History
Early Phases: The project used several techniques in the early period, which began in the Fall of 1992. After immersion in the literature for this area of inquiry, formulating the conceptual basis for the study, and identifying key constructs, we convened three focus groups of Arab students. An evolving set of open-ended questions were posed to each group and the ensuing conversations recorded and transcribed. Our goal was to ascertain beliefs, values, and attitudes about ITT. Because these individuals had not lived in the U.S. for very long, they served as surrogates for the views and values of young Arab adults abroad. Transcripts of focus groups were content analyzed for themes, constructs, and relationships and also used as the basis for development of a questionnaire instrument and interview questions.
The structured portion of the evolving research instrument consisted of a series of open-ended and close-ended questions. Additionally, scenarios were to be incorporated for participant response. Each scenario, which described the development and implementation of different information systems in varying organizational settings, had embedded within it cultural beliefs and values. Questions about the scenario tried to determine which of these beliefs were considered to be salient by the participants. In a pilot study of several dozen Arab-American business persons, participants were asked to read scenarios and respond to a series of questions regarding their cultural beliefs and norms and their assessment of the likely success or failure of the information system described in the scenarios. Much thought was given to this, especially in the areas of language and instrument administration. English, for instance, was the language of choice for the pilot studies in Atlanta. Since the respondents in this phase were all native Arabic speakers with a high level of competency in the English language, this choice seemed to be reasonable. Language fluency questions verified our suppositions in this regard. But it also became clear that two versions of the instrument — one in Arabic and one in English — would be required for administration of the instrument in Arab countries.
Later phases: A mailed survey methodology has the advantage of gathering a relatively large sample, but it is important that the survey be pre-tested. Validation of the instrument with the Arab-American pilot group allowed us to prepare an English and Arabic form of the questionnaire. The Arabic version incorporated dialectical differences for each country in which the data were to be collected, and then back-translated for accuracy. Five Arab countries including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and the Sudan were selected for data gathering. In Jordan, researchers administered many of the surveys in person and also gathered ethnographic and other qualitative data. In Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and the Sudan, survey administration was handled by colleagues.
In studying culture and its impacts, anthropologists have historically preferred ethnographic techniques, and, for this reason, much of the foundation work and data gathering in Jordan were qualitative. To empirically test the cultural influence model, however, we felt the need for a sample size of several hundred individuals. This is most efficiently achieved through a questionnaire. Importantly, we feel that the use of multiple methods and samples allows us to better triangulate on the phenomenon of culture and IT.
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