Social Implications of Mobile Computing

Question: Discuss about theSocial Implications of Mobile Computing. Answer: Introduction This report explored two research journal articles on the topic of social impacts of mobile telephony. One essay that was taken is a qualitative investigation on the subject while the other paper was an empirical study that involved a form of quantitative inquiry in which respondents were chosen, responses were gathered and analyses were performed using statistical software to prove the theories in consideration. The paper explored various perspectives as assessment measures including research problem identification, explanation of significance, coverage of existing literature, explanation of research methodology, philosophical frameworks used, research methods used, logical considerations, ethics, methods of data collection, methods of data analysis, and support through evidence. Social Implications of Mobile Telephony: The Rise of Personal Communication Society Journal: Sociology Compass The research explores an argument as the research problem which says that widespread adoption of mobile telephony has given rise to a new personal communication society that has definite characteristics that have resulted from a social change such as new forms of coordination, social networking, personalization of the public spaces, symbolic meanings of mobile technology and mobile youth culture(Taylor, 2005). The paper identifies the significant of the research by referring to various previous research findings and concepts given by researchers in the field such as McLuhan who suggested that communication technologies are capable of shaping cognition and social organization in humans and Castells support for characterization of social organizations through decentralized and flexible network nodes that have created a new network society which is why the author argues that the study of social effects of mobile technology is a crucial area of investigation(Campbel Park, 2008). The research is a qualitative study that has largely depended on the study of literature in the area to build foundation for exploration of the concepts. It has covered various aspects and concepts related to the objectives of the research in detail including the symbolic meaning of a mobile phone as understood in users mind, forms of coordination resulting from the use of mobile telephony such as social networking, personal use of the public spaces resulting into creation of a personal communication society, and the mobile youth culture(POTTS, 2010). The research was actually only an exploration of the literature and thus, it followed the methodology of literature analysis. Thus, the effectiveness of the paper could be tested only on the basis of what theories were selected, how they were presented, compared and how the conclusions were made after their considerations. As the essay was a narrative one in which only literature review was taken, there were no explanations provided for the methodology, research ethics, and approach to data analysis. Although, the research does not involve any exhaustive methodology or empirical investigation, yet the methodology could have still be made clear and the author could have indentified the philosophical underpinning, the methods used for data collection, and data analysis(Barnett-Page Thomas, 2009). The research framework that has been used in this paper is not yet clear. Although, the literature covered considers all the relevant points for investigation, the clarity was still required on what the paper was trying to accomplish and what qualitative method was used from argumentative inquiry, analytical investigation, comparative analysis or interpretive papers(Bendassolli, 2013). The worldview that the researcher relates with is not identified in the paper which is why it becomes difficult for the reader to identify the investigation methodology that is being used here. The research sounds somewhat unbiased and only presenting facts and considerations on the subject without making any opinion or conclusions(Chawla Sondhi, 2011). Thus, the paper appears more like an analytical paper that is just presenting more and more facts and arguments about the concept and the conclusion is left open for the readers to make. However, a clear identification of this methodology could have been done and author could have put the brief about this approach in the introduction of the paper(Baxter Jack, 2008). The analytical essay, also called literary analysis should have certain important characteristics and sections like the thesis statement, textual evidences in the forms of direct quotations or secondary information, and explanation of the significance of the theme(Creswell, 2008). The research clearly identifies the thesis statement as well as the significance of the theme and also has a number of textual evidences used for proving arguments such as views on hyper-coordination which was argued to be increasing the personalisation in interactions was supported by the Licoppes (2003) finding on social interactions over digital devices suggesting that mobile is more of a connected more that leads to more of personal interactions. Every paragraph is beginning with a key argument and around the argument; supportive or opposing views as presented by other researchers are being explored(Islam, et al., 2010). Conclusion of the essay presents the final argument which was the objective of the research and explains how the argument holds true by summarizing and relating the supportive arguments from other researchers. A flaw could be identified in the conclusive statements. In an analytical essay, there are no conclusive statements made but the conclusions are left to the readers to assume but in this essay, a conclusion that networked societies are created by the use of mobile telephony was already made since the beginning and the essay attempted to strengthen this view(Creswell, 2003). This suggests that the essay is more of an argumentative essay in which one view is supported and proven as correct while at the same time discussions and comparisons are made with opposing views as well. However, in this case, there were no opposing or negative evidences that were presented. Thus, the essay is neither completely analytical presenting neutral views not fully argumentative by supporting one v iew but also discussing opposing arguments. The research takes some direct quotes from researchers such as the quote from Vincent saying, The very act of using a mobile phone involves the simultaneous engagement with more senses than we use for other computational devices as we simultaneously touch, hear and see via the mobile phone in order to keep in touch with our buddies(Sawyer Tapia, 2006). The researcher has not identified any specific theoretical framework that is being used as a foundation for the study. The basis on which the concept and areas that were included in the study were selected is not identified or explained in the research. If the essay developed an argument on development of personal communication society, the factors of considerations should have been chosen carefully(Baxter Jack, 2008). If the chosen factors were sufficient enough to prove the argument or if there existed other factors was not clear. This makes way for an alternate explanation for every assumption made in the research. Moreover, for the lack of opposing arguments in the research, a risk can be posed if any alternative explanations are identified for the arguments presented(MACRO, 2004). In the cases, no deductive arguments are proven or no empirical investigations are made, a research paper may come up with recommendations on future researches in the end of the paper which was another part that was missed in this essay. The paper did not even specify the limitations of the research. When considering ethical principles, the research would have stated how the data used for investigation is a valid and reliable data(Chawla Sondhi, 2011). Social Effects of Mobile Technology on Generation Y Students Journal: Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences The aim of this paper was to determine social effects of mobile telephony on Generation Y students. The paper stated its significance in Generation Y as the generated was more connected through mobile and around 90% of the students had access to a mobile device which could have a significant impact on them(Wilson, 2006). This objective is very specific as it identifies the target respondents category on which the research was conducted. The research problem identified here is to understand the social impacts on the target audience which was measured in the research. The research problem could be solved by reaching out to target population through sampling out generation Y students from various university campuses(Jordaan Surujlal, 2013). The research did not cover much of literature as the part of study but only identified some impacts of mobile telephony in people such as social behaviour, physical activity, and attitude towards responsibilities. There was no discussion done on related theories such as network theory, theory of planned behaviour, technology acceptance model, motivational model, social cognitive theory, diffusion of innovation, Social Constructivism, Diana Laurillards Conversational Framework(Cochrane, 2010). Also, in order to understand how mobile technology affected behaviour of people, it was important to explore the literature on how people use and interact with each other through mobile devices and how these specific interactions could form attitudinal change to create a significant impact on users. However, none of these measures or fundamentals was explored in the literature review(NG-KRLLE, 2005). Moreover, the research could have explored various forms of the use of mobile telephony such as entertainment and education as the purpose of usage could also create different in their impacts on students. Mobile computing is not only used by medical students for entertainment but these devices can also assist students through provision of instructions(Finn Vandenham, 2004) . The research only identified the negative impacts of mobile phones on young users but it could have also explored the other perspective on the positive side of technology usage among youngsters. Further, the literature did not explore the results of past researches much which could have helped in identifying usage patterns and attitudes of people(Marti, 2002). The research explained the research instruments used and the process of information collection which involved three sections. In the first section, information on social impacts was investigated. In second section, dependence of participants on mobiles was investigated. Lastly, a 5-point Likert scale was used to record responses of selected students in the sample that had the size of 350 students. The methodology also explained how reliability of the data was taken care of through testing of questionnaire. The methodology also identified the statistical package version that was used for analysis. The procedure of data collection as well as period of data collection was appropriately planned in the methodology. The data analysis method used was also specified in the paper as exploratory factor analysis. The methodology section of the research was very clear and more or less covered all essential parts. However, the framework on which the choice of methodology was based was one area th at was missing in the research paper. Why researcher chose particular attributes for study and particular methods of analysis were not clarified in the methodology(Swan, et al., 2005). The study identified and stated ethical considerations like confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent, and non-participation as well as took care of adhering to related ethical codes of conduct(Bohn, et al., 2004). However, the research appears to be biased by the views of researcher who chose the factors of consideration for testing impact of mobile technology on students based on his own experience or understanding. He did not refer to any particular psychological or theoretical framework to arrive at the factors for the study(Baron, 2010). When considering the analysis and results, the researcher has not only interpreted the results of the SPSS tests but also made an attempt to relate each finding with the literature. For instance, a finding stated that use of mobile phones had a positive impact on confidence of users. In relation to this finding, the analysis identified a researcher who agreed with the argument saying that mobile gives confidence and enjoyment to students and a research who had an opposing view claiming that mobiles made the students feel lonely. From these comparisons, the logic of data analysis may be proven as sound but contradicting view poses a question on whether the findings from current study were sound enough to be considered true. If the approach taken by researcher opposing the idea was proven wrong using some argument then the result of the research could have been strengthened(Hatch, 2011). Conclusions This report was created to understand the process of developing a research paper by critically assessing two journal papers such that positive points and flaws could be identified for learning. A topic of social impacts of mobile computing on people was chosen and two journal article including one qualitative argumentative essay and quantitative empirical research paper were chosen. The two papers were explored on the basis of their research characteristics including research problem identification, explanation of significance, coverage of existing literature, explanation of research methodology, philosophical frameworks used, research methods used, logical considerations, ethics, methods of data collection, methods of data analysis, and support through evidence. The first paper was found to be an essay that was sitting between the argumentation format and analytical format. While it was not fully argumentative essay because of lack of opposing evidences, it was not even a completely analytical essay as it did not leave the conclusions open for reader to make. Moreover, the research framework, specific methodology, and limitations of the research were lacking in the paper. The good point about the paper was that it gathered a good number f evidences for supporting its arguments and the same were presented in a logical flow. The quantitative research paper clearly identified and explained the methodology as well conducted a sound data analysis but it also had some drawbacks such as lack of sufficient literature on the subject, lack of the theoretical frameworks that the theme was based on. Moreover, there was no explanation on the choice of factors that were considered for the empirical investigation. The good points of the paper were the clear identification and coverage of research methodology and the extensive data analysis which was presented and connected to the literature beliefs allowing researcher to create arguments out of every finding that was presented in the research paper. The two papers discussed above have taken two completely different approaches. While one was a critical and analytical qualitative inquiry on the subject that only explored different perspective and findings of researcher in the area in an order to formulate a theory through inductive assessment, the other paper used the mode of empirical investigation such that arguments were created and already established theories were provided through a deductive approach. Despite some good points in both essays, there were some serious drawback in both the papers when considering research formulation and presentation. In case of the quantitative research, a reason for lack of literature could be due to the restrictions or guidance provided by journals. As it was a purely empirical journal article with limitations of length, there can be a possibility that the journal did not allow for the coverage of literature review in detail and if that is the case then the essay can be considered as much stronger. However, the lack of the theoretical frameworks that the research as based on is a serious flaw in the approach of the researcher as lack of the framework would not let researcher provide any solid inductive insight that could help in formulation of a theory. Though, a partial attempt has been made by the researcher but if the sufficiency of selected factors for proving discussed arguments cannot be assured then even these attempts would not render very strong results for theory formulation. In the other side, in the qualitative essay, the missing elements like opposing views, methodological approach and theoretical framework could have been added to make the research essay stronger. References Barnett-Page, E. Thomas, J., 2009. Methods for the synthesis of qualitative research: A Critical Review, London: ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. Baron, N. S., 2010. The Dark Side of Mobile Phones, s.l.: American University. Baxter, P. Jack, S., 2008. 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