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Manipulating Affordances in Practice: a Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of Mobility Impairment and Uses of Digital Technologies in Work

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Manipulating Affordances in Practice: a Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of Mobility Impairment and Uses of Digital Technologies in Work Manipulating affordances in practice: A hermeneutic phenomenological study of mobility impairment and uses of digital technologies in work Ruth Shirley Topol, B.Com (Hons), MA (Dist) September, 2016 This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK. Manipulating affordances in practice: A hermeneutic phenomenological study of mobility impairment and uses of digital technologies in work Ruth Shirley Topol, B.Com (Hons), MA (Dist) This thesis results entirely from my own work and has not been offered previously for any other degree or diploma. Signature : R. Topol i Ruth Shirley Topol, B.Com (Hons), MA (Dist) Manipulating affordances in practice: A hermeneutic phenomenological study of mobility impairment and uses of digital technologies in work Doctor of Philosophy, September, 2016 ABSTRACT This qualitative, interpretive study uses a triad of theoretical lenses - affordance theory, hermeneutic phenomenology and the social barriers model of disability - through which to gain an understanding of how people with mobility impairments use digital technologies in their work practices. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology is used to reveal the phenomena, then to interpret the subsequent text through understandings of accessibility and use-potential which derive from the social barriers model and from affordance theory respectively. The significance of the study for policy, practice and research is a better understanding of how mobility impairment impacts workers who have historically and currently, been and remain, un- and under- employed. Eleven participants, all with mobility impairments, some self-employed and others employed, but all white-collar professionals or management-level ‘knowledge workers’, constitute the purposive sample used in the study. The participants all work in a variety of configurations of ‘flexible work arrangements’. What was found was that the primacy of space, place and the objects and technologies in that space has heightened significance for people with mobility impairments. When confronted with negative affordances which amount to potential or actual barriers to access and participation in workplaces, people consciously set about finding specific, unique and personal solutions in order to participate. What they learn, through metacognitive processes and in response to potential or actual barriers, is how to manipulate negative and non-affordances of space, place and technologies into positive affordances, by doing things differently, by doing things better, or by doing different things, in order to participate in work practices. ii Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1.1 OVERVIEW OF THIS CHAPTER .................................................................... 1 1.1.1 The work environment for disabled people ................................................... 1 1.1.2 My curiosity ................................................................................................... 4 1.1.3 The ‘hyphenated’ worker - flexible work arrangements and self- employment............................................................................................................. 7 1.2 RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................................................ 9 1.2.1 Summary of the research design .................................................................... 9 1.2.2 Sample.......................................................................................................... 10 1.2.3 Use of theory ................................................................................................ 11 1.2.4 Defining terms ............................................................................................. 12 1.2.5 The gap......................................................................................................... 13 1.2.6 Research questions ....................................................................................... 14 1.3 RATIONALE .................................................................................................... 15 1.3.1 Spatiality, mobility and inclusion ................................................................ 15 1.3.2 Practical use of research ............................................................................... 16 1.3.3 Employment ................................................................................................. 16 1.3.4 Contribution ................................................................................................. 17 1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ...................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 19 2.1 OVERVIEW OF THIS CHAPTER .................................................................. 19 2.1.1 Structure of the chapter ................................................................................ 19 2.1.2 Consequences of making selections............................................................. 19 2.1.3 Keeping up-to-date....................................................................................... 20 2.1.4 Academic publishers - alerts by email ......................................................... 20 2.1.5 Managing the incoming literature ................................................................ 21 2.1.6 Choices of prior research and theory ........................................................... 22 2.1.7 Taken-for-granted assumptions in theory .................................................... 24 2.2. DISABILITY AND BEING-IN-THE-WORLD .............................................. 25 2.2.1 Disability theory: The social barriers model ................................................ 25 2.2.2 Taken-for-granted phenomenological understanding of disability .............. 27 2.2.3 Disabled management-level employees ....................................................... 28 iii 2.2.4 Disabled self-employed workers.................................................................. 29 2.2.5 Wheelchair-users.......................................................................................... 31 2.3 AFFORDANCES OF SPACE, PLACE AND OBJECTS IN PRACTICE ....... 34 2.3.1 Affordance theory ........................................................................................ 34 2.3.2 Information and affordances, learned in practice ........................................ 38 2.3.3 Information and affordances, used in practice ............................................. 40 2.3.4. Affordances, identity and learning .............................................................. 43 2.3.5 Looking for the learning in workplaces ....................................................... 44 2.4 PHENOMENOLOGICAL SPACE, PLACE AND EQUIPMENT .................. 46 2.4.1 Heideggerian theory and the broken hammer .............................................. 46 2.4.2 Space and disability ..................................................................................... 47 2.4.3 Place and work ............................................................................................. 49 2.4.4 Flexible work arrangements as spatiality ..................................................... 50 2.5 GAP FOR THIS STUDY .................................................................................. 51 2.5.1 Research questions ....................................................................................... 53 2.6 SUMMARY AND NEXT CHAPTER .............................................................. 54 CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 55 3.1 OVERVIEW OF THIS CHAPTER .................................................................. 55 3.1.1 Planning for rigour ....................................................................................... 55 3.1.2 Rigour and interpretation ............................................................................. 56 3.1.3 Research questions vis-à-vis methodology .................................................. 58 3.2 CHOICE OF METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 59 3.2.1 Alternative strategies ................................................................................... 59 3.2.2 Hermeneutic phenomenology as a research methodology........................... 63 3.2.3 Criticism of phenomenological strategies .................................................... 65 3.3 ALIGNING THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS FOR EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION .................................................................................................. 67 3.3.1 Making hermeneutic phenomenology researchable..................................... 69 3.3.2 Making disability researchable .................................................................... 70 3.3.3 Making affordance theory researchable ....................................................... 70 3.4 PARTICIPANT SELECTION STRATEGY .................................................... 71 3.4.1 Recruitment of
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