelors
• Computer science PhD
• Computer industry
• Mass-market strategy
• Microsoft
• Manager
• Luddite
• Misanthrope

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Rigor, Verifiability, Replicability
The research is done in a methodologically sound
way so that its possible to achieve and
replicate the results as well as the analysis.
Exactly what counts as methodologically sound
depends on the field from which the methodology
was taken A useful question to ask is whether
there is enough methodological detail so that a
competent graduate student in the area could
duplicate the research if she wanted to.
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Rigor, Verifiability, Replicability
The research is done in a methodologically sound
way so that its possible to achieve and
replicate the results as well as the analysis.
Exactly what counts as methodologically sound
depends on the field from which the methodology
was taken A useful question to ask is whether
there is enough methodological detail so that a
competent graduate student in the area could
duplicate the research if she wanted to.
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Thick Description

• is, or is a result of, a rigorous methodology
  in some disciplines.

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Applicability

• The research solves or answers an existing or
  anticipated problem or question.
• interventions are applicable by definition, but
  they should still demonstrate their capacity to
  solve at least some of the challenges attempted.
  Observational work should support decision making
  about development. And, so on.
• Some fields might dispute the value of real-world
  applicability in their research for ICTD
  research, I think its a common factor.

Why wouldnt you care about application, if you
care about development? But, actually, its
difficult to even hypothesize how interesting
findings wouldnt lead to application.
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Generalizability

• The research contributes to a body of knowledge
  that applies to a set of circumstances beyond the
  specific instance of the actual work...
• social theories are generalizable if they apply
  to different individuals or groups
• individual case studies, if framed well, can add
  to a body of information from which
  generalizations can be extracted

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Humanity, in the context of its relationship to
technology
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But, we dont know this at first.
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What some quantitative researchers like to claim
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What a single qualitative investigation might
show (depth not shown)
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Neanderthals
Chimpanzees
Etc.
Aliens
This information still contributes to
generalizability!
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What qualitative research does over time
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What some researchers like to show
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Research community refines the model
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Evil multinational corporation designs based on
market research like this.
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Human/community-centered designers adapt
technology.
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What gets better is the precision with which we
vex each other.
Clifford Geertz, Interpretation of Culture