Early NSF Project
Information for People Being Interviewed for NSF Project
NSF Project Summary: IT Transfer to Egypt: A Process Model for Developing Countries
PI: Karen Loch; Co-PI: Detmar Straub; Co-PI: Galen Sevcik
Georgia State University
Co-Investigator: Sherif Kamel
American University in Cairo
Grant awarded in September of 2000
Summary
In this project, we are examining the role of government policy initiatives in the information technology transfer process. The project team will interview key informants in the government, private business sectors, and the general populace.
There are two major groups of respondents that will be interviewed: (1) policy makers; (2) persons "informed" or knowledgeable about the effects of these policies, and (3) persons who are not generally aware of these policies. In the interviews with policy makers, questions of interest include: the nature of the policies themselves, the desired and expected impact of these policies, the anticipated and intended parties affected by the policies, and the dissemination or implementation process for theses policies.
For those individuals who represent the "informed" group, questions of interest include: their understanding of the stated policies, the realized impact of these policies, the parties affected, and the effectiveness of the implementation process, as experienced by them.
Those individuals unaware of the policies will be informed about the intent of certain policies. Their questions of interest include: the likely impact of these policies and the parties affected.
The project team has conducted related studies in the Arab world since 1992. These studies include focus groups and a pilot study; a field study in Jordan; extensive data collection via surveys in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Sudan, exploratory interviews in Egypt.
The methods to be used include ethnographic techniques such as: unstructured interviews, systematic observation, and domain analysis. The sample includes users of urban and rural information centers, users of cybercafes, Internet Service Providers (ISP) and their subscribers. Later in the project, questionnaires will be administered to private and public sector knowledge workers.
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