Chapter 2 Literature Review
3.1 Method Introduction
3.1.1 Content Analysis
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3.1.1 Content Analysis
Content analysis is “the study of recorded human communication, such as
books, websites, paintings, and laws (Babbie, 2014 p. 323). A further definition states that
“content analysis is an empirical (observational) and objective procedure for quantifying recorded ‘audio-visual’ (including verbal) representation using reliable, explicitly defined categories (‘values’ on independent ‘variables’) (Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2013, pp. 13).
Additionally, visual content analysis “allows quantification of samples of observable content classified into distinct categories (Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2013, pp. 14)
This content analysis answered RQ2 by measuring the frequencies of how often information, community, and action posts were posted. The data was sampled from PPSA and PPSE’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The reasons these platforms were chosen is they are the main platforms both organizations use. YouTube was also used, but since the Youtube videos were posted infrequently and they were shared via Facebook and Twitter, I did not find it relevant to this study. Instead of analyzing YouTube as a platform in itself, I observed how its links were shared on other social media channels.
The time period of collection was from November 2016-April 2017, and these specific dates were chosen for few reasons. The first is because November- February is the high season for tourism, as March-May are the hottest months followed by the monsoons from June-October.
I also chose this time frame, as my internship with Phare coincided during this time period (January-February 2017); therefore I was most familiar with the social media strategy and communications initiatives during this time. Furthermore, during 2016-2017, PPSA in particular made greater efforts towards improving their social media presence and this time frame was once
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they had their social media guidelines established. Finally, six months was chosen as the length of time, because the social media strategy is overall consistent, and six months was enough time to observe particular patterns.
3.1.2 Ethnography –Participant Observation and Digital Ethnography
The second method of this study was ethnographic observation, and more specifically participant observation and digital ethnography. Ethnography in the traditional sense is an investigation of social life with a focus on detailed and accurate descriptions instead of
explanations (Babbie, 2014). Ethnography has many terminologies and directions such as street ethnography, urban ethnography, organizational ethnography, medical ethnography, analytic ethnography, and so on. However, a basic definition to describe the broad definition of ethnography is that the practice puts the researcher in the center of whatever is being studied allowing researchers to investigate phenomena as perceived by members (Berg & Lune, 2014). I was in the center of this study, because from January 2017-Februay 2017 I spent six weeks working for PPSA helping them incorporate a better social media strategy. During my time at the organization, I took photographs of the daily campus activities and helped the organization to write social media stories across all of their digital channels. Furthermore, I returned to Cambodia for three weeks in February 2018 to continue as an observer and volunteer at both PPSA and PPSE.
Ethnography, as a comprehensive approach to cultures and societies can substantially contribute to the study of digital environments and cultures (Varis, 2016). A good ethnography thus effectively tells a social story while drawing the readers into the daily lives of the
respondents (Murthy, 2008). My goal with this research was ultimately to thoroughly explain first why social media was adopted, and then to tell the story of how a strategy was developed
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with the purpose of promoting PPSA and PPSE as sustainable tourist destinations as well as promoting Cambodian arts and preserving intangible heritages.
As the Internet has become a pervasive facet of everyday life, researchers have started to investigate online practices and communications as well as offline practices shaped by
digitalization. As new technologies have emerged, the stories told have remained evocative, but the ways they are told has changed (Murthy, 2008.) Online communications and digitalization has presented researches with unparalleled opportunities for examining and accessing
communicative repertoires (Varis, 2016). Digital ethnography has the capacity to capture the forms and essence of communicative practices. Digital ethnography has its foundation in traditional ethnography as it is meant to provide detailed and situated accounts of the reality of people. Ethnographers are easily able to use the Internet to collect and sort information (Varis, 2016). Observations in online ethnography are based on communications within networks, particular looking at social interactions and relations occurring in cyber space (Berg & Lune, 2014).
Social media is a particular research site where texts, images, and connections between entities are accessed. Many researchers use a statistical approach to process the texts on social media sites; however these quantitative methods fail to answer how, why, and with what consequences occur when an organization uses social media. Social media is a distinct type of research site filled with connections and texts between individuals. Though statistical data can be gathered from social media through content analysis, this type of data is not as useful for
answering explanatory questions that answer how and why something occurs. Ultimately, using an ethnographic approach for analyzing social media allows the fieldwork environment to be social, mobile, and experimental (Postill & Pink, 2012). Social networking sites are practical for
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digital ethnographers for a variety of reasons. First social media is a “virtual gatekeeper with chains of friends who are potential research respondents (Varis, 2016, pp. 845). Second, it contains an extensive amount of multimedia material from even marginal social groups or movements. And finally, social media allows ethnographers to be invisible when observing social interactions (Varis 2016).
This research used digital ethnography to provide an analysis of the social media platforms used by PPSA and PPSE, addressing RQ3. PPSA and PPSE’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were analyzed for particular themes such as sustainability, intangible heritage, and Cambodian arts. Ultimately, my goal was to go beyond just what the organization was conveying on the channels, but also to convey why they feel it is significant. Therefore, further interview questions addressed some of the findings observed during the digital ethnography data
collection. Because of my experience working at PPSA, I knew that marketing the circus as a sustainable tourist destination was one of the goals, however I also wanted to explore more deeply how intangible heritages were presented as well as how social media was used to educate the public about Cambodian arts.
3.1.3 Qualitative Interviews
The third data collection method was qualitative interviews. A qualitative interview “is based on a set of topics to be discussed in depth rather than based on the use of standardized questions (Babbie, 2014). Essentially, a qualitative interview is a conversation where the interviewer elicits information from the respondent about a predetermined topic.
During the month of February 2018,I conducted one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with the staff of the communications and marketing departments at PPSA and PPSE as well as the founding members of the organization. I also emailed the interviewees for follow-up
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questions during the month of March 2018. The data collected through this process was
primarily used to address RQ1, but also questions were asked to provide supplementary data for RQ2 and RQ3. In total eight participants were interviewed detailed in Table 1.
Table 1
P2 M 35 Chief Executive Officer (PPSE) January 2013-present
P3 F 29 Marketing Manager (PPSE) September 2016-
present
P4 F 31 Communications Coordinator (PPSA) September
2017-present
Applied Arts School. In charge of students affairs and job facilitation (PPSA)
1994- present
P8 M 54 Founder and Deputy Director of the Visual and
Applied Arts School. In charge of Pedagogy and Academics (PPSA)
1994- present
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The interviews were recorded using a phone with the consent of the respondents. All interviews were done in person, on site with a semi-structured format. Afterwards, the interviews were transcribed for further analysis. The interviews were conducted in English. Two of the interviewees were American citizens with native English speaking abilities, one was French, and the other five were Khmer.
The questions were devised based on models presented by Berton et al. (2012), Nah and Saxton (2013), and Macnamera and Zerfass (2012). These questions are listed in Appendix 1.
Berton et al. (2012) stated, different regions of the world adopt different social media platforms based on what is popular, so I began the interview with questions about why Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook were selected as the primary social media tools. Next I used Nah and Saxton’s (2013) study as a model for explaining why PPSA and PPSE have chosen to adopt social media.
From this model questions were developed about strategy, capacity, governance, and environment.
Further questions were then developed to inquire about the perceptions of using social media for sustainable efforts, preserving intangible heritage, and promoting Cambodian arts.
Furthermore, I was granted access to have interviews with three founding members who were refugees along the Thai border during the Khmer Rouge. These founders were able to provide riveting accounts of what arts mean to Cambodian people as well as their own perceptions of how they feel towards the world being exposed to Cambodian arts via social media channel.
These founders’ insights were incredibly valuable in providing context and understanding to Cambodian values and culture.
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All participants in this study were given a consent form to ensure that this research was done ethically and consistently with criteria set forth from National Chengchi University. The consent form for the respondents can be found in Appendix 2.
3.2 Data Analysis
This study used qualitative analysis to examine the findings from the data collected.
According to Babbie (2014 pp. 382), qualitative analysis is the “nonnumerical examination and interpretation of observations, for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns or relationship.” Using new media technologies to conduct social research is able to generate vast volumes of qualitative data. When using a qualitative approach the emphasis for the data analysis is to provide an in depth account of the phenomena being studied. (Rambaree & Faxelid, 2013). In ethnographic research it is essential to preserve the rich textual detail of the data, therefore Berg and Lune (2014) presented two effective ways to analyze ethnographic data:
inductive content analysis and ethnographic narrative accounts.
For the ethnographic narrative account, I used thematic analysis. In thematic analysis, researchers aim to “identify themes that either emerge from the data or are linked with an appropriately identified theoretical framework for describing certain observed phenomena.
Within thematic analysis patterns or themes in the data are identified, analyzed, and reported (Rambaree & Faxelid, 2013 pp. 175).” Researchers should go beyond just merely identifying the themes by also providing rich logical explanations. Ultimately, the researcher must answer how to decide which themes are central and worth of an in depth interpretation. To achieve this the researcher examines the linkages between themes and then relates these principal themes and patterns to the research question while also providing thorough explanation. The process of thematic analysis is summarized in Figure 8.
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Figure 8. The Process of Thematic Analysis
3.2.1 Coding Schema
The coding schema from Lovejoy and Saxton’s (2012) was used for the content analysis to measure the frequencies of information, community, and action posts. The operational
definitions of the coding scheme are found below in Table 2. No new codes emerged during the analysis.
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Table 2
Operational Definitions of Coding Schemes for NGO Use of Social Media Code Operational Definition
Information One-way interactions involving the exchange of information from the organization to the public. The sole purpose of this type of post is to inform. These type of posts could be the organization's activities, highlights from events, news, facts, reports, stakeholder information, and links to other websites
Community Posts that prompt an interaction with the public by acknowledging the community.
These types of posts include thank you and acknowledgement to community members, responses to public reply messages using an @ symbol (i.e. @Redcross), and response solicitation from stakeholders (polls, surveys, contests, direct questions to followers, requests to share or retweet. Also invitations to events being held by other organizations or in the local community.
Action
Posts that prompt individuals to do something. This can include donating money, buying a product, attending events, engaging in advocacy campaigns, event postings (if they include date, time, and price), calling for volunteers or employees, lobbying or advocacy, joining another site or organization, and 'learn how to help' posts (Lovejoy and Saxton). Other Codes that emerged- "Read more posts that lead to a blog with donations being prompted in the end). Also included are invitations to free events on site.
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The coding schema from Nah and Saxton’s (2013) study was used to determine the reasons for adoption of social media by an NGO. The codes provided from this study were strategy, capacity, governance, and environment. Community engagement emerged as a new code, and transparency appeared as a subcode of strategy. The operational definitions are listed in Table 3.
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Operational Definitions of Coding Schemes for NGO Adoption of Social Media
Code Operational Definition
Strategy Strategy is about the fulfillment of a social mission. There are three strategic approaches for mission fulfillment: fundraising, lobbying, and market-based. This means that social media is adopted to focus on donors, to promote public policy, or to generate revenue through grants or donations.
Capacity There are three capacity related factors for NGO social media adoption:
organizational size, website age, and website reach.
Governance Governance deals with internal members influence on the adoption of social media. Membership based organizations, organizations with large board
membership, and organizations with active stake holders are more likely to adopt social media.
Environment Environment deals with the external factors such as donor dependence and government dependence. Organizations who rely on donors and government support are more likely to adopt social media.
Community Engagement
NGOs may adopt social media to provide a platform for the community to have discussions. Also, organizations may adopt social media to participate and engage with other organizations and in return to join a network of support. Community engagement involves cross tagging other organizations and sharing content from outside of what is produced internally. It also involves posting questions or content that provoke response from the audience.
Transparency Transparency is about showing the day-to-day operations and news from the organization. In this case Social media is adopted as a means of transmitting information to the public about the NGOs operations.
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3.3 Research Location
This study was conducted in Taipei, Taiwan, Battambang, Cambodia, and Siem Reap, Cambodia. The researcher for this study currently resides and studies in Taipei, so the literature review and data analysis were done in Taipei. Interviews, ethnographic observation, and the first stages of thematic analysis were done in both Battambang and Siem Reap, Cambodia. A map of Cambodia is featured in Figure 9.
The art school, circus training, and PPSA headquarters are located in Battambang, while PPSE is located in Siem, Reap. This researcher examined activities in both Siem Reap and Battambang in order to achieve a complete analysis of this organization.
Figure 9. Map of Cambodia
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Chapter 4 Results
In this chapter the key findings are elaborated and explained in detail. It was found that community engagement and organizational transparency are additional and significant factors towards why social media was adopted. These factors for adoption were actually more relevant than strategy, capacity, environment, and governance, which were proposed as motivators for social media adoption in previous studies. In terms of social media use, this study was similar to what Nah and Saxton (2013) proposed as most posts were informational rather than posts that encourage community engagement or make calls to actions. However the interviewees indicated that both PPSA and PPSE are pushing for more community engagement posts for their future strategy in order to to adjust to Facebook’s changing algorithms and to grow more followers on Instagram and Twitter. In the final section of the findings, I have presented how PPSA and PPSE use social media channels to celebrate Cambodian arts and how they discuss and share about intangible heritage. In Cambodia the information that appears on social media has value to the public, because it is a crucial source of information, as the media is state-owned. Thus,
Cambodian people are able to learn about and celebrate Khmer art when engaging with PPSA and PPSE’s social media channels.
4.1 Adoption of Social Media
Nah and Saxton’s (2013) study was used to investigate how strategy, capacity,
governance, and environment had an impact in PPSA and PPSE’s reasons to adopt and use social
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media platforms. During the interviews it was discovered that two other codes emerged impacting social media adoption, community engagement and transparency.
4.1.1 Strategy
The ultimate goal of an organization, whether it be a nonprofit or a social enterprise is the fulfillment of a social mission. Both PPSA and PPSE strive to improve the lives of local
Cambodians through arts education, social support, and professional development. When I conducted the interviews with the staff at PPSA in Battambang, they described their social mission as follows:
It is changing lives through the arts. It doesn’t only mean helping for children, or just promoting arts in Cambodia. It’s changing, everyone’s life. If you practice arts your life will change in a good way. Especially for women and young people are the future of Cambodia. (P4 February 13, 2018)
The central mission was promoting the rebirth of Cambodian art. Though this has been around since 1986 and Cambodian art has been very much reborn, but maybe not everywhere around the country . . . From management all the way down is run by local Cambodians and they are making art because they love it and feel it is an important part of their culture. (P5 February 10, 2018).
On the other hand, PPSE’s social mission is slightly different, because as a social enterprise, their aim is to make a profit, which in turn allows them to provide social benefits to the local community. PPSE’s social mission is thus to “support the artists that graduated from Phare Ponleu Selpak. And those people, after they graduate they come to Siem Reap to perform to be a professional artist. (P3 February 9, 2018).”
In terms of fulfilling the social mission, interviewees from both PPSA and PPSE said that social media went hand-in-hand with the social mission because most of the postings are made with the intention to celebrate the achievements and history of Cambodian art. Interviewee P6 explained how social media is incredibly important for a small country like Cambodia, because
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through social media channels the public, whether it be locally or internationally can learn more about what is going on Cambodia. More specifically, “people can also understand and know about the arts, especially for the circus at PPSA, social media can promote it and let people abroad know what we [PPSA] are doing here (P6 February 13, 2018).” P6 mentioned that this is very important because when people know about the incredible circus show and arts coming from PPSA and PPSE they can then share this information on their own social media which spreads the information even further. Finally P6 further explained that with more knowledge of PPSA due to social media, they can hopefully find more donors and other artists to come visit to work on collaboration projects.
The second component of strategy that Nah and Saxton (2013) proposed was that lobbying and advocacy plays a central role in the decision to adopt social media. This could be
The second component of strategy that Nah and Saxton (2013) proposed was that lobbying and advocacy plays a central role in the decision to adopt social media. This could be