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Dissertation Information for Donald O. Case

NAME:
- Donald O. Case
- (Alias) Donald Owen Case

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Communication

SCHOOL:
- Stanford University (USA) (1984)

ADVISORS:
- William Paisley

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: PERSONAL COMPUTERS: THEIR ADOPTION AND USE IN INFORMATION WORK BY PROFESSORS

Abstract: The rapid adoption of personal computers among scholars provided an opportunity to study both the mechanisms of scholarship and the role of this innovation within them. Sixty Stanford University professors from 32 different departments were surveyed over two points in time about their use of microcomputers in research and writing and about their scholarly methods.

The study found that faculty acquired microcomputers in order to share in potential benefits and to keep up with the times. University incentive programs, while pivotal in encouraging purchase at a certain point in time, were not the primary reason for acquisition. Word processing was the predominant use for the personal computer, followed distantly by original programming and use as a terminal to other computers. Over the five months of the study use as a terminal increased significantly, reflecting an increased awareness of the computer as a communication device. Use of the microcomputer for statistical calculation also increased markedly. Most other uses (e.g., for data base management) increased only slightly between the two surveys.

Younger scholars (and junior faculty) tended to be heavier users of their microcomputers than older faculty. Professors reported increases in both quantity and quality (in that order) of writing. Those who composed their first drafts in longhand reported fewer improvements in the quantity and quality of their writing than did those who composed on the keyboard. Faculty who reported revising more than they used to also reported more improvements in the quantity and quality of their writing. Generally, the longer faculty had used a computer in their writing, the more likely they were to report benefits.

Faculty planned a variety of future uses for their computers, many of which involved text-oriented data bases. Special research applications of the computer illustrated the way that it influences scholarly methods. In Particular, the use of the computer to store and organize scholarly notes is blurring the traditional distinctions between knowledge and data.

MPACT Scores for Donald O. Case

A = 6
C = 6
A+C = 12
T = 6
G = 1
W = 6
TD = 6
TA = 0
calculated 2017-05-10 17:01:38

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