EVOTING RESEARCH FROM A UTILITARIAN APPROACH TO AN INDEPTH CRITICAL AND REFLEXIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH TH

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E-VOTING RESEARCH FROM A UTILITARIAN APPROACH
TO AN IN-DEPTH CRITICAL AND REFLEXIVE ENGAGEMENT
WITH THEORETHICAL ISSUES
Universidade Federal da Paraíba BRAZIL

• JOSÉ RODRIGUES FILHO
• Universidade Federal da Paraíba

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E-Voting Research
Univeersidade Federal da Paraíba

• Research Paradigms
• Positivist Quantitative/Utilitarian
• Interpretive Qualitative
• Critical/Feminist Theory

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E-Voting Research
Universidade Federal da Paraíba

• Most of the e-voting research and discussion
  today are done in a quite utilitarian and
  technical way. This follows the worldwide
  positivist and utilitarian approach to research
  that neglects the social, cultural and political
  aspects of social life. There is a need for an
  in-depth critical and reflexive engagement with
  theoretical and methodological issues with regard
  to e-voting, especially in developing countries.

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E-Voting Research
Universidade Federal da Paraíba

• By emphasizing the technical, utilitarian and
  tool approach to technology, the interests are
  just in terms of a narrow technical specialism,
  at the expense of social and political issues,
  often associated with an elitist and simplistic
  account that did not lead to a deep investigation
  of how social, economic, and political factors
  are embedded in technology.

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E-Voting Research
Universidade Federal da Paraíba

• The discussions of e-voting insecurity and lack
  of transparency may lead the world, including
  Brazil, to embark on a high investment to keep
  e-voting security. The alignment between business
  and e-voting security seems to have been proposed
  already. However, this is not the solution for
  our democracy. E-voting research should not be
  separate from citizenship.

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E-Voting Research
Universidade Federal da Paraíba

• There is a need for a qualitative critical and
  reflexive research on e-voting, especially in
  developing countries. In other words, there is a
  need for more social and political research on
  e-voting bringing us to more reflexivity and
  engagement with theoretical and methodological
  issues. There is a need for more sophisticated
  analysis of the social aspects of technology that
  can support changes in our social and political
  systems and improve our democracy.

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E-Voting Research
Universidade Federal da Paraíba

• José Rodrigues Filho
• Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil
• Jrodrigues-filho_at_uol.com.br
• www.jrodriguesfilho.blogspot.com