[Sigia-l] research: when is it enough?

[Fiorito, David]

Sample size and research is not a "tongue-in-cheek" subject.  There is such
a thing as sample size error and it can kill the quality of your findings.
The question "what time is it?" is not the kind of question that requires
any kind of sizeable sample for accuracy.  The question "is our corporate
intranet useful to our employees" will require a much more substantial
sample size.  There are specific formulas for arriving at a sample size that
would be considered fairly accurate and statistically significant.

It has nothing to do with feelings of satisfaction in the answer.
Methodology is also critical.  

If we approach our craft in such an unscientific fashion then we will be
written off as walking opinion generators.  Anyone can do that.  Who needs a
highly skilled IA when the pointy haired manager can spout opinions too.

If we are to be taken seriously then we need to get serious about what we do
and how we come up with the answers to our employers' questions.

Cheers,

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Ziya Oz [mailto:ZiyaOz at earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 3:00 PM
To: 'sigia-l at asis.org'
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] research: when is it enough?


"Fiorito, David" wrote:

> Good research asks a question then finds an answer.

No kidding. In case you missed it, the original question was, *when* do you
know that you found an answer? My answer: when you found it (semi
tongue-in-cheek).

Or parsing it slowly for you:

Question - What time is it?
Answer1 - Let me check the clock; oh, it's 2 o'clock.
Answer2 - Let me check all the clocks in this building and average them; oh,
it's 14:01.
Answer3 - Let me check all the clocks in this city and average them; oh,
it's 14:02.

You'll stop counting the bloody clocks when *you* think you've counted
enough or you can just refer to <http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/voice.html>.
It's all up to you.

Or parsing it even more slowly:

If you ask an asinine question without proper context like "where should the
navigation bar of a website go?" you'll only stop when *you* think you found
an/the answer, as there's no right/wrong answer.

So, it seems to me, the answer depends on the quality of the question and
the resources with which you can go after it. That is, you define the
criteria for satisfaction. When you're satisfied, the search is over.

Best,

Ziya

Content Management Symposium, Chicago O'Hare Marriott, June 28 - 30.
See http://www.asis.org/CM
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