Strengths and Weaknesses of Research Methods for Assessing Affordances

• In Event: An Affordance Framework for Communication Research: Theoretical, Contextual, and Methodological Considerations

Abstract

An affordances perspective is a valuable approach for studying how people interact with technology, and the role of technology in organizations more specifically. However, one potential critique of the study of affordances is that affordances can reflect the idiosyncratic nature of social constructions of technology, such as the way individuals may perceive their goals in relation to technologies in different ways. This means that making theory more generalizable across contexts and levels of analysis is challenging. The rapidly growing body of research on affordances in an organizational context has not satisfactorily addressed how an affordances perspective can be used to move beyond micro-level relational dynamics to group, organization, or population levels. Previous empirical research presents some helpful examples and ideas for better assessing the tension between affordances theory and practice. Thus far, the most prominent empirical approaches to the study of affordances in an organizational context include research based primarily in ethnographic and network traditions. This paper seeks to analyze how these empirical approaches are contributing to our understanding of the inherent tension between context-dependent, micro-level observations and theory development. This paper further examines the possible strengths and weaknesses of empirical methods that are so far under-utilized in the study of affordances. For example, can a survey be employed to assess perceptions of affordances across an organization, or must a study of affordances remain situated in the micro-level? Are there alternative mechanisms for studying how the micro-level affordances phenomena scale up to an organizational level? This analysis of empirical approaches can help us better address the question of the utility of this complex theoretical perspective.

Author

• Sandra K. Evans, Cal Poly Pomona