WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS VILLAGE WEBSITES?
A study submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in Information Systems
At
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
By
HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD
September 2012
Abstract Background- Village websites are, in essence an information service provided by the village. In Brunei, not much emphasis however has been placed on village websites as an information resource despite their existence. This leads to questions on how aware are Bruneians of these websites, and how do Bruneians normally search for any village- related information.
Aims - The study aims to explore the situation of village websites in Brunei and of perceptions towards the websites.
Methods- A two-phased sequential mixed methods research strategy was used. The first phase involved a paper-based survey distributed to a number of Bruneians to explore aspects of awareness towards village websites, information behaviour when seeking village-related information and perceptions towards village websites. The second phase involved an interview via Google Docs to explore some emerging questions from the survey findings. Priority was placed on the findings from the survey.
Results- Awareness toward village websites was generally low. Respondents used a mixture of sources when searching for village-related information e.g. mass media, friends, family and acquaintances. Village-related information sought included local history, information about the Head of Village, village products, activities, population and places of interests in the village. Respondents were also likely to consult people over using online sources or other reference materials when seeking village-related information, although ‘people’ varied between social interaction with friends, family or acquaintances and interaction with appointed roles such as Head of Village. Respondents generally thought positively of Bruneian villages having their own websites and some had used the websites to find information about village products, current village news and activities.
Conclusion- The study showed that exchange of village-related information was more of a synchronous, social behaviour in Brunei. Providing information on village websites seems to contradict the aforementioned nature of exchanging village-related information. It is suggested that emphasis could perhaps be placed on promoting the variety of available sources relating to village information to users, be it of the people- variety or mass media such as village websites.
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Contents Abstract ...... ii List of Figures ...... v Acknowledgements ...... vi 1. Introduction ...... 1 1.1. On village websites ...... 1 1.2. Research Context: Villages and Village Websites in Brunei Darussalam ...... 5 1.2.1. Concerning Villages in Brunei Darussalam ...... 5 1.2.2. Concerning Village websites in Brunei Darussalam ...... 6 2. Literature Review ...... 9 2.1. Information behaviour in a village setting ...... 9 2.2. Content of village website...... 10 2.3 Conclusion ...... 12 3. Research Methodology ...... 13 3.1. Research Aim and Objectives ...... 13 3.2. Literature search ...... 13 3.3 Research Strategy ...... 13 3.3.1. First phase - Survey ...... 14 3.3.2. Second phase -Email interview ...... 17 3.4. Data Analysis ...... 19 3.5. Ethics ...... 20 3.6. Limitations of results arising from the research methods used ...... 21 4. Findings and Discussion ...... 23 4.1. First Phase- Survey findings ...... 23 4.1.1. Demographic information: Gender, Age and Employment Status of respondents ...... 23 4.1.2. Awareness towards village websites ...... 25 . Are respondents aware of village websites of their own village? ...... 25 . Are respondents aware of village websites in Brunei in general? If not, what are the reasons for not knowing? ...... 25 . Are respondents aware of village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village, One Product’? ...... 27 4.1.3. Information behaviour pertaining to village-related information ...... 29 . What are the sources of information for village-based local places of interest? ...... 29 . What are the sources of information for ‘One Village One Product’? ...... 30
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. What kind of village-related information was sought in the past, and the sources?...... 32 . Who or where do respondents ask if they needed assistance in looking for any village- related information? ...... 34 4.1.4. Perceptions towards village websites ...... 35 . What were the main purposes of visiting Bruneian village websites? ...... 35 . Do respondents think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites? ..... 36 . What topics should be covered in a village website? ...... 38 4.1.5. Other comments ...... 41 4.2. Discussion of survey findings ...... 42 4.3. Second Phase- Email interview findings ...... 45 4.3.1. On Village Websites ...... 45 4.3.2. The role and responsibility of the Village Head as a conveyer and source of village information ...... 47 4.4. Discussion of findings ...... 48 5. Conclusions ...... 50 5.1. Review of dissertation aim and objectives ...... 50 5.2. Implications of study and suggestions for future work ...... 51 References ...... 53 Appendix 1- Structure of the dissertation ...... 58 Appendix 2 – Village names supplied and their website status ...... 59 Appendix 3- Project Information sheet ...... 62 Appendix 4 - Survey Questions ...... 64 Appendix 5 -Ethics documentation and outcome ...... 67 Appendix 6- Research Schedule ...... 71
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List of Figures
Figure 1-1 Website of Beringin village, Malaysia p.1
Figure 1-2 Website of Long Melford village, UK p.2
Figure 1-3 Website of Wang Kelian village, Malaysia (USP programme) p.3
Figure 1-4 Website of Boksaggot village, Korea (INVIL) p.3
Figure 1-5 Online Library Feedback form of School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London p.4
Figure 1-6 Website of Katok village, Brunei p.6
Figure 1-7 Website of Temburong District Office, Brunei p.7
Figure 3-1 The Mixed Methods research strategy used p.14
Figure 3-2 Summary of Research Objectives, Research Questions and Survey Questions p.15
Figure 3-3 Survey findings and the further questions asked in the Follow-up email interview p.17
Figure 4-1 Age and Gender of Respondents p.23
Figure 4-2 Employment Status of Respondents p.23
Figure 4-3 Other village websites known by respondents p.24
Figure 4-4 Respondents’ familiarity pattern towards village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village One Product’ p.27
Figure 4-5 Sources of information for village-based local places of interest p.28
Figure 4-6 Sources of information for ‘One Village One Product’ p.30
Figure 4-7 Response pattern for preferred content topics in a village website p.38
Figure 4-8 Village websites supplied and website status p.56
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Acknowledgements I would like to thank members of the Bruneian community back home who willingly spent some of their time answering my survey. To my one email correspondent, thank you for taking the time to respond to my email and then proceed to give insightful responses to my questions. I also thank my dissertation supervisor Dr Andrew Madden for his help and advice.
Last but not least, to my family, there are no words that can adequately express my gratitude for your endless support throughout the year. Thank you.
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1. Introduction
1.1. On village websites A village website can be used as a medium to transmit information about a village, be it to promote or to act as an information centre for the village. With the wider selection of publishing tools currently available on the web, other than opting to have their own web domain, some villages have made full use of open source tools such as Blogspot and WordPress to create their websites. Coupled with the current popularity of social networking sites, some villages even go beyond having a website by opting to communicate village information and news through their own Facebook or Twitter account instead. The availability of these free tools does bring convenience in creating website content due to their usually straightforward functionality and ease of use. Village websites are in essence, a kind of information service provided by the village.
Figure 1-1: Website of Beringin1 village in Malaysia, run by the Beringin village committee (with the committee’s chairman as the webmaster). The website acts as a medium of communication concerning village information and village news, and serves as a way to maintain ‘silaturrahim’ (bonding ties) between the village residents as well as village-natives who are currently living away from the village.
1 Beringin village website http://www.kgberingin.com/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012. 1
Figure 1-2: An example of a village website in the UK; Long Melford Village Website. The ‘Long Melford Contacts’2 page states that the website is created ‘to provide information about the village to visitors and residents’, and ‘is run by a committee within the Long Melford Business Association’. The contacts also acknowledge how collecting information about the village is ‘sometimes difficult, and contributions are always welcome’.3
Village websites have also become a part of governmental initiative to bridge digital divide between rural and urban areas such as Korea’s Information Network Village (INVIL) project to bridge digital divide and to boost rural economy through informatization, and Malaysia’s Universal Service Provision (USP) programme to bridge digital divide (Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications of Malaysia, 2009). The two programmes generally involve the creation of village webpages. There are also other studies connecting village websites to the context of promoting local products and local tourism (Choo and Jamal, 2009; Boonratana, 2011).
2 Long Melford village website http://www.longmelford.co.uk/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012. 3 First paragraph, http://www.longmelford.co.uk/Contacts/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012. 2
Figure 1-3: An example of a village page built under Malaysia's USP scheme. This is the village webpage for Wang Kelian Village4 in Perlis, Malaysia.
Figure 1-4: An example of a village page (for Boksaggot Village5 in Gangwon, Korea) built under Korea's INVIL project.
4 Wang Kelian village http://telecentre.my/kampungwangkelian/ Last accessed on 31st August 2012. 3
In the provision of an information service, it is not uncommon to bring users’ perspectives into the picture. Institutions like libraries have normally engaged in seeking feedback from users in order to monitor quality of services they provide.
Figure 1-5: An online Library Feedback form6 from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
There are also studies officially looking into user perceptions as research topic such as Nzivo (2012) who looked into perceptions of adult users of public libraries and information services in Kenya National Library Service, and Kannappanavar and Swamy (2010) who looked into perceptions of users of agricultural universities in India. Both studies generally aim to identify ways in which library services and their management could be improved. Similarly Kim (2011) has also stated on how findings from studies on user perspective have been reported to contribute to a more effective information management, website design and provision of library services.
5 Boksaggot village http://www.invil.org/english/village/gangwon/ Last accessed on 31st August 2012. 6 SOAS, UCL http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/feedback/ Last accessed on 2nd September 2012. 4
1.2. Research Context: Villages and Village Websites in Brunei Darussalam
1.2.1. Concerning Villages in Brunei Darussalam
The Brunei Darussalam Statistical Yearbook 2010 introduced the country as such:
“Brunei Darussalam is situated on the north-west of the island of Borneo, between east longitude 114° 04’ and 11° 23’ and north latitudes of 4° 00’ and 5° 05’. It has a total land area of 5765 sq.km with a coast line of about 161 km along the South China Sea. It is bounded in the north by the South China Sea and on all the other sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak which divides Brunei Darussalam into two parts i.e. the eastern part which is the Temburong district and the western part which consists of Brunei-Muara, Tutong and Belait districts.” [p.2]
The four districts –Temburong, Brunei-Muara, Tutong and Belait- are divided into several ‘Mukim’ (sub-districts), which in turn is made up of many ‘kampung’ (villages). The Mukim is headed by a ‘Penghulu mukim’ (sub-district head), while the ‘kampung’ is led by a ‘Ketua Kampung’ (village head). To date, there are altogether thirty-eight Mukim in the whole country7, and approximately four hundred villages8. The villages range in size and population and there are concerns that some sub-district heads and village heads are ‘responsible for bigger areas and larger populations than their counterparts’ (Shahminan, Ya’akub and Thien, 2011, para. 7). There are hence plans for a nationwide rezoning which sees the merging of smaller-sized villages with fewer residents, and the restructuring of larger-sized villages into smaller villages for a more ‘effective management of villages and residents’ (Shahminan, Ya’akub and Thien, 2011, para. 4).
Each village in Brunei usually has a village consultative council (‘Majlis Perundingan Kampung’ or MPK in short) - intended to function as a committee of ‘leaders, thinkers
7 Postal Services Department, Brunei. 8 MS Wikipedia ‘Kampung di Brunei’. 5
and strategic planners for the community development in each one’s area’9 (Titah, 2010) - as well as a neighbourhood watch (‘Kejiranan Kampung’), formed. ‘Satu Kampung Satu Produk’ (One Village One Product) on the other hand, is a village community-based, socio-economic activity aimed for the development of each village (Koo, 2012). This initiative is intended as a wider scope than merely economic reasons, as aspects of ‘‘semangat berkerjasama” (spirit of cooperation) and “bersatu padu” (unity) amongst the village community form part and parcel of the initiative (Badaruddin, 2012). In order to encourage a more active participation from the villages in realizing the initiative, a ‘Majlis Anugerah Kampung Cemerlang’ (Excellent Village Awards) has been held twice in year 2010 and 2012. In the recently-held Award in 2012, eighteen villages were deemed successful in bringing forth their products and hence were eligible to be appraised in the Award.
1.2.2. Concerning Village websites in Brunei Darussalam
Most existing Bruneian village websites belong to the MPK10, where the website name is usually in the form of MPK + village name (e.g. the name of the village website of Rataie village in Temburong district is mpkrataie11) and the official logo of the MPK institution is usually placed on the website header. Other villages that do not do it as mentioned (e.g. the website name is not using the MPK + village name format) would normally have a section about their MPK on their website.
9 His Majesty’s Titah at Majlis Anugerah Kampung Cemerlang Peringkat Kebangsaan 2009: ‘Majlis Perundingan Mukim dan Kampung adalah perlu untuk menjadi jentera penggerak, pemikir dan perancang bagi pembangunan masyarakat di kawasan masing-masing’. 10 Village Consultative Council. The council will henceforth be referred to as ‘MPK’ in this dissertation. 11 MPK Rataie http://mpkrataie.wordpress.com/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012. 6
Figure 1-5: An example of a Bruneian village website; Kg Katok12. The official MPK institution logo is shown on the top left.
Not much emphasis, however has been placed on these websites, for example between the four districts, only the Temburong District Office13 listed the MPK blogs as links on their official website, while this is yet to be seen with the official websites of the other three districts, even though there are villages in the other districts that actually have websites of their own. In the recently held 2012 Excellent Village Awards, it was observed that only one village listed their website as a contact point of reference in the official programme booklet, even though twelve out of the eighteen villages that took part do have websites of their own. Looking through village pamphlets obtained from an exhibition prior to the 2012 Excellent Village Award, it was also observed that only a few villages included details of their website in the pamphlets. Details pertaining to the village head such as name and address, contact phone numbers and some emails are the more typical contact information listed.
12 MPK Katok http://mpktk1.weebly.com/ last accessed on 2nd September 2012. 13 and 13 Temburong district office http://daerah-temburong.gov.bn/ last accessed on 2nd September 2012. 7
Figure 1-6: The official website of Temburong District Office14. The MPK blogs are included as links.
This occurrence hence forms the basis of this dissertation. Several questions emerged such as, how aware are Bruneians of these websites? Do they know that the villages are providing this information service? If members of the Bruneian community needed any village-related information, how do they search for it? Do they view these websites as their information resource? With villages in Brunei are now growing more active with One Village One Product in full swing and more emphasis is being placed on MPK institutions in terms of their leadership and effectiveness towards their own village community15, it is perhaps worthwhile to look into perceptions towards these websites, to gauge the extent to which they can be an effective medium to communicate village information and as a source of information.
15 These are some of the criteria being assessed in the Excellent Village Award. 8
2. Literature Review
2.1. Information behaviour in a village setting
Horowitz and Kamvar (2010) wrote about the concept of ‘village paradigm’:
“In a village, knowledge dissemination is achieved socially—information is passed from person to person, and the retrieval task consists of finding the right person, rather than the right document, to answer your question.” (p. 431)
Yeh (2007) also addressed how culture, social norms and tradition may influence a native individual’s information behaviour in her study of Taiwanese aborigines' information behaviour.
Some studies have investigated the information behaviour of rural dwellers. Bakar (2011) for example found that the rural women in Malaysia used variety of sources to suit different needs, but preferred mass media (newspaper, magazines, television and radio) as their main sources of information, which is similar to Hossain and Islam (2012)’s finding that the rural women in Bangladesh used television as their main source of information. Friends and neighbours are the second main source of information for the rural women in Bangladesh (Hossain and Islam, 2012). The rural women in Malaysia were also found to ask their friends and family for information required for their daily lives such as food, child education, hobbies, financial matters and religion’ (Bakar, 2011).
Internet was detected to be the least preferred source for the rural women in Malaysia although there were still some who used it to search mainly for information on food and child education (Bakar, 2011). When asked on ways to make it easy for them to seek for information and to encourage more participation, the women involved in Bakar (2011)’s study suggested circulating ‘handouts and articles on benefits of Internet, information awareness, health, nutrition’, for ‘information-related activities’ such as ‘classes on health, internet, nutrition’ to be conducted regularly, as well as setting up a ‘community special fund for IT literacy program’ (p.7). Lim and Lee (2007) also spoke of
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Korea’s information education project which had two phases. The first phase of the project saw residents in farming and fishing villages, local residents, women, disabled and the old being trained to use computers, while the second phase focused on ‘training creative e-Korean as producers and consumers of information’ (Lim and Lee, 2007, p. 2408). It was reported that the project resulted in significant improvement in internet usage (Lim and Lee, 2007).
A number of studies have addressed the information needs of village dwellers. Variety of needs were detected; Zaverdinos-Kockott (2004) in investigating the information needs of the residents of Oribi Village in Pietermaritzburg, found that the information needed mainly related to housing, health and education. Hossain and Islam (2012, p. 2) found that the rural women in Bangladesh sought information on ‘family, health, food and nutrition, family planning and child education […] and on agriculture and animal husbandry for their involvement in socio-economic growth’ while Bakar (2011, p. 5) found that the rural women in Malaysia mainly sought information pertaining to ‘finance, child education, religion and food’. In understanding these user needs, Zaverdinos-Kockott (2004) however, pointed out that they need to be read against the demographic and socio-economic profile of the respondents as well as the background of the place they reside in. Hossain and Islam (2012, p. 4) similarly stated that the ‘information needs of people depend on various factors such as education, profession, age, gender, region, socio-economic condition, religion, even weather’.
2.2. Content of village website
Several studies have commented on the nature of the content in a village website. Rizvanoglu and Ozturk (2007, p.213) for example found a relationship between Turkish real-life cultural experience; ‘Daily Life Experience’, ‘Traditional Values’ and ‘Nationalistic view’ and the content being put on Turkish village websites. They reported of finding Turkish real-life values experience such as ‘village public room where Turkish villagers usually partake in communal activities such as chatting, playing games, watching performances by local musicians; familial connections and origins; legal authorities such as the reeves; graveyard visits; local dialects and accents; the 10
Turkish flag and national anthem; and military service’ are incorporated into the content and design of the village websites. As a result, the Turkish village websites have content like ‘guestbook, chat, forum, game links, pictures and videos of folk performances, family photo and family tree links, links to profiles of legal authorities, informative links to local food and accent, virtual-graveyard visit interface, audio recording of the national anthem and its lyrics, and links praising the boys at military service’ (Rizvanoglu and Ozturk, 2007, p.213-217). Liff (2005, p. 51), furthermore, stated that a location-based website could be developed ‘as the result of bottom up or top down initiative’. Bottom up websites are developed by ‘a resident in the place or community-based organization’ and likely to have more ‘community participation and ownership’ while top down websites are ‘owned by the Local Authority’ and ‘the format and content are not likely to be under the ultimate control of the community’ (Liff, 2005, p. 51-52). With top down websites, Lim and Lee (2007) similarly stated that the village webpages built under Korea’s Information Network Village (INVIL) project has a standard content defined and specified by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs in Korea.
A link between website content and collaborative needs assessment process between developer and targeted users has been made in several studies. Myer, Ratichek and Berhe (2010) for example conducted an online survey to targeted users of a health- related website in order to identify relevant topics that should be covered by the planned website; Thompson, Cullen, Boushey and Konzelmann (2012) conducted a qualitative research with 12-17 year old participants in the development of the content and structure of a health website targeted for teenagers. Goto and Cotler (2005) as part of their website redesign workflow Core Process also recommended developing persona development or user profiling as a way to understand a website’s audience and the information they are looking for. The need to ‘know your users’ by creating personas is also stated by Chou (2002, p.24-25) in her study for web redesign.
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On maintaining content, Goto and Cotler (2005) pointed out that collecting materials for content development and maintaining content is a weighty task, ‘worthy of its own workflow’ and may need specialized individuals as the quality of content on a website can be compromised when content development and maintaining being ‘heaped on some hapless individual who already has a full plate’ (p.90). Similarly, Hopkins, Summers-Ables, Clifton and Coffman (2010, p.133) in their study of library website creation and resource management, pointed out that complexity level of the online resources, budget, and the size and expertise of staff are the factors that should be addressed when deciding who should be tasked to developing and maintaining content. Although not wholly related to content development of a website, a few past Masters dissertations such as Richards (2006) and Wilson (2007) have investigated the information needs of family history researchers. These studies, to an extent infer towards the variety of layers surrounding the process of developing content itself when providing any information service.
2.3 Conclusion There is limitation in trying to bring pre-existing studies to review as there is a scarcity of studies focusing exclusively on village websites, particularly in the context of village website design and provision of village websites as a village-based information service. The literature review nevertheless points to a few relevant points pertaining to information behaviour in a village setting such as the social aspect of information dissemination and the use of people as source of information, as well as the preference for mass media as source. There is also a link made between social, cultural norms and traditions in a particular society and the information behaviour of natives in that society.
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3. Research Methodology
3.1. Research Aim and Objectives This study aims to explore the situation of village websites in Brunei and of perceptions towards the websites.
There are three objectives to the study:
o To find out whether Bruneians are aware of the existence of these village websites, o To investigate the information behaviour of Bruneians when seeking village- related information i.e. sources of information and nature of information sought, o To explore the perceptions of Bruneians towards village websites.
3.2. Literature search The literature search process was mainly about the ‘progressive narrowing of the topic’ (Hart, 1998, p. 13). The search was conducted using the library databases such as ACM Digital Library, Scopus and LISA, as well as Google Scholar and Google. The search process identified an array of possible research scopes; for example the search term ‘village websites’ yielded a few research contexts such as communities and their use of technologies, rural informatization and digital divide. Further search for library books introduced further possible scope that covered ‘website content’ in the area of web design, project management and user requirements. The user-centred aspect of website design resulted in more search terms to be used on the library databases and Google Scholar such as ‘village information needs’ and ‘information-seeking behaviour’.
3.3 Research Strategy A mixed methods strategy called ‘Sequential Explanatory Strategy’ (Creswell, 2009, p. 211) was used, which involved two phases. The first phase aimed to explore ‘trends, attitudes or opinions of a population by studying a sample of the population’ (Creswell, 2009, p. 12). This is achieved by conducting a survey. A survey was chosen because the
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method is commonly used in detecting awareness (e.g. UK Cancer Awareness Measurement survey to detect cancer awareness) and is also commonly used in many past studies looking into the area of information seeking behaviour and information needs such as Bakar (2011) and Hossain and Islam (2012). As an instrument, a survey has an economical design and usually allows ‘rapid turnaround in data collection’ (Creswell, 2009, p.146). This is an advantage especially for a project that has limited time.
The second phase aims to explore ‘emerging questions’ based on the results from the first phase, especially when ‘unexpected results’ occurred (Creswell, 2009, p. 211). This is achieved through an email interview.
Figure 3-1- The research strategy used represented using the ‘mixed methods notation’ (Creswell, 2009, p.209).
The arrow shows the sequential data collection process; a mixture of quantitative and qualitative in the first phase data builds on to the qualitative data in the second phase. The capitalized QUANQUAL in the first phase as opposed to the non-capitalized qual in the second phase indicated that this research placed more priority on the results obtained from the survey than the email interview.
3.3.1. First phase - Survey The paper-based survey contained twenty-one questions, consisting of both closed and open-ended questions. Most of the closed questions required respondents to choose one response only while others required respondents to choose a specified number of options in order to detect answer patterns. The questionnaire was written in both Malay and English, and participants may answer in either language. 14
Figure 3-2: Summary of the Research Objectives, Research Questions and the Survey Questions. A copy of the questionnaire is supplied in Appendix 3. Research Objectives, Research Questions and the related survey question
Research Objectives Research Questions and the related Survey Question o To find out whether o Are respondents aware of village websites of their own Bruneians are aware of village? (Question 4 and 5) the existence of these o Are respondents aware of village websites in Brunei in village websites. general? If not, what are the reasons for not knowing? (Question 6, 7 and 9) o Are they aware of village websites belonging to villages with One Village One Product? (Question 8) o To investigate the o What are the sources of information for village-based information behaviour local places of interest? (Question 11 and 12) of Bruneians when it o What are the sources of information for One Village One comes to village-related Product? (Question 13 and 14) information i.e. sources o What kind of village-related information have they of information and sought in the past, and the sources? (Question 15) information sought o Who or where do respondents ask if they needed assistance in looking for any village-related information? (Question 16) o To explore the o What were the main purposes of the visiting Bruneian perceptions of village websites? (Question 10) Bruneians towards o Do they think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to village websites. have their own websites? (Question 17 and 18) o What topics should be covered in a village website? (Question 19 and 20)
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Some questions pertaining to information-seeking behaviour were referred from Bickley (2010)’s survey questions such as Question 15 and 16. Options for Question 19 were referred from the website content of Endah Village, one of the websites built under Malaysia’s USP programme (Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications of Malaysia, 2009). The survey also asked for demographic information of the respondents i.e. Age, Gender and Employment Status (Question 1, 2, and 3). Question 21 asked for any other opinions respondents would like to add about the topics covered in the survey.
The questionnaire was pre-tested with three participants of the intended sample i.e. Bruneians living in Brunei. Comments received were mostly on the effectiveness of the questions being asked in both Malay and English. The layout of the questionnaire underwent some changes following suggestions from the pilot participants: the font size and type were changed to one that ‘makes it easy to read’16, the page numbering was changed from mere ‘1,2,3’ into ‘Page X of Y’ so that respondents ‘know how far more they need to answer’17. Question 15 was transformed from being one open-ended question into two sections consisting of a close question and an open-ended option to elaborate on the answer. These suggestions agreed with Czaja and Blair (2005, p. 38) on how ‘the appearance of the questionnaire are critically important in encouraging cooperation and minimizing response bias’.
Survey Participants The survey was done by a total of ninety-three respondents. There were initially one hundred copies of questionnaire made and distributed. The survey took place in Brunei from 18th June until 30th June 2012. Due to the time constraint, participants were selected through ‘convenience sampling’ where ‘naturally formed groups e.g. classroom, an organization, a family unit or volunteers’ were used (Creswell, 2009, p.155). The questionnaires were personally distributed by the researcher to a university library, a school, a bank, and a department under a ministry, and were self-administered.
16 And 17 Exact word from the pilot participants
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At the end of the survey, participants who were willing to be contacted further for an email interview were asked to leave their email address on their questionnaire. Twelve email addresses were received.
3.3.2. Second phase -Email interview This phase seeks further clarifications on some emerging questions obtained from the survey results. Figure 3-3 below shows the further questions asked in the email interview based on the survey findings:
Figure 3-3: Further questions asked in the email interview and the related survey findings that triggered the questions.
Survey findings and the further questions asked in the follow-up email interview On village websites: 1.) The main reason identified by respondents as to why they were not aware that villages in Brunei have their websites was ‘lack of exposure’, that they were never informed about the websites in the first place. There was hence inference that the village websites could benefit from more exposure and promotion.
Questions asked : “65.6% of respondents stated that they were not aware that villages in Brunei have their own websites. Majority stated ‘lack of exposure’ as the main reason for them not knowing, that they were never informed about the websites in the first place, be it for example from the Head of Village, Information department or the local media. What do you think of this? Would you say, if the websites were properly promoted, people would come to visit and use the websites?” “In your view, how can the village websites be promoted?”
2.) The number of respondents who had sought any village-related information in the past was low in comparison to the number of respondents who simply stated that they never had the need to seek for village information previously. Would this affect the relevance of villages in having their own websites?
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Questions asked: “Only 26.9% of respondents admitted that they had sought some village-related information before, which is lower than the 68.9% who said they never had the need. In your view, do you think the figures would affect the relevance of the villages in having their own websites?” “One respondent did not think it was necessary for the villages in Brunei to have their own websites, citing inconvenience due to how there are too many villages in Brunei as the reason, and how creating and maintaining the website would be a time-consuming job that needs a lot of input from people. What are your views on this?” On Head of Village: 1.) The Head of Village has been mentioned a number of times by respondents, such as how they would go to the Head if they need any information about the village, and one respondent brought up the notion of how to encourage the Head to utilize IT in organizing and maintaining village information. There is inference that the Head plays a certain role as a conveyor of village information.
Question asked: “In your view, what is the role and responsibility of the Head of Village as far as conveying useful information about his village to the residents as well as the public is concerned?”
Email interview participant Due to the time constraint, participants for the email interview were selected through ‘purposive sampling’ i.e. a sampling method that ‘entails making a judgement regarding which units to include in a study’ (Beck and Manuel, 2008, p. 49). Participants were selected from those who had answered the survey in English (so that further translation was not needed to be done) and those who had answered the open-ended questions in the questionnaire in length (hence, this implied more willingness to answer the interview questions in details). Based on these two judgements, three respondents were
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selected and were separately contacted via email. Only one respondent agreed to take part in the interview by answering the email sent. After a mutual agreement, the interview was conducted asynchronously using Google Docs from 4th until 8th August 2012.
3.4. Data Analysis ‘Content analysis’ (Beck and Manuel, 2008, p.35) was used to analyse both the QUANQUAL data from the survey as well as the qual data from the email interview. The content analysis approach was undertaken by Bickley (2010) in her study of students’ perceptions of staff in the Information Commons, where ‘an inductive approach was taken towards analysing the data; the findings were allowed to emerge from the data, without being directed by preconceived theories or hypotheses’ (Bickley, 2010, p.25). Similar ‘method-driven analysis’ (Beck and Manuel, 2008, p. 39) was hence applied to this dissertation.
The quantitative data from the closed survey questions was tallied for frequencies, and the findings were reported in both raw numbers and percentages as well as represented using bar charts where appropriate (Beck and Manuel, 2008). The qualitative data from the open-ended survey questions were also quantified, and categorized according to similar answer patterns (Beck and Manuel, 2008). Any responses in Malay for the open- ended survey questions were first translated, and then reported in English. The findings would be described according to the ten research questions stated previously in Figure 3-2.
Since the aim of the follow-up email interview was to seek further clarification on some emerging questions detected from the survey findings, the qualitative data obtained from the interview was treated as an ‘extended story’ (Creswell, 2009, p. 193), by using direct quotes from the interview to expound on the five questions asked (See Figure 3-3 for the questions asked). Any Malay words used by the interviewee were kept ‘to reflect cultural sensitivity’ (Creswell, 2009, p. 193) but translations would be provided as footnotes. 19
3.5. Ethics The study was classified as ‘low risk’. Research ethics was approved on 8th June 2012 prior to data collection (Refer to Appendix 3 for the ethics documentation, and Appendix 2 for the Information Sheet used).
All participants were over the age of 18. The survey was distributed in paper-copies with information about the research provided on the front-most page of the questionnaire. Participants were directed to it and asked to read the information provided carefully. Consent was assumed to be given when the respondent chose to complete the questionnaire after reading the information sheet; otherwise they would choose not to answer the survey. The survey was done anonymously so confidentiality was ensured.
For the follow-up email interview, it was made clear at the end of the survey (See Appendix 3 for a copy of the questionnaire) that if participants were willing to be contacted for further interview, they could leave their email in the space provided. Consent was assumed to be given when the participant chose to leave their contact email; otherwise they would choose not to leave their email. The email addresses left by the respondents in the survey were only known by the researcher and were only used to contact them for the follow-up interview and would not be kept afterwards. Participants were also contacted separately, not in mass.
Questions asked in both survey and email interview were also gauged in the likelihood that they would cause any form of harm or distress to participants before being revealed. Although it is acknowledged that the notion of harm and distress are highly unpredictable and subjective, it was observed based from the findings of both survey and email interview, that respondents did not appear to find the questions offensive. Furthermore, for both the survey and the email interview, the participants’ rights to refuse were evident as not all one hundred copies of the distributed questionnaire were returned, and not all participants chose to leave their contact email.
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3.6. Limitations of results arising from the research methods used Being a ‘cross-sectional study i.e. collected at one point in time’ (Creswell, 2009, p. 146), the results obtained only represented the situation and views of respondents during the survey period between 18th June until 30th June 2012, and the email interview period between 4th August until 8th August 2012. Since views and trends are ever-changing, this speaks for one threat to external validity written by Creswell (2009, p. 165) where ‘because the results are timebound, a researcher cannot generalize the results to past or future situations’.
The selection of survey participants through ‘convenience’ (Creswell, 2009) due to the limited time at disposal might also affect findings. Participants consisted of people sharing similar geographical places (in this case, a library, a bank, a department under a ministry and a school), which implied a higher probability of participants ‘sharing similar characteristics such as income, demographics and attitudes’ (Czaja and Blair, 2005, p.54). Limitations arise as findings hence cannot be generalized to ‘individuals who do not have the same characteristics of participants’ and that ‘because of the setting characteristics’, the findings also ‘cannot be generalized to individuals in other settings’ Creswell (2009, p.165).
The purposive sampling in selecting participants for the email interview, where participants were chosen from those respondents who answered the survey in English (due to the limited time available to do translation) and had shown willingness to answer in details, also narrowed the amount of points of views obtained to answer the follow-up inquiries.
Concerning the self-administered nature of filling out the questionnaire, Bickley (2010) mentioned that ‘without the researcher present when they answer the questions, issues or ambiguity around questions or answers cannot be clarified, and the researcher is reliant on the respondents’ honesty and understanding in ensuring that accurate answers are collected’ (p.32). This is particularly relevant to the survey’s Question 18 where participants expressed uncertainty in the word ‘one-stop’ being used in the questionnaire, which was only detected by the researcher when analysing the data. The 21
uncertainty, which did not arise during the pilot session, unfortunately limits the reliability of findings obtained for that question.
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4. Findings and Discussion
4.1. First Phase- Survey findings
4.1.1. Demographic information: Gender, Age and Employment Status of respondents
More or less equal number of respondents from both genders participated in the survey, with fifty female respondents (53.8%) and forty-three male respondents (46.2%) detected. Majority of respondents (33.3%) were aged 25-34. This is followed by twenty- five respondents (26.9%) aged 35-44; nineteen respondents (20.4%) aged 18-24; and eighteen respondents (19.4%) aged 45-60. There were no respondents of age less than 18 or older than 60.
Majority of the respondents were employed, either working with the government (sixty-three respondents, 67.7%) or in the private sector (nine respondents, 9.7%). Twenty respondents (21.5%) were students. One respondent was a part time student while also working in the private sector, hence categorised under ‘Others’. There were no respondents who were self-employed or unemployed.
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35
30
25 19 20 13 Female 15 7 11 Male
10 Numberrespondentsof
12 12 5 11 8
0 0 0 Less than 18 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-60 61 above Age category
Figure 4-1: Age and Gender of Respondents
70
60
50
40
30 63
20 Number of respondents ofNumber
10 20 9 0 0 1 0 Employed, Employed, Self-Employed Not Working Student Others working with working in government private sector Employment status category
Figure 4-2: Employment Status of Respondents 24
4.1.2. Awareness towards village websites
. Are respondents aware of village websites of their own village? Respondents were first asked to state the name of their village, and to answer the question as to whether there was a village website existed for their village. Details of the village names submitted are included in Appendix 3.
As for the question which asked if there was a village website existed for their village, most respondents (fifty-five respondents, 59.1%) opted for the less definite answer ‘Don’t know/Not sure’ over the more definite answer of either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Nine respondents (9.7%) answered ‘Yes’ and twenty-six respondents (28.0%) answered ‘No’. Three respondents (3.2%) did not answer the question.
. Are respondents aware of village websites in Brunei in general? If not, what are the reasons for not knowing?
Thirty-one respondents (33.3%) knew that a number of villages in Brunei had their own websites, while sixty-one respondents (65.6%) stated that they did not know that the villages had their own websites. One respondent left the question unanswered.
Respondents were also asked to supply any other Bruneian village websites that they knew of. Seven respondents (7.5%) provided a number of other websites, of which two respondents supplied two additional websites each and the other five respondents supplied one additional website each. Amongst the additional websites supplied, five were websites, and two were Facebook sites.
Figure 4-3: Other village websites known by respondents Websites supplied Kg Pelambayan Stated by two respondents http://kg-pelambayan.blogspot.com Kg Kulapis Stated by one respondent http://kpgkulapis.blogspot.com Kg Tamoi Stated by one respondent http://mpktamoi.blogspot.com Kg Rataie Stated by one respondent http://mpkrataie.wordpress.com 25
Kg Tungku Stated by one respondent http://mpktk1.weebly.com/ MPK Tungku Katok (Facebook) Stated by two respondents
MPK Bebuloh (Facebook) Stated by one respondent
Respondents who stated that they were not aware that a number of villages in Brunei had their own websites were asked to supply the reason why they were not aware. Of the sixty-one respondents who answered ‘Not aware’, forty-eight respondents (78.7%) provided reasons why they were not aware of the existence of the websites, whereas the remaining thirteen respondents (21.3%) did not provide any reasons.
Four categories of reasons were identified:
1. Not much information was provided about the villages having their own website
Three respondents stated that they did not receive any information about the village websites, with two respondents stating that they were not given any ‘notice’. Respondents did not specify who or where the information or notice about the village websites should come from, but one respondent stated that there was ‘no information about the websites from the village head’, while another respondent stated that there was ‘no official publication from the Information department’. Two respondents stated that they were not ‘exposed to any’ and that there was a ‘lack of exposure’, while three respondents indicated that the websites were ‘not marketed’, ‘not advertised’, ‘not announced’ or ‘broadcasted’ and that there was ‘no indication stating that the villages do have one’. Three respondents stated that there was a ‘lack of public awareness created’ about the websites. Five respondents indicated that they never heard about them from the local media.
2. Lack of involvement in village matters
Two respondents stated that they ‘never participated in village consultative council matters’ and hence did not know that the villages did have websites. Three 26
respondents stated that they ‘never wanted to know about village matters’ before, while one respondent cited ‘lack of interest in village matters’. Three respondents stated that they ‘never researched’ about their village, while one respondent stated that he ‘never explored about the village’.
3. Lack of IT skills
One respondent stated that she was ‘not IT literate’ while another respondent claimed to be ‘not internet-savvy’. Three respondents stated that they seldom used websites.
4. Personal unawareness
Two respondents stated that it ‘never crossed the mind that villages would have their own websites’.
. Are respondents aware of village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village, One Product’?
Respondents were asked to tick village websites/Facebook sites that they have heard of from a list of village websites belonging to a number of villages having One Village, One Product. Thirty-six respondents (38.7%) selected one or more village websites from the ones listed, while fifty-seven respondents (61.3%) indicated they never heard any of the listed websites. Amongst the One Village One Product websites listed, respondents showed significant familiarity with the website belonging to Kg Sungai Matan18. As to whether there would be significant difference in familiarity between websites and Facebook sites, the two Facebook sites listed as options did not have as many ticks compared to the other websites although Taman Herba Kampung Putat Facebook was more frequently selected than Majlis Perundingan Kampung Kiudang-Mungkom Facebook. For the village of Kiudang/Mungkom which has both its website and Facebook listed as options, there is also not much difference between the frequency of ticks obtained by its website compared to its Facebook counterpart.
18 This village was the Bronze Medal recipient for 2012 Excellent Village Awards, hence probably has greater exposure than the other villages. 27
30
25
20
15
27 Frequency 10 14 12 5 10 11 6 6 4 0 5 0
Figure 4-4: Respondents’ familiarity pattern towards village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village One Product’
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4.1.3. Information behaviour pertaining to village-related information
. What are the sources of information for village-based local places of interest? Respondents were presented with examples of village-based local places of interests and were asked if they heard of the places before. 68.9% (sixty-four respondents) stated that they knew about the places, and 30.1% (twenty-eight respondents) stated that they never heard of them. One respondent (1.1%) did not answer the question.
Respondents who previously stated that they knew about the village-based local places of interest were asked to select their three main sources of information about the places from options given. Of the ninety-three respondents, six respondents selected more than the specified three choices. With these responses, only the first three options selected by respondents are presented in Figure 4-5 below. The remaining choices selected by the respondents are mentioned separately. The other eighty-seven respondents have kept to the specified three options. One respondent did not answer the question.
60
50
40
30 50 20
37 37 36 Numberrespondentsof 10 8 3 0 TV Radio Newspaper and Online Word of mouth Other sources online news resources in portal the form of village websites, blogs, facebook
Figure 4-5: Sources of information for village-based local places of interest
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The extra choices selected by the respondents were ‘Word of Mouth’ (selected four times) and ‘Online resources in the form of village websites, blogs, Facebook’ (selected twice).
Figure 4-5 indicates that ‘Television’ is the main source of information for village-based, local places of interest for majority of the respondents. Equal number of respondents chose ‘Radio’ and ‘Newspaper and online news portal’ as their sources of information for village-based local places of interest, which makes the two as the next main sources of information. ‘Word of mouth’ is the next main source of information, although it is noted that if the extra four ticks for ‘Word of mouth’ were included in the count, then ‘Word of mouth’ would have been the second main source of information for village-based, local places of interests after television, preceding ‘Radio’ and ‘Newspaper and online news portal’.
The least preferred source for respondents when it comes to village-based, local places of interest seemed to be ‘Online resources in the form of village websites, blogs, Facebook’. Of the three respondents who chose ‘Other sources’, one respondent stated that she ‘got to know about some of the places from her journey when she was visiting her relatives’ while another respondent stated that he knew about the places ‘from road signs while driving’. The third respondent cited the ‘village head’ as her source when doing research for a course.
. What are the sources of information for ‘One Village One Product’? Respondents were asked if they have heard of the ‘One Village One Product’ initiative. 86% (eighty respondents) affirmed that they knew about the initiative with only twelve respondents (12.9%) claimed of not knowing. One respondent (1.1%) did not answer the question.
Respondents who previously answered that they have heard of ‘One Village One Product’ were asked to select their three main sources of information about the initiative from options given. Eight respondents selected more than the specified three choices. With these responses, only the first three options selected by respondents are
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presented in Figure 4-6 below. The extra choices selected by the respondents are mentioned separately. The other eighty-five respondents kept to the specified three options. One respondent did not answer the question.
80
70
60
50
40 76 30 60 53
20 Numberrespondentsof
10 19 8 1 0 TV Radio Newspaper and Online sources Word of mouth Other sources online news in the form of portal village websites, blogs, facebook
Figure 4-6: Sources of information for ‘One Village One Product’
The extra choices selected by the respondents were ‘Word of Mouth’ (selected six times) and ‘Online resources in the form of village websites, blogs, Facebook’ (selected three times).
Figure 4-6 indicates that ‘Television’ is the main source of information for One Village, One Product for majority of the respondents. ‘Radio’ and ‘Newspaper and online news portal’ are the next main sources cited. The least preferred source seemed to be ‘Online resources in the form of village websites, blogs, Facebook’. The sole respondent who selected ‘Other sources’ specified that she knew about the ‘One Village One Product’ initiative because she attended ‘the promotional exhibitions of the products’.
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. What kind of village-related information was sought in the past, and the sources? When asked if they ever had the need to seek for any village-related information in the past, 26.9% (twenty-five respondents) confirmed of having sought such information in the past, while 68.9% (sixty-four respondents) stated that they never had the need. Four respondents (4.3%) did not answer the question.
Respondents who had sought village-related information before were asked to explain the kind of information they had looked for as well as the source of the information. Seven types of village-related information sought were identified, and respondents were found to have used a mixture of sources:
1. Local history
Eight respondents stated that they wanted to know about the local history, with two respondents specifically referring to the village’s history such as the ‘origin and how the village got its name’. Five respondents stated that they searched the information mostly ‘on the Internet’. Of the five respondents, four respondents added more sources besides ‘Internet’: ‘TV’ (one respondent), ‘books’ (one respondent), ‘newspaper’ (one respondent) and another respondent added that they also ‘talked to the residents in local places and got to know about the history after talking to them’. Three respondents did not specify the sources.
2. Information about Head of Village
Eight respondents stated that they needed information about the ‘head of village’, such as ‘who is the current head of village’. Of the eight respondents, one respondent elaborated that she needed to know who the current village head was because she ‘had to get to the village to conduct research for her Brunei Studies course’.
Two respondents stated that they asked their ‘friends, family’ as well as ‘the residents of the village’. Two respondents stated that they consulted ‘online resources and newspaper’ for the information. Four respondents did not specify their sources.
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3. Village products
Six respondents stated that they wanted to know about the villages’ products such as ‘the types of products and who were producing them’. One respondent particularly referred to One Village One Product. Of the six respondents, only one respondent stated the source: ‘Internet’, while the other five respondents did not specify their sources.
4. Village activities
Three respondents stated that they wanted to know about ‘activities conducted in the village’. Of the three respondents, only one respondent stated the source (‘Internet’). The other two respondents did not specify their source
5. Information on village population
Three respondents stated that they needed to know about the population of a particular village (‘how many residents live in the village’). Of the three respondents, one respondent stated that the information was found from ‘online resources and books’, while the other two respondents did not specify the sources.
6. Places of interests and recreational places situated in the village
Two respondents stated that they wanted to know about ‘recreational and places of interest’ that can be found in a particular village. Of the two respondents, one respondent stated that she asked her ‘family, friends or acquaintances’ for the information, while the other respondent did not specify the source.
Other information mentioned by respondents include ‘the location of the village’ (the source was ‘friends and family’) and ‘the name of the mosque in the village and its history’ (the source was not specified). Four respondents did not state the type of information they looked for, but they did supply their sources for the information: ‘Internet’, ‘TV and radio’, ‘library’, ‘newspaper cuttings and articles’, ‘locally published
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books in the library’ and from ‘telephone books, and then I would call the person needed straightaway’.
. Who or where do respondents ask if they needed assistance in looking for any village- related information?
Most respondents indicated that they would use a mixture of likely sources. The sources could be categorized into four modes of information-seeking behaviour:
1. Refer to online sources
Thirty-seven respondents stated that they would most likely search for the information ‘online’, where sources such as ‘Internet’, ‘Google’, ‘websites’, ‘Facebook’, ‘blogs’ and ‘official government websites’ were mentioned in their answers.
2. Engage in informal social interaction
Twenty-four respondents stated that they would likely ask their ‘family, friends, acquaintances or relatives’. Seven respondents stated that they would most likely ask the ‘village residents’ while five respondents stated that they would ask ‘members of public’.
3. Interact with appointed roles
Fourteen respondents indicated that they would ‘go straight to the head of village’, either by ‘meeting face-to-face or calling the person’. Other official bodies were also mentioned such as ‘District Office’ (six respondents), ‘Information Department’ (one respondent) and ‘Library’ (one respondent). Other authority figures likely to be sought besides Head of Village were also mentioned, such as ‘Imam’ (one respondent) and ‘Teacher’ (two respondents).
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4. Use other reference materials
Five respondents stated that they would likely refer to ‘Newspapers’, with two respondents referring specifically to ‘Local news on TV’. Other materials cited include ‘Guide books’ (two respondents), ‘road signs’ (one respondent) and ‘map’ (one respondent).
4.1.4. Perceptions towards village websites
. What were the main purposes of visiting Bruneian village websites? Twenty-four respondents (25.8%) had answered the question, which implied that they had visited the websites in the past, and provided purposes for their visits. Sixty-nine respondents (74.2%) left the question unanswered.
There were three main patterns of usage identified. Other patterns of usage outside the three categories are mentioned separately.
1. To find information about village products
Two respondents stated that they wanted ‘to know what are being produced by the village’ and what the ‘best-selling products’ were. Three respondents specifically cited that they wanted to know about ‘One Village One Product’.
2. To update on current news
Eight respondents stated that they ‘wanted to know the current development and current news’ of the village, and also because they wanted to know ‘what was going on in the village’.
3. To find out about activities conducted by the village
Six respondents stated that they wanted to know about ‘activities conducted by the village in which the residents participated in’. One respondent specifically wanted to know about ‘youth-related activities’ conducted by the village, and one respondent wanted to know about the ‘carnivals’ organized in the village.
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One respondent stated that she visited the village websites to find out about the origin and history of a particular village while another respondent wanted to know the location. Three respondents stated that they were ‘searching for information’, but did not specify the nature of information wanted, while two respondents stated that they ‘wanted to know what sort of information was provided at the website’. One of the two respondents specifically used the word ‘curiosity’.
. Do respondents think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites?
Eighty-one respondents (87.1 %) agreed that it was necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites, with only one respondent (1.1%) stating ‘No’. Four other respondents (4.3%) stated ‘Not sure’. Seven respondents (7.5%) did not answer the question.
Of those who answered the question, seventy-eight respondents managed to include a reason for their opinion while eight respondents did not supply any reasons. There were generally two patterns of reasoning identified:
1. The websites can be a convenient way for information exchange
Majority of respondents based their opinions on ‘convenience’ where most reasoned that the websites can be ‘a convenient medium to communicate information about the village’ and ‘a convenient medium for people to get access to information about the village’. Four respondents stated that the websites would be ‘a convenient way for the village to update the residents and the public on activities happening in the village’ with one respondent stating doing this ‘will help in involving the community in a larger scale’. Three respondents stated that the websites are ‘fast and easy way to get information’, while one respondent also reasoned that ‘websites are easily accessible nowadays i.e. via mobile phones unlike the old days’. One respondent particularly stated that for her ‘the web is usually the first source of reference when it comes to info-seeking before moving on to other sources such as asking around and checking out local printed newspaper’.
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One respondent reasoned that if there were websites for the villages then ‘it would be easier for the residents to communicate and solve problems without going back and forth to meet the Head of Village’. This theme of problems able to be solved by the village residents themselves was similarly expressed by six other respondents who indicated that ‘the websites can be a good source of reference for any information needed’ either ‘urgently’ (one respondent) or not, although it was also cautioned by the respondent that ‘the information on the website needs to be regularly updated’.
2. The websites can be a promoting medium for the villages
Thirteen respondents reasoned that the websites can be used to ‘promote the village and its products’, with one respondent stating that ‘the more obscure villages’ could also benefit from this since a village website can make the villages more ‘well- known’ to the public or ‘increase public awareness’ of them.
The only respondent stating that it was not necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites reasoned that ‘there are too many villages in Brunei’ and that ‘making own website for each village needs a lot of input from a lot of people as well time’.
As opposed to the villages having their own individual websites, respondents were also asked in another question if they thought it was important to have a ‘one-stop’ portal which contained all information about Brunei villages, and also to provide reasons for their opinion. With this question, a number of respondents unfortunately expressed uncertainty over the word ‘one-stop’ that was being used, which resulted in them not commenting on the subject of having a single village portal versus individual village websites when providing a reason for their opinion. Twenty-five respondents however, provided reasons which relate to the subject of having a single village portal versus having individual village websites, showing that the question did successfully provide the intended meaning to a proportion of respondents.
Despite the slight ineffectiveness of the question, the findings for the question were: 75.3% (seventy respondents) agreed that it was important to have a ‘one-stop’ village 37
portal while 2.2% (two respondents) expressed disagreement. 4.3% (four respondents) stated that they were not sure. 18.3% (seventeen respondents) did not provide any answers.
The reasons provided by the twenty-five respondents who understood the question as intended mainly revolved around ‘convenience’, that it would enable ‘fast access of information’. One respondent stated that a one-stop website/portal would ‘make it easy to search for information compared to having individual websites, because it would be time-consuming just to find those individual websites’. The theme of convenience continued to other reasons provided: “You only go to one website that links to others rather than go to many websites’; ‘So that people don’t need to remember specific website/s just to get the information about the village’ ; ‘It is important because if there’s such a portal, you don’t need to access so many different websites just to get information’ and ‘it would be easier for the local people to refer to it especially for our ‘Kenali Negara Kitani’ 19campaign’
. What topics should be covered in a village website? Respondents were presented with a selection of twenty content topics20 and were asked to select their top eight choices of topics that they thought should be included in a village website. Seven respondents selected more than the specified eight choices. With these responses, only the first eight options selected by respondents are presented in Figure 4-7 below. The remaining options selected by the respondents are included separately. The remaining eighty-three respondents kept to the specified eight choices. Three respondents did not answer the question.
19 ‘Kenali Negara Kitani’ is a local tourism campaign to encourage locals to explore and discover local wonders (Reedz, 2007) from anakbrunei.org. 20 As stated in Chapter 3, the topics used as options were referred from the website content of Endah Village, one of the websites built under Malaysia’s USP programme (Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications of Malaysia, 2009). 38
Online shop 18 Advertisements 17 Village forum 5 Current village news & updates 48 Blog 13 Village history and origin 63 Photo and Video Gallery 37 Women & Youth events 31 Neighbouring villages 11 Village location & directions 48 Recreational Area 53 Village Facilities 47 Education 34 Health 20 Safety 30 Agriculture & farming 17 vilage administration 46 socio-economy 47 Village population & residents 58 Information on tourism and local business in the village 69
0 20 40 60 80 Number of respondents
Figure 4-7: Response pattern for preferred content topics in a village website
The extra choices selected by the respondents were ‘Current village news and updates’ (selected four times); ‘Village forum’ (selected twice); ‘Village directions and locations’ (selected twice); ‘Online shop’ (selected twice) ‘Advertisements’ (selected once); ‘Recreational area’ (selected once); ‘Village history and origin’ (selected once); ‘Neighbouring villages’ (selected once) and ‘Blog’ (selected once).
Significant majority of respondents appeared to think that a village website should cover ‘Information on tourism and local business in the village', ‘Village History and origin’ and ‘Village population and residents’ (the top three topics selected) with 39
information on ‘Recreational area’ following closely behind. Other than the four aforementioned topics, there was no significant pattern in preference discerned with the other topics due to almost equal number of respondents choosing between the topics. Respondents however appeared to show the least preference for ‘Village Forum’ as a content topic.
Respondents were also asked to state any other information that they thought ought to be covered in a village website. There were generally two aspects of information suggested:
1. Information on general well-being of village residents
Four respondents thought that a village website should include information about ‘people who need help such as the poor and destitute’. Another respondent stated that ‘accounts of daily life of the village residents – for example economic-wise- ought to be included, so that their views and opinions can be communicated more’.
One respondent thought that a village website should also include ‘views and opinions of the village residents’. Another respondent thought there should be ‘a chat-like component to the website that enables more communication between village head and the village residents.’ Two respondents thought that information regarding ‘village committee’ should also be included on a village website. One respondent suggested information about ‘LegCo i.e. the representative for the villages’ zone’ so that ‘people would know who to contact’.
2. Information about village activities
Twelve respondents wanted to see information about village activities, either upcoming or already conducted activities. One respondent specified on ‘sports activities’ and five respondents specified on ‘activities conducted by the village mosque and religious events’. Two respondents suggested ‘calendar of annual activities for example events and carnivals organized in the village’. Two other
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respondents suggested ‘information on the short and long term planning for the village’.
4.1.5. Other comments Respondents were given space to add on any of the topics covered in the survey. The additional comments provided by respondents mainly revolved around two aspects:
. Village website
One respondent commented that a village website ‘should focus on village development and lifestyle’. Another respondent reminded that ‘websites like these i.e. village websites need to be regularly updated’ while another respondent stated that ‘these websites need to be utilized, not left unused’.
. Head of Village
Although unelaborated, one respondent commented on ‘the role and responsibility of the Head of Village towards the village residents’. One respondent commented on ‘how to encourage the Head of Village to make use of IT, such as using blogs, in organizing and updating village information’.
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4.2. Discussion of survey findings Awareness towards village websites is generally observed to be quite low amongst the respondents. Only 33.3% knew that a number of villages in Brunei had their own websites compared to 65.6% who stated that they were not aware of the fact. This concurs with the higher proportion (59.1%) of respondents who stated that they ‘did not know or were not sure’ if their own village did have a website, compared to 37.9% of respondents who answered definitely with either ‘Yes, my village has a website’ or ‘No, my village does not have a website’. Similarly, 61.3% of respondents indicated that they never heard any of the listed websites belonging to ‘One Village One Product’ villages, despite how majority (86%) knew about the initiative. Furthermore, only 7.5% of respondents managed to list other village websites that they knew about.
The reasons provided by respondents who stated that they did not know about the websites, however explained why there was a low awareness generally existed amongst respondents. Respondents cited lack of exposure -‘not much information was provided about the villages having their own website’-as the main reason. There is inference that the village websites could benefit from more exposure and several indications that information about the websites ought to come from the Head of Village and the local media.
Lack of involvement with village matter is another main reason cited to explain the low awareness towards village websites. Coupled with the finding of how only 26.9% of respondents had sought village-related information before (compared to 68.9% who said they never had the need) does to an extent question the necessity of providing village websites as an additional information service on the village’s part. The needs assessment process (Goto and Cotler, 2005; Cullen, Thompson et al., 2012) might control the issue of relevance to an extent, but when Yeh (2007) wrote of how factors such as ‘personal interest, restrictions, affection and habit’ can ‘influence the knowledge types that people recognize and accept’ (para. 9), it implies that there are other uncontrollable factors that may also affect the usage rate of the information service.
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Despite the general low awareness towards village websites, most respondents (87.1%) actually thought positively towards the notion of villages in Brunei having their own website; the village websites were viewed as a convenient method to communicate village information as well as to get access to information about the village. The appeal of convenience and how it influences both ‘academic and everyday-life information seeking’ has similarly been addressed by Connaway, Dickey and Radford (2011, p. 179). Only one respondent, in contrast, thought that it was not necessary for villages to have their own websites due to the high number of villages in Brunei and it would time- consuming and needs a lot of input from people. Since at present, the village websites in Brunei are created and maintained by the MPK, which consisted of residents of the village itself (i.e. not a paid job), the reasoning might to an extent ring true.
Regarding information behaviour, it is found that online sources (i.e. village websites, blogs, Facebook) are the least cited source of information for both village-based local places of interests and One Village One Product. Information about the two are generally obtained from TV, radio and newspaper/online news portal. Information is also obtained via word of mouth, although there is more evidence of this for village-based local places of interest than One Village One Product.
Based on their past information behaviour, respondents who had sought any village- related information in the past were found to be looking for information pertaining to local history, information about the Head of Village, village products, activities and population and places of interests in the village. With these, respondents were found to have consulted a mixture of various sources such as mass media (Internet, TV, books, and newspaper) as well as friends, family and acquaintances. When respondents were asked to state where or who they were likely to ask if they needed assistance in looking for any village-related information, more respondents stated that they would likely ask people over using online sources or other reference materials – which concurs with the social nature of information dissemination in a village setting mentioned by Horowitz and Kamvar (2010)- although it is observed that ‘people’ consists of everyday informal social interaction with friends, family or acquaintances, as well as interaction with
43
official information bodies or appointed roles such as Head of Village. The Head of Village has also been mentioned frequently by respondents in the survey as a source of information when it comes to matters relating to Brunei villages.
It is noted that those respondents who had visited the village websites in the past reported of using them to find information about village products, current village news and village activities. These topics are more or less similar to the kind of village-related information sought by respondents in the past regardless of sources used as reported earlier, but with a noticeable less emphasis on local history. There is implication that respondents would like to see local history covered in a village website as evident from the high proportion of respondents choosing 'Village history and origin’ as a preferred content topic. Other preferred village website contents include information pertaining to village tourism and local business in the village, village population and residents. When asked to comment on other information that they thought ought to be covered in a village website, some respondents thought that information about residents who needed help such as the less fortunate, information about activities and events conducted by the village mosque, information about the village committee (MPK) as well as a kind of outlet for views and opinions of the residents for the attention of the Head of Village, ought to be present in the village website as well. The aforementioned contents suggested by respondents consisted of real-life experiences, which agrees with Rizvanoglu and Ozturk (2007)’s finding of the link found between the content of village websites and daily life experience and values.
44
4.3. Second Phase- Email interview findings As stated in the Methodology, this phase seeks to clarify further a few emerging questions identified in the survey. The questions mainly revolved around village websites and the role of Head of Village.
4.3.1. On Village Websites Based on the survey findings, there is inference that the village websites could benefit from more exposure and promotion since respondents cited lack of exposure -‘not much information was provided about the villages having their own website’-as the main reason for the lack of awareness towards village websites. The interviewee was asked if proper promotion would bring more people to visit the websites. The interviewee generally expressed agreement to this:
“I firmly believe that if proper promotions are made, people will come and visit and check out the information available, even if the number of visitors will not be instantaneously high. It will have to be gradual.” (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
When asked on ways to promote the websites, the interviewee suggested using a mixture of medium such as having ‘press conference or advertising on government websites’ or having ‘a show or two concerning the “one village one product” program’ which then ‘could be used to promote the village websites.”
The survey showed that only 26.9% of respondents had sought some village-related information in the past, while 68.9% said they never had the need. The interviewee was asked to comment on whether these figures would affect the necessity of villages having their own websites:
“The fact that there are people responding that they had sought some village- related information can be taken to mean that those websites are relevant to some. There is always ‘audience’ for different types/forms of information, so the relevancy here cannot be denied. Human beings are peculiar creatures. Things
45
will only become relevant when they’re the ones experiencing it or finally have the need to search for.”
“When it comes to searching for information, different individual has his/her own style. There are people who do his/her own research first before asking other people and this includes me. The web is a wealth of information and most Bruneians have access to the internet. There will be people utilizing these websites, as long as they’re well-maintained, vetted (i.e. the info) and frequently updated (where appropriate) and have easy site-navigation.”
“From personal experience, the culture in Brunei is that people like to verbally ask other people they know or their acquaintances when it comes to matters related to Brunei villages or via word-of-mouth. But not everyone has the luxury of getting the exact info they need in this way. So where else can people turn to? There is the “Jabatan Daerah21” but they have their working hour limitation, so the web can be a very quick way to get information, especially if the website is very good in organizing information.” (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
Regarding another survey finding on how one respondent did not think it was necessary for the villages in Brunei to have their own websites, citing inconvenience due to how there are too many villages in Brunei as the reason, and how creating and maintaining the website would be a time-consuming job that needs a lot of input from people, the interviewee stated that:
“Too many villages in Brunei” is not a good reason to make it unnecessary. At this stage in Brunei, it can be a good idea for those villages to have/start their own website (or online presence) especially if they have information that they’d like to share with/disseminate to Bruneian people.”
21 District office 46
“While I can see his point regarding input and the time it may consume, the key is getting the amount info to be “just right” as opposed to “info-dump”. It’s difficult to say what is exactly ‘right’ and sometimes we can only know from trial-and- error. But at this stage, the “basic” information such as village administration (who’s the current Village head of a particular kampong22), economic products or tourism that a village would like to promote (e.g. One Village one product), important activities that they’d like people to know about, would be good as starters. Frequent updates (where appropriate) is also important.” (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
The respondent also elaborated on ‘village portal’ (Question 18 in the survey asked about a village portal). The interviewee thought that a village portal could ‘be valuable as info hub on Brunei villages as not every Bruneian knows that some villages (with their interesting names) do exist in Brunei’. The interviewee also thought that the portal could have ‘a weekly-updated and randomly-chosen “Featured Kampung of the week” somewhere on the front-page where people can click on it to view what info that have been made available online for that particular kampong23.”
4.3.2. The role and responsibility of the Village Head as a conveyer and source of village information
In the survey, the Head of Village has been mentioned a number of times as a source of village-related information. The interviewee was asked to comment on the roles and responsibility of the Head of Village as conveyor and source of village information. Regarding this, the interviewee believed that the Village Head ‘has to be involved’ because he is the ‘leader and there are responsibilities that come with that’. The interviewee also elaborated that ‘village heads can be regarded as the “liaison” or middlemen between the government and the “anak buah kampung24”.
22 Village 23 Village 24Loosely translated as ‘Village residents’ 47
As for the role of the Head in relation to village websites, the interviewee stated that:
‘[The Village Head] doesn’t have to be the one personally doing the IT hands-on. He can be the one overseeing the process and making sure his helpers/assistance update any information needed’. (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
The interviewee also added that ‘With IT, it doesn’t mean that the “traditional” verbal way of handing out information must be rid of. Both can work together nicely.”
The interviewee was asked to comment on whether there should be any IT training25 organized for the Village Head or the MPK. The interviewee believed that ‘training is important’ but ‘it doesn’t have to be in depth (such as professional-grade video editing) but enough of the necessary and important things.’ The interviewee also added on:
“But in the event that they still haven’t possessed the skill yet, they can delegate the task to their “anak buah kampung26” or family members who are IT-savvy for the time being. *BUT*, it is important to make sure the information that needs to be updated have been vetted by the PR (as well as the MPK) i.e. the info are correct so as to prevent misleading the public.” (Interviewee, 8th August 2012)
4.4. Discussion of findings There was, in general, consensus that promotion of websites would encourage more people to visit the websites, but it was also similarly acknowledged that usage would depend on the individual itself, for example if the individual needed any village-related information at the time or if using village websites suit their ‘style’ of searching for village-related information. The Bruneian culture of verbally asking people that they know or exchanging information via word-of-mouth when it comes to matters relating to Brunei villages was also acknowledged and may also play a role in the usage rate of village websites as source of information for village-related information. The emphasis,
25 Lim and Lee (2007) wrote of IT education scheme in Korea ( See Literature Review) 26 Loosely translated as ‘Village residents’ 48
however, is observed to be less on the number of audience that the website would attract, but more on having a village websites that is ‘well-maintained’, ‘frequently- updated’, has ‘easy site-navigation’, having reliable i.e. ‘vetted’ information to avoid ‘misleading the public’ and on having a website that is not an ‘info-dump’ site,
As a leader, the Head of village was expected to be involved as both conveyor and source of information as the Head is usually regarded as a ‘liaison’ between the government and the ‘anak buah kampung27’. This, to an extent explains why the Head of Village was frequently cited as a source of village-related information in the survey. In relation to village websites as an additional information service provided by the village, it was acknowledged that ‘IT’ and using people as source (such as Head of Village) can work together, for example it was suggested that the Head and the MPK were the people who needed to vet the information being updated on the village websites.
27 Loosely translated as ‘village residents’ 49
5. Conclusions
5.1. Review of dissertation aim and objectives This dissertation aimed to be an exploratory study of the situation of village websites in Brunei and of perceptions towards the websites. A two-phased sequential mixed methods research strategy, consisting of a paper-based survey in the first phase and a follow-up interview, was implemented to meet the aim.
There were three objectives to the study: o To find out whether Bruneians are aware of the existence of these village websites
Research questions under this objective involve detecting awareness level of village websites for the respondents’ own village, of village websites in Brunei in general and of village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village One Product’. From the survey, the awareness for all three was generally found to be low. There was inference that the village websites could benefit from more exposure. The subsequent interview session saw agreement that promoting the websites would encourage more people to visit, but usage rate would also depend on the individual information-seeking style and need for village-related information. o To investigate the information behaviour of Bruneians when seeking village- related information i.e. sources of information and nature of information sought
Research questions under this objective involve identifying sources of information for village-based local places of interest and ‘One Village One Product’, the kind of village-related information sought in the past and the sources used, and well as their likely point of reference when searching for any village-related information. Mixture of sources has been found to be used by respondents such as mass media as well as friends, family and acquaintances. Information sought includes local history, information about the Head of Village, village products and activities, population and 50
places of interests in the village. Respondents were also likely to consult people over using online sources or other reference materials when searching for village- related information, although it is observed that ‘people’ consists of everyday informal social interaction with friends, family or acquaintances, as well as interaction with official information bodies or appointed roles such as Head of Village. The subsequent interview session acknowledged the Bruneian culture of verbally asking people they know or exchanging information via word-of-mouth when it comes to village-related information. o To explore the perceptions of Bruneians towards village websites.
Research questions under this objective involve identifying purposes of visiting Bruneian village websites, seeking views on whether they think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites, and also views on topics that should be covered in a village website. It is found that respondents thought positively of Bruneian villages having their own websites. Respondents have used the websites to find information about village products, current news and activities. Topics preferred to be covered on the websites include village history and origin, information on village tourism and local business, and information on village population and residents. The subsequent interview session saw emphasis being made on having websites that is well-maintained and contained reliable and vetted information.
5.2. Implications of study and suggestions for future work Findings obtained particularly pertaining to information behaviour highlight the complexity of users and their relationship with information services provided. Users for example may have their own preferred style of seeking needed information which may stem from personal preference or is shaped by culture and traditions. This study shows that exchange of village-related information is observed to be more of a synchronous social behaviour in Brunei; obviously this gives certain implications on village websites 51
as an information service, since the provision of information on the village websites seems to contradict the synchronous and social aspect of exchanging village-related information. Rather than trying to shape users’ information seeking style to suit changing circumstances, it is perhaps better to place more emphasis on creating awareness on the variety of sources relating to village information that are available to users, be it from the people-variety or mass media such as village websites, and to create awareness that information and knowledge can be gained from any of these variety of sources.
Future studies may want to delve into the website-development process of creating a village website, particularly those websites created more from a ‘bottom-up’ process (Liff, 2005, p.51) where the village websites are created and maintained by a volunteering resident or committee in the village. Studies could perhaps look at information needs of developers of the village websites, particularly on the content development front.
Word count: 12572 (excluding Title Page, Abstract, List of Figures, Acknowledgements and Appendices)
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Appendix 1- Structure of the dissertation
There are five chapters to the dissertation.
Chapter One, “Introduction”, describes the research context of the dissertation. The chapter begins by introducing the subject of village websites in general and explains the justification of studying perceptions. The focus is then narrowed onto the subject of villages and village websites in Brunei.
Chapter Two, “Literature Review” discusses existing literature concerning aspects of information behaviour in a village setting, information needs of village dwellers and content and development of village websites.
Chapter 3 concentrates on the research methodology. The aim and objectives of the research are outlined here, along with the literature search process. The sequential two- phase research strategy undertaken is described here, the questions asked in the survey and the email interview as well as the participants who took part. The chapter also describes the data analysis process and the potential limitations to results that can arise from the methods used. Ethics issues are also addressed in this chapter.
Chapter 4 sees the findings from the survey and email interview, and discussion of the findings. Following the sequential nature of the research strategy, the findings from the survey are presented first, followed by a discussion of the findings. Findings from the email interview are presented next, followed by a final discussion of the entire findings.
Chapter 5 is the final chapter of the dissertation. The previously-outlined dissertation aim and objectives are reviewed, to see the extent to which they have been met. The chapter then concludes by illustrating the implications of study and suggestions for future work.
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Appendix 2 – Village names supplied and their website status
Most respondents (eighty-nine respondents, 95.7%) supplied the name of their village. Two respondents (2.2%) only gave the name of the sub-district, while one respondent (1.1%) gave the name of the district. One respondent did not answer the question. After eliminating similar villages (i.e. a few respondents lived in the same village) and responses that only stated the sub-district and district name, there were forty-seven names of villages obtained in total. The list of village names can be found in Figure 4-8 below.
The village names obtained earlier were then searched using Google to check whether a village website existed for the villages. The Google search was conducted by simply inputting the name of the village (e.g. Kampung Tamoi) on the search box, or by including the search words ‘Majlis Perundingan Kampung28’ before the village name (e.g. Majlis Perundingan Kampung Tamoi). Both village websites and Facebook sites were taken into account. The findings from the search can also be found in Figure 4-8.
Eleven villages were identified to have their own websites. Amongst the twenty-one respondents residing in these eleven villages, eight respondents showed awareness of the existence of the websites by stating ‘Yes’ (i.e. there was a village website), while three respondents stated ‘No’. Ten respondents stated ‘Don’t know/Not sure’.
With the remaining thirty-five villages where there were no village websites detected for them, twenty respondents consistently stated there was no website for their village, while one respondent stated that there was a website for the village. Forty-three respondents stated ‘Don’t know/Not sure’.
28 Village Consultative Council (translated) 59
Figure 4-8: Village names supplied and their village website status
Village name Website status Kg Kota Batu No website Kg Lambak No website Kg Perpindahan http://kawasan2rpnkgrimba.blogspot.com/ Rimba Kg Tumasek No website Kg Tamoi http://mpktamoi.blogspot.com/ Kg Puni http://mpkpuni.wordpress.com/ Kg Piasan No website Kg Kelamasi No website Kg Perpindahan Mata- No website Mata Gadong Kg Perpindahan No website Lambak Kanan Kg Masin No website Kg Pelambayan http://kg-pelambayan.blogspot.com/ Kg Rataie http://mpkrataie.wordpress.com/ Kg Sungai Besar No website Kg Batu Marang No website Kg Katok http://mpktk1.weebly.com/ Kg Kiarong No website Kg Jangsak No website Kg Menglait No website Kg Manggis Dua http://www.facebook.com/MajlisPerundinganKampungManggis Kg Manggis Satu http://www.facebook.com/MajlisPerundinganKampungManggis Kg Batong No website Kg Mulaut http://www.mpkmulaut.blogspot.com/ Kg Pulaie No website Kg Bebatik No website
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Kg Tanah Jambu No website Kg Sungai Akar No website Kg Selayun No website Kg Mentiri No website Kg Parit A website exists for three villages, one of which is Kg Parit http://mpkselangan.wordpress.com29/ Kg Serdang No website Kg Jerudong http://mpkjerudong.blogspot.co.uk/ Kg Batong No website Kg Pandan No website Kg Serasa No website Kg Mumong No website Kg Rimba No website Kg Bukit Bunga No website Kg Gadong No website Kg Pengkalan Gadong No website Kg Bebuloh No website Kg Pengkalan Sibabau No website Kg Kapok No website Kg Subok No website Kg Pengkalan Mau No website Kg Ujong Tanjung No website Kg Bengkurong No website
29 This website is for Kg Selangan, Kg Parit and Kg Biang Menengah. 61
Appendix 3- Project Information sheet (Malay version)
Tajuk Kajiselidik: Apakah persepsi masyarakat Brunei tentang laman web kampong tempatan di Negara Brunei Darussalam?
Awda dipelawa untuk meluangkan masa menjawab soalan kajiselidik mengenai persepsi masyarakat Brunei tentang laman web kampung tempatan di Negara Brunei Darussalam. Sebelum menjawab, awda disyorkan untuk membaca maklumat berikut bagi mengetahui kenapa kajiselidik ini diadakan dan jenis-jenis soalan yang akan ditanya.
Maklumat kajiselidik: Kajiselidik ini adalah bagi projek disertasi untuk program MSc Information Systems di Information School, University of Sheffield, yang akan diserahkan pada September 2012.
Soalan-soalan didalam kajiselidik ini adalah berbentuk ‘closed’ (awda memilih dari jawapan yang disediakan) dan soalan berbentuk terbuka (awda memberi pendapat). Kajiselidik ini akan mengambil masa lebih kurang 10-15 minit.
Kajiselidik ini juga akan menanyakan maklumat mengenai jantina, usia, status pekerjaan dan nama kampung tempat awda tinggal. Segala maklumat yang diperolehi dari hasil kajiselidik ini tidak akan diketahui umum dan hanya akan digunakan bagi tujuan disertasi ataupun kertas kerja akademik yang berkaitan dengannya.
Jika awda memilih untuk mengikuti kajiselidik ini selepas membaca maklumat diatas, ia menunjukkan yang awda telah menyatakan persetujuan awda untuk menyertai kajiselidik secara sukarela.
Penyertaan awda adalah sangat-sangat dihargai.
Maklumat perhubungan: Nurulhuda Mohamad (Penyelidik) [email protected]
Dr Andrew Madden (Penyelia disertasi) [email protected]
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(English version)
Research Project Title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites?
You are being invited to take part in a research project about perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites. Before you proceed, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take the time to read the following information carefully.
Research project information: This research project forms part of my MSc Information Systems dissertation in the Information School, University of Sheffield. The dissertation will be submitted in September 2012.
The questionnaire includes both closed and open questions i.e. some questions will involve selecting one or more answers from options offered, and others will ask for your comments. The questionnaire should take around 10 – 15 minutes to complete.
The questionnaire asks for your gender, age, and occupation and the name of the village you reside in. All of the information collected throughout this research will be kept strictly confidential and only used in my dissertation, or in academic papers arising from it. You will not be identified or identifiable in the dissertation.
Your participation is voluntary. Should you choose to complete the questionnaire after reading this information; it will be taken to indicate that you have given informed consent.
Contact details for further questions: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad (Project Researcher) [email protected]
Dr Andrew Madden (Dissertation Supervisor) [email protected]
Thank you for your participation.
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Appendix 4 - Survey Questions
1. Sila tandakan kategori umur awda. Please tick your age category.[Select from options]
2. Sila tandakan jantina awda. / Gender [Select from options]
3. Sila tandakan kategori status pekerjaan awda / Employment status [Select from options]
4. Sila nyatakan nama kampung tempat awda tinggal. /Please state the village in which you live
5. Adakah kampung awda mempunyai laman web sendiri? Is there a village website existed for your village? [Select from options]
6. Beberapa kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam ada mempunyai laman web sendiri. Adakah awda pernah menyedari tentang hal ini? A number of villages in Brunei have their own websites. Were you aware of this? [Select from options]
7. Jika awda menjawab ‘Tidak’ pada Soalan 6, sila nyatakan sebab/ If you answered ‘No’ to Question 6, please state your reason.
8. Sila tandakan laman web kampung yang awda ketahui dari senarai dibawah. Awda boleh menandakan lebih dari satu jawapan. Please tick village websites that you have heard of from the following. You may tick more than one option. [Select from options]
Jika tidak pernah mendengar, sila tandakan kotak dibawah. Please tick the box below if you never heard any of the above websites.[If applicable, tick option]
9. Jika awda mengetahui laman-laman web kampung tempatan lain (atau laman facebook) yang tidak disebutkan diatas, sila nyatakan diruangan disediakan. Awda hanya perlu menyatakan nama kampong. If there are any other Brunei villages’ websites you are familiar with, please state them below. (Note: It is alright to state just the village names without mentioning the URL. You may also include village Facebook sites here)
10. Jika awda pernah melayari laman-laman web kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam, apakah tujuan utama awda melayari laman web tersebut? Awda tidak perlu menjawab soalan ini jika tidak pernah melayari mana-mana laman web kampong. If you have visited any Brunei villages’ websites before, what were the main purposes of the visits? You may ignore this question if you have not visited any Brunei villages’ websites before.
11. Adakah awda mengetahui tentang tempat-tempat menarik tempatan seperti Lubuk Batu Mas Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Tasik Buluh Aie Merah, Taman Warisan Wasai Batu Mapan,
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Matan Fishing Village & Matan Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Herba Kampung Putat dan sebagainya? Sila tandakan satu kotak jawapan dibawah. Are you aware of local places of interests such as Lubuk Batu Mas Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Tasik Buluh Aie Merah, Taman Warisan Wasai Batu Mapan, Matan Fishing Village & Matan Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Herba Kampung Putat etc? Please tick one answer below [Select from options]
12. Jika awda telah menjawab ‘Ya’ pada Soalan 11, sila tandakan 3 (TIGA) sumber maklumat utama bagi awda tentang tempat-tempat tersebut dari pilihan dibawah. If you answered ‘Yes’ to Question 11, please tick your 3 (THREE) main sources of information about the places from the following options. [Select from options]
13. Adakah awda mengetahui tentang inisiatif kerajaan ‘Satu Kampung, Satu Produk’? Are you aware of the government initiative ‘One Village, One Product’? [Select from options]
14. Jika awda telah menjawab ‘Ya’ pada Soalan 13, sila tandakan 3 (TIGA) sumber maklumat utama bagi awda tentang ‘Satu Kampung, Satu Produk’ dari pilihan dibawah. If you answered ‘Yes’ to Question 13, please tick your 3 (THREE) main sources of information about ‘One Village, One Product’ from the following options. [Select from options]
15. Adakah awda pernah mengalami situasi dimana awda memerlukan maklumat yang berkaitan tentang sesuatu kampung? Contohnya: Maklumat tentang ketua kampung terkini, produk tempatan, sejarah tempatan, dan sebagainya? Have you ever had the need to seek for any village-related information before? For example, searching for details of the current village head, information on local products, local history etc? [Select from options] Jika ‘Ya’, sila nyatakan jenis maklumat yang awda perlukan dan sumber awda bagi maklumat tersebut. If ‘Yes’, please explain what information you were looking for and the source of the information.
16. Jika awda memerlukan bantuan untuk memperolehi apa saja jenis maklumat yang berkaitan tentang sesuatu kampung, dimanakah atau siapakah tempat rujukan awda? Contoh situasi: memerlukan maklumat tentang lokasi dan arah tuju kampung, maklumat tentang ketua kampung, dan sebagainya. If you need assistance in looking for any village-related information, where do you/who are you likely to ask? E.g. trying to find out village location and directions or searching for village head contact details etc.
17. Pada pandangan awda, adakah perlu bagi kampung-kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam untuk mempunyai laman web kampung sendiri? Sila nyatakan sebab bagi pandangan awda. Do you think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites? Please give your reasons/opinions.
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18. Pada pandangan awda, adakah ianya penting jika terdapat satu laman web atau portal yang berbentuk ‘one-stop’ yang menghimpunkan semua maklumat tentang kampung-kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam? Sila nyatakan sebab bagi pandangan awda. Do you think it is important to have a ‘one-stop’ website or portal which contains all information about Brunei villages? Please state your reason why.
19. Pada pandangan awda, apakah tajuk-tajuk yang patut terdapat didalam laman web kampung? Sila tandakan TIDAK LEBIH DARI 8 pilihan dibawah: What topics do you think should be included in a village website? Please select NO MORE THAN 8 options from the following: [Select from options]
20. Jika ada sebarang maklumat lain yang awda fikir perlu terdapat di dalam sesebuah laman web kampung, sila nyatakan di ruang bawah. If there is any other information that you think ought to be covered in a village website, please include them below.
21. Apakah awda mempunyai sebarang pandangan yang ingin ditambah mengenai tajuk-tajuk didalam kajiselidik ini? Is there anything else you would like to add about any of the topics covered in this survey?
Terima kasih kerana telah meluangkan masa untuk menjawab soalan-soalan kajiselidik ini. Jika awda ingin memberi maklumat yang lebih tentang jawapan yang telah awda berikan, sila tinggalkan alamat e-mel awda dibawah, dan awda akan dihubungi penyelidik melalui e-mel. Sebarang maklum-balas yang diterima tidak akan diketahui umum. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. If you would be willing to be contacted to further discuss your answers in an email interview, please leave your email address below. Your responses will remain anonymous.
Contact e-mail:______(Jika ingin dihubungi / if you would like to be contacted)
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Appendix 5 -Ethics documentation and outcome
The following six pages were the ethics documentation that was used to apply for ethics clearance for this research project, dated 08/06/2012. The information sheet used to inform prospective participants about the research was included in Appendix 3. The research project was classed as ‘low risk’.
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University Research Ethics Application Form for Undergraduate & Postgraduate-Taught Students
This form has been approved by the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC) Complete this form if you are an undergraduate or a postgraduate-taught student who plans to undertake a research project which requires ethics approval via the University Ethics Review Procedure.
Your Supervisor decides if ethics approval is required and, if required, which ethics review procedure (e.g. University, NHS, Alternative) applies.
If the University’s procedure applies, your Supervisor decides if your proposed project should be classed as ‘low risk’ or potentially ‘high risk’.
*PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR DEPARTMENT MAY USE A VARIATION OF THIS FORM: PLEASE CHECK WITH THE ETHICS ADMINISTRATOR IN YOUR DEPARTMENT* This form should be accompanied, where appropriate, by all Information Sheets / Covering Letters / Written Scripts which you propose to use to inform the prospective participants about the proposed research, and/or by a Consent Form where you need to use one. Further guidance on how to apply is at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/approval-procedure/review-procedure
Guidance on the possible routes for obtaining ethics approval (i.e. on the University Ethics Review Procedure, the NHS procedure and the Social Care Research Ethics Committee, and the Alternative procedure) is at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov- ethics/ethicspolicy/approval-procedure/ethics-approval
Once you have completed this research ethics application form in full, and other documents where appropriate, check that your name, the title of your research project and the date is contained in the footer of each page.
If your Supervisor has classed the project as ‘low risk’:
Email this form, together with other documents where applicable, to your Supervisor; and Sign and date Annex 1 of this form and provide a paper copy to your Supervisor. Important Note for Supervisors: Following the ethics review the Supervisor must provide the academic department’s Ethics Administrator with a copy of the ‘low risk’ research ethics application that s/he reviewed and a completed Ethics Reviewer’s Comments Form indicating the ethics decision that s/he took in relation to it. The Ethics Reviewer’s Comments Form can be downloaded here: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/further- guidance/universityprocedure2/reviewersc The Ethics Administrator reserves the right to consult the Chair of the academic department’s Ethics Review Panel (or equivalent) of s/he has concerns that projects classed as low risk should in fact have been classed as potentially high risk.
If your Supervisor has classed the project as potentially ‘high risk’: Email this form, together with other documents where applicable, to your department’s Ethics Administrator; and Ask your Supervisor to sign and date Annex 2 of this form and provide a paper copy of it to your department’s Ethics Administrator. Ethics Administrators are listed at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.99105!/file/Ethics-Administrators.pdf
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
University Research Ethics Application Form for Undergraduate & Postgraduate-Taught Students
I confirm that I have read the current version of the University of Sheffield ‘Ethics Policy Governing Research Involving Human Participants, Personal / Data and Human Tissue’, as shown on the University’s research ethics website at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy
A1. Title of research project: WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS LOCAL VILLAGE WEBSITES?
A2. Name of Student: HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD Department: INFORMATION SCHOOL Email: [email protected] Tel.: 07552691753
Name of Supervisor: DR ANDREW MADDEN
A3. Proposed Project Duration: Start date: 11/06/2012 End date: 03/09/2012
A4. Mark ‘X’ in one or more of the following boxes if your research: involves adults with mental incapacity or mental illness involves prisoners or others in custodial care (e.g. young offenders) involves children or young people aged under 18 years involves using samples of human biological material collected before for another purpose involves taking new samples of human biological material (e.g. blood, tissue) * involves testing a medicinal product * involves taking new samples of human biological material (e.g. blood, tissue) * involves additional radiation above that required for clinical care * involves investigating a medical device *
* If you have marked boxes marked * then you also need to obtain confirmation that appropriate University insurance is in place. To do this email [email protected] and request a copy of the ‘Clinical Trial Insurance Application Form’.
It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with the University’s Ethics Policy Governing Research Involving Human Participants, Personal Data and Human Tissue before completing the following questions. Please note that if you provide sufficient information about the research (what you intend to do, how it will be carried out and how you intend to minimise any risks), this will help the ethics reviewers to make an informed judgement quickly without having to ask for further details.
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
A5. Briefly summarise:
i. The project’s aims and objectives:
Aim: To investigate the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites.
Objectives:
To investigate whether Bruneians are aware of the existence of these village websites; To investigate whether Bruneians are aware of village-based places of interest and One Village One Product initiative; To investigate how Bruneians search for village-related information; To investigate what are the information needs of Bruneians when it comes to village- related information; To explore the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites.
ii. The project’s methodology:
First phase - A survey which explores aspects of awareness towards village websites, village- based places of interest and ‘One Village One Product’; information-seeking behaviour when it comes to village-related information; information needs and perceptions towards village websites, is distributed to Bruneians personally by the researcher. The questionnaire is paper- based.
Second phase- Respondents who have willingly left their email address in the survey previously are contacted to partake in an email interview. The follow-up interview explores a few emerging trends obtained from the survey results. Questions asked are respondents’ opinions on how to promote the village websites; views on whether it is still relevant for villages to have their own websites considering the low percentage of respondents who said they had sought any village- related information before; and the role and responsibility of the Head of Village as far as conveying useful information about his village to the residents and the public.
A6. What is the potential for physical and/or psychological harm / distress to
participants?
The research only involves respondents’ awareness towards village websites, village-based places of interest and ‘One Village One Product’; how they seek for village-related information such as what their source of information is; their opinions on the sort of information ought to be covered in a village website; and their perceptions towards village websites. It is highly unlikely that it would cause any form of harm or distress.
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
A7. Does your research raise any issues of personal safety for you or other researchers involved in the project? (especially if taking place outside working hours or off University premises)
None detected.
If yes, explain how these issues will be managed.
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A8. How will the potential participants in the project be:
i. Identified?
Since the focus of the dissertation is on perceptions and views of Bruneians towards Bruneian village websites, the target participants are Bruneians residing in Brunei.
ii. Approached?
The participants are approached in person by the researcher. The participants are asked if they are willing to answer the survey, if they are willing then they will be given the paper-copy of the questionnaire.
iii. Recruited?
The participants are approached in person by the researcher. The participants are asked if they are willing to answer the survey, if they are willing then they will be given the paper-copy of the questionnaire.
A9. Will informed consent be obtained from the participants?
YES / NO
If informed consent or consent is NOT to be obtained please explain why. Further guidance is at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/policy- notes/consent
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
A9.1. This question is only applicable if you are planning to obtain informed consent:
How do you plan to obtain informed consent? (i.e. the proposed process?):
First phase- The survey is distributed in paper-copies. Information about the research is provided on the front-most page of the questionnaire. Participants are directed to it and asked to read the information provided carefully. Consent is assumed to be given if the participant chooses to complete the questionnaire after reading the information sheet.
Second phase – It is made clear in the survey previously that if participants were willing to be contacted for further interview (in email), then they could leave their email in the space provided. Consent is assumed to be given if the participant decides to leave their contact email.
10. What measures will be put in place to ensure confidentiality of personal data, where appropriate?
First phase - The questionnaire will be anonymous so confidentially will be guaranteed.
Second phase – The emails left by the respondents would only be used to contact them for the follow-up interview, and it is assured that only the researcher knows about the email details. Participants are also contacted separately i.e. no ‘Cc:’ Bcc:’ are used.
A11. Will financial / in kind payments (other than reasonable expenses and compensation for time) be offered to participants? (Indicate how much and on what basis this has been decided)
No compensation or reward is offered.
A12. Will the research involve the production of recorded media such as audio and/or video recordings?
YES NO /
A12.1. This question is only applicable if you are planning to produce recorded media:
How will you ensure that there is a clear agreement with participants as to how these recorded media may be stored, used and (if appropriate) destroyed?
Not applicable.
Guidance on a range of ethical issues, including safety and well-being, consent and anonymity, confidentiality and data protection’ are available at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/policy-notes
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
Annex 1 For Undergraduate & Postgraduate-Taught Students Student Declaration
(The student completes Annex 1 if the Supervisor has classed the student’s proposed research project as ‘low risk’)
The Supervisor needs to receive an electronic copy of the form, and other documents where appropriate, plus a signed, dated paper copy of this Annex 1 ‘the Student Declaration’.
Full Research Project Title: WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS LOCAL VILLAGE WEBSITES?
In signing this Student Declaration I am confirming that:
The research ethics application form for the above-named project is accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.
The above-named project will abide by the University’s ‘Good Research Practice Standards’: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/good
The above-named project will abide by the University’s ‘Ethics Policy Governing Research Involving Human Participants, Personal Data and Human Tissue’: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy
Subject to the above-named project being ethically approved I undertake to adhere to any ethics conditions that may be set.
I will inform my Supervisor of significant changes to the above-named project that have ethical consequences.
I will inform my Supervisor if prospective participants make a complaint about the above- named project.
I understand that personal data about me as a researcher on the research ethics application form will be held by those involved in the ethics review process (e.g. my Supervisor and the Ethics Administrator) and that this will be managed according to Data Protection Act principles.
I understand that this project cannot be submitted for ethics approval in more than one department, and that if I wish to appeal against the decision made, this must be done through the original department.
Name of Supervisor: DR ANDREW MADDEN
Name of student: HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD
Signature of student:
Date: 08/06/2012
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
Appendix 6- Research Schedule
The research project was proposed to start from 11th June 2012 until 03rd September 2012. The final research proposal was submitted on 18th May 2012 and research ethics was approved on 8th June 2012.
The first phase of the data collection stage began on 11th June 2012 until 30th June 2012, and took place in Brunei. The first week of this period was spent on finalizing the survey questions, conducting the pre-test with pilot participants and then doing the subsequent editing after the pre-test was done. Photocopies of the questionnaire were then made and the real survey was conducted from 18th until 30th June 2012.
Analysis of data obtained from the survey was performed throughout July in Sheffield. Quantitative data obtained was tallied, with percentages calculated and charts created where appropriate. Initial description of findings was then written, and literature review previously written in the final proposal was updated. Based on the findings from the survey, questions to be asked in the follow-up email interview were then decided.
The second phase of the data collection was conducted in August. Participants who had willingly left their contact email in the survey were selected and then contacted for the email interview. The email interview session began after one participant responded the email sent and agreed to do the interview. The interview was conducted asynchronously using Google Docs after mutual agreement between the researcher and the participant from 4th until 8th August 2012. Findings from the interview were then analysed and written.
Other aspects of the write-up such as describing the methodology procedure, rewriting the Introduction and Conclusion were then conducted. Supervisory meetings were held on 22nd March 2012, 11th July 2012 and 20th August 2012. Regular emails were also exchanged throughout May until August to discuss progress.
The dissertation was submitted on 3rd September 2012 on Turnitin.