14.5 STATUS OF RESEARCH ON CMC

This section investigates the status of research to date on computer-mediated communication. It addresses such issues as the amount and quality of existing research findings, the sources of CMC information, various research methodologies being employed, the extent of theories and knowledge about CMC, and the difficulty of examining dynamic information technologies with static research tools. *

14.5.1 Sources of CMC Information

Research surrounding CMC parallels the expansion of this technology. Journal articles begin appearing with frequency around 1984, although the roots of research in the field go back to the 1960s and earlier (Hiltz & Turoff, 1978). Regular academic conferences are convened, and several edited books devoted to CMC appear from the early 1980s (Kerr & Hiltz, 1982; Harasim, 1990; Kay, 1992; Mason & Kaye, 1989; Mason, 1993). Since 1990, scholars have developed several comprehensive bibliographies. Among these, Romiszowski (1991) and Burge (1992) each list approximately 400 references, from conferences proceedings, edited book chapters, professional papers, and journal articles.

Now there is a constant stream of conference proceedings and edited books appearing at the rate of several per year, some devoted to specific and others to general aspects of research and development in CMC. Notable among recent publications are the anthology on Collaborative Learning through Computer Conferencing, edited by Kaye (1992), the Proceedings of the Third Teleteaching Conference held in Trondheim, Norway, edited by Davies and Samways (1993), and the regular Conference Proceedings emanating from such universities as Wisconsin at Madison, United States; Guelph in Ontario, Canada; and the Open University in the United Kingdom.

Examination of these materials finds many of them to be anecdotal in nature, written by pioneers in implementing CMC technology for educational purposes, promoting the exciting educational possibilities of this new medium, and reporting case descriptions of their own experiences with these innovations. However, some basic research is underway; a 1992 survey found over 35 CMC studies completed or in progress (Cole, Beam, Karn & Hoad-Reddick, 1992). These authors report that the majority of studies came out of a quantitative/positivist paradigm. However, they argue, as does Mason (1992), that interpretist and critical-theory paradigms (see Chapter 9) may be more appropriate for studying the CMC environment. So far, few studies have been performed from these "neoqualitative" perspectives..

14.5.2 Principal Issues Investigated

As mentioned above, a large proportion of earlier writing and indeed some of current writing on CMC is exploring the potential of CMC rather than reporting hard research. As an example, among the 400 publications listed in the bibliography prepared by Romiszowski (1991), only some 10% to 15% were research studies. This compares to 25% on overviews, reviews, applications, trends, and policy; another 15% on design, development, and implementation strategies; 15% on the hardware, software, systems, and logistics; another 20% on aspects of networking, and hardware- and system-related issues; finally, some 15% on topics of database access and "computer-supported cooperative work."

The research papers can be further classified into several areas of interest as follows. First, there are issues of general concern such as the access to CMC and whether it has a democratizing or elitist impact on society; the quality of on-line information and its equivalence to printed material (particularly relevant in the case of on-line journals); the social impact of CMC on the users; methods of implementation and use in both distance education and in conventional courses; and research aspects of software capability, design, and utilization.

A second group of research interests can be generally referred to as "teaching and learning concerns." These include the content and objectives that may be treated by CMC, the process of interactivity and interaction as it occurs in CMC, appropriate learning strategies and tactics that may be employed in CMC, aspects of learner control or system control of CMC systems, and the effectiveness or other outcomes of CMC used for educational purposes.

A third group of research interests may be best referred to as "implementation concerns." These include aspects of student participation or nonparticipation and their attitudes, attitudes and participation styles of instructors and teachers using CMC, aspects to do with the implementation and administration of CMC systems, and logistic and planning aspects to do with staff and support systems.

The later sections of this chapter will follow the organization schema presented here to review the principal findings to date from the, as yet relatively sparse, research that has been performed in this area of educational technology.

14.5.3 Methods Being Used

Because of the difficulty of reaching CMC users, often separated by space or time, most research efforts to date involved survey research, either through electronic or conventionally distributed questionnaires (see, for example, Ryan, 1992; Grabowski, Suciati & Pusch, 1990; Phillips & Pease, 1987). Another relatively popular method is the evaluative case study (e.g., Phillips, 1990; Mason, 1990; Phillips, Santoro & Kuehn, 1988). However, many researchers recognize the value of automatic computer-based recording of communications transactions and have sought to capitalize on usage, interaction, and transcript information directly available from the conferences (Mason, 1992; Henri, 1992; Tucker, 1991; Levin, Kim & Riel, 1990). Harasim (1987) first used mainframe computer records to analyze student access times and dispersion of participation in a graduate computer conference. There is little use to date, in the study of CMC, of qualitative approaches based on observation and interviewing (either in person or over the telephone). This is so for several reasons: (a) the labor intensity of qualitative research study, (b) the expense and difficulty of contacting ex-CMC users, and (c) the newly emerging acceptance of qualitative research in education. Some recent studies, for example, Eastmond (1993) and Burge (1993), have, however, adopted such a methodology. .

Nevertheless, the most glaring omission in CMC research continues to be the lack of analytical techniques applied to the content of the conference transcript. Given that the educational value of computer conferencing is much touted by enthusiasts, it is remarkable that so few evaluators are willing to tackle this research area. One of the pioneers in this field is Henri (1992), who presents an analytical framework to categorize five dimensions of the learning process exteriorized in messages: participation, interactions, social, cognitive, and metacognitive. Another is Mason (1992), who has attempted to draw up a typology of conference messages related to the educational values they display.

14.5.4 Extent of Theory/Knowledge Base

CMC scholarship tends to proudly acclaim the educational merits of this technology for a variety of reasons-access, collaboration, interactivity, self-direction, and experiential learning, to name a few-yet few of these are grounded in systematic, rigorous inquiry. Current CMC research, like much of that in distance education, focuses on narrow topics within specific institutional contexts and has not sought to generalize to wider contexts. Yet, slowly, the studies are appearing, some by the early promotional scholars and others to substantiate and refute their claims. The broad dimensions of CMC inquiry are laid out, yet few attempts to present theories or research-based models of any aspect of CMC study have emerged. Exceptions would be Burge's (1993) "power-load-margin" work, building on Howard McClusky's work, and Eastmond's (1993) "adult distance study through computer conferencing" (ADSCC) model. Paulsen (1993) and Moore (1991) have developed theories of distance education based on the attributes of computer conferencing, but these are yet waiting for experimental verification.

14.5.5 Moving-Target Difficulty

Exacerbating the research and theory-building endeavors is the continual flux of CMC technologies. Descriptive studies portray the dynamics of CMC at the present moment, but technological changes continually alter and enrich the instructional systems captured in the umbrella term CMC However, as noted earlier (and in Eastmond's 1993 study) many conventional educational patterns are replicated on-line, either purposely (such as in the virtual or electronic-classroom efforts) or unintentionally, as educators seek to design appropriate instructional practices for CMC.