Qualitative research

Qualitative research was aimed at deepening and expanding knowledge of the processes of initiation and implementation in online community projects and revealing the circumstances of the Collective Intelligence emergence. Cases of online communities functioning in Lithuania were analysed during the research process. Throughout this research, the term “online community project” is used to refer to a virtual/online environment, place, way or possibility to publicly express one’s opinion related to the creation of social welfare. In order to perform an in-depth analysis, face-to- face interview was chosen as the main research method. The interview method allows evaluation of a wider context and discloses new possibilities to interpret the situation in online projects more flexibly than by measuring numerical values. In order to avoid discrepancies, a standardized interview instrument was used. It included definitions of concepts and terms that were explained to the research participants in advance. Moreover, to attain respondents” positive attitude and cooperation, considerable attention was paid to both the choice of the environment and interview date. To sum up, the choice of the interview method predetermines some complications, i.e., ensuring research validity and reliability, stimulating respondents” motivation and decreasing subjectivity. However, taking into consideration the multilayer-structure of the researched phenomenon, a limited amount of research in the field and a need of comprehensive understanding in order to describe, explain and operationalise it, the interview method is considered to be a proper and applicable technique to achieve the research purpose.

The research sample is purposive and designed using the convenience sampling method. During the research, 20 participants of online communities projects (respondents are marked by letter “P” and a number) and 10 project initiators who use/can use the added-value of such projects (respondents marked by letter “I” and a number) were interviewed. The projects under the investigation operate in Lithuania. The respondents were selected after the consideration of data gathered during the experiment phase of the research and analysis of present and/or potential recipients of the added value. In the processes of designing respondents” list, it was necessary to ensure representation of all respondent groups.
 

Research limitation

Qualitative content analysis aimed at exploring similarities, differences and relations between interview segments and establishment of links between the hypotheses raised during the process of literature analysis and the research data (categories and contexts). It is important to note that qualitative content analysis is not a suitable method for confirming/dismissing hypothesis therefore they were analysed in the context of respondents’ ideas, arguments and opinions in order to deepen researchers understanding of analysed issues.Although the interview questionnaires were designed in accordance to theoretical insights resulting from literature analysis, not all dimensions were reflected in the research. The respondents’ answers to the questions analyzing knowledge dissemination and exchange, adaptability, social maturity and technological dimensions were not sufficient enough. Therefore, it was difficult to categorize them and they did not disclose deeper insights, relations and links. This drawback can be considered as the research limitation, which will be resolved in further empirical research efforts by conducting deeper theoretical analysis and updating research instruments. Nonetheless, the research data were sufficient enough to establish nine themes and categories reflecting the potential of the online project i.e. motivation of participants/a group, the diversity of participants/ a group, dynamics of participants/a group, influence of time and place, idea generation methods, the size of a group/critical mass, anonymity/publicity decisions, strategic decision-making, and self-organisation.

Qualitative Research Results and Insights

The research results identified the key aspects of group work efficiency: virtual accessibility, non-virtual relationship, anonymity, team management. The characteristics of virtual accessibility identified during the research are related with the so called technology-based social communication allowing implementing a big variety of activities and solve different tasks, also involvement of participants living in different countries and operating in different environments. Noteworthy is the
finding that although the survey participants mentioned the virtual accessibility feature of online projects as one of the most important teamwork aspect, part of them emphasised the importance of parallel non-virtual communication. Team management, according to the respondents, is a necessity while seeking to control compliance of certain principles in a particular online community, for example, transparency, ethics, etc. Analysis of research data allows perceiving a trend of earlier
online project participants” influence on the newcomers” opinion, as well as the inclination to individualised and isolated participation. The emergence of such trends should be evaluated negatively, as any social influence can reduce the quality of collective decision.

Qualitative data indicate that open, dynamic and flexible systems empower groups of people solve problems which are difficult to deal with for single individuals or organisations. Time and location solutions in online community projects contribute to solving cost reduction problem. However, it is worth mentioning that some participants emphasize free time after work and express the opinion that participation in the project is a leisure time activity, whereas other respondents treat participation in the project activities as work. The conclusion can be drawn that virtual activities can cause additional psychological problems to participants due to their advantages, such as openness, flexibility, accessibility. Platform developers should consider simplicity and user-friendliness of technological solutions.