Strategies for Increasing the Conceptual Yield of New Technologies Research

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1. This paper is in many ways a continuation of Sawhney and Sandvig (2006), which was first written as a framing paper for the Wireless Communication Workshop hosted by the Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, in August, 2004. While the general theme is similar, there is little overlap between Sawhney and Sandvig and the current paper in terms of materials offered for thought.

2. Both diffusion studies and mobile research are convenient examples for the present critique, which also applies, with varying degrees, to other works based on other theories and on other technologies.

3. I would like to thank Mark Deuze for suggesting the use of the network approach over a lunch conversation.

4. See Sawhney (2004) for another example where I start with a comparative study of the clock and the computer and end up with a generalized model that is independent of any particular technology.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Harmeet Sawhney

Harmeet Sawhney (PhD, University of Texas-Austin) is a professor of telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington