*The Integrated Newsroom

1.3 Research Methodology

This research project uses qualitative research methodology as an inductive mode of inquiry. Singer (1997, p.75) describes this method as an "ongoing process of discovering, questioning, describing, rediscovering", a process with regularity, pattern and coherence, but no absolute rules and no ultimate guarantees, resulting in "knowledge assumed to be partial and illuminative rather than complete and cumulative". The emphasis is on following the most fruitful lines of investigation and iteration to develop a 'snapshot' of the organisations being studied.

According to Yin (1993, p.59), a case study is an empirical inquiry that "investigates contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, addressing a situation in which the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident, and uses multiple sources of evidence".

Williams, Rice and Rogers (1998, p.48 - 50) suggest that the case study is an ideal methodology when a holistic, in-depth investigation is needed and recommend it as a valuable tool for new media research because of the constantly changing nature of communication technology. They state that:

É research on the new media is at an early stage in its development, scholars studying it probably need to consider use of multiple methods, including more qualitative and triangular methods of data gathering and analysis, and the interpretive approaches to research. To date, however, most research on the new media has used only quantitative research methods and has been cast in a positivist approach.

(ibid p.50)

The case study research design employs a 'mixed methods' or triangulation approach combining participant observation and content analysis with semi-structured interviews for the purposes of this study. This three-prong approach was chosen with the belief that,

É it is often advantageous when doing research to use a variety of methods and collect multiple kinds of data. This process, called triangulation, comes originally from navigation, where multiple reference points are used to locate an exact position. Multiple measurements converge to provide a more accurate operationalization of a concept than can any single measure. The logic for triangulation is that the weaknesses of any single method, qualitative or quantitative, are balanced by the strengths of the other methods.

(ibid p.47).

Environmental Audit

According to Griffin et al (1999, p.73 - 78) an organisation's general environment includes a "set of broad dimensions and forces in its surroundings that create its overall context". This general environment is part of the external environment and has an impact on its economic, technological, political-legal, international and sociocultural dimensions.

Based on this definition, an environmental audit was conducted to contextualise the information and communications technology climate, and establish Singapore and Australia's drive towards becoming an information society. There has been a tremendous push towards information technology over the past few years in Singapore. During his research trip, the author visited a number of educational institutions, research labs and IT organisations to grasp the pace of the IT industry there. Australia too has developed an IT infrastructure program and is quickly moving towards establishing itself as a frontrunner in the industry. To get a feel for the IT industry, the researcher attended the Interact '99 (31 August - 3 September) conference in Melbourne and visited a number of Australian Internet start-up companies and organisations.

Participant Observation - Producer and the target audience

The author spent two weeks at each newspaper as an observer to gain an understanding of the processes involved and "investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context" (Yin 1993, p.59). The purpose of this observation was to satisfy the objective of gaining an insight into the inner workings of the online production process, the online journalist and the content they develop for their target audience.

During the observation period, the researcher was present at both newsrooms from Monday to Friday and occasionally on weekends either to observe online production or to follow journalists on their rounds. Working hours ranged from 10am - 8pm in the newsrooms, and production hours from 8pm - 2am at The Age Online and 5am - 10am at The Straits Times Interactive. To maximise observation time, the author shuttled between the newsroom, field, libraries at both papers and interviewed practitioners at both papers and external sources during the course of the day.

Content Analysis - Product

A content analysis was conducted for the period 19 - 31 July 1999 to compare both of the print newspapers with their online counterparts. In the case of The Straits Times Interactive, the researcher was accepted within the news organisation and managed to acquire the full online editions on zip disk for the research period. With The Age Online, copies of the online files were saved daily at 9am onto floppy disks for examination. For manageability and an objective comparison, the analysis was limited to the international news sections within the stated period. Despite the fact that the observation process was conducted during different time periods, the content analysis was kept to a single timeframe. This move was deliberate so as to objectively compare the online transfers at both papers and detect any visible news patterns. A data collection sheet was developed with the aim of determining the amount of content transferred online, whether there were changes to the content during the transfer, and to compare the look, feel and organisation of the news stories online.

Semi-structured Interviews - Publisher Policy, Journalists' policy

A series of semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 19 industry professionals, academics, policy makers and journalism practitioners (listed in Appendix A). The interviewees were chosen based on their involvement in the digital process, interest in the WWW and journalism background. This provided the researcher with a valuable insight, but due to space limitations responses were selected based on the specific needs of this study. A list of questions was developed around three basic themes: their involvement and belief in the digital process, perceptions of the impact of this new technology and suggestions of future trends (refer to Appendix B). Email Follow-up Interviews

In order to develop a substantial understanding of each organisation's news practices and policies, observations were made while the author developed key contacts in the newsroom with the intention of following up via email where necessary. A number of issues (for example, changes in editorial policy within the organisation, use of photographs online, coverage of news events and comparing print and online design and layout) were raised during the research process. To develop as concise a report as possible, the author contacted the practitioners where possible and canvassed ideas and opinions in selected discussion lists and newsgroups such as the Online-Newspapers mailing list, Benton Organisation's Up for Grabs Discussion List, CARR-L (computer assisted reporting list) and other lists to keep abreast of the latest Internet technology and on-going research in the area.

Reference Group

The nature of this research and the World Wide Web required the author to examine large amounts of information and to keep pace with new technology and grasp complicated processes. Advice was sought and developed from industry professionals, Internet practitioners and academics to develop the understanding required to produce this thesis. Members in this reference group were largely acquaintances the author made during the research process while others were sources developed during his journalism career. As the Internet and online publishing is a vast area, it was deemed practical to to canvass opinions from a wide range of individuals and tap their specific expertise. Examples of practitioners who shared their expertise include: new media lecturer, artist and writer, Paul Brown, University of Florida Knight Chair Professor Mindy McAdams, Worldroom.com web content manager, Ayn Veronica and online publisher of American Journalism Review, Eric Meyer (Appendix A).