New England Learning Association

University Research Project the Design of Online Instruction and Information

As discussed at Saul Carliner’s talk, he is currently looking for people to participate in a University Research project.  I have attached the file to this post (MS Word required), and a brief outline below.

About the Project: The long-term goal of this project, which is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada is to identify effective ways of presenting online workplace learning and communication materials. But instead of looking at a few websites and making broad generalizations about how to proceed, this study looks at three genres (or types of communication) in-depth. Each genre will be studied from a variety of perspectives, including that of the users as well as the design team. I have funding to look at three genres: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), online demonstrations (also known as guided tours), and online help.

How can you help? I am searching for six more sites to participate in the study of FAQs and eight locations for the study of guided tours.

Specifically, I am recruiting the following: 

FAQs:
1 For-profit organization selling services
1 For-profit organization selling a product
2 Nonprofit organizations
2 Government agencies (any level of government)

Guided Tours:
2 For-profit organization selling services
3 For-profit organization selling a product
1 Nonprofit organization
2 Government agencies (any level of government)

Perhaps your organization might serve as one of the sites. If the organization serves as a site, here’s what would be involved:

• You would be provided with full confidentiality. Any information provided to me in a research context would be kept confidential. The responses of people who participate in the study would also be kept confidential.
• My research team would study one FAQ page on your organization’s web site (or, a series of related FAQ pages, depending on the design of the FAQs), or one guided tour.
• Your organization would provide me with access to all key participants in the design of the FAQ page (including external staff and contractors, if they worked on this material). We would interview them to learn about how they designed the pages: the process followed, the parameters of the design, and the challenges and successes experienced. Interviews take between 60 and 90 minutes

If you do not have a site to offer for this study, could you suggest someone who does?

Reply to: Saul Carliner, Ph.D., CTDP