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including NIH, Department of Defense (DOD), and National Library of Medicine
(NLM).
8.7.1 Exploratory Research Questions and Study Findings
With respect to the framework discussed earlier, the Web site component of
CHESS represents the repository model and the online discussion board com-
ponent of CHESS represents the network model of knowledge management. To
better understand the pattern of usage of these two IT-based facilities, we for-
mulated a set of exploratory research questions. These questions do not directly
relate to the propositions discussed earlier; however, they provide some prelim-
inary evidence on how consumers use these facilities, and thereby, throw some
light on the role of IT in consumer-driven service innovation. We examined three
issues:
a) Does the time spent by consumers in the online discussion board and in the
website differs?
b) Do the time spent in the online discussion board and in the website vary with
the user's cancer stage? What are the demographic (and other patient-specific)
factors that moderate the above relationship?
In formulating these questions, we were limited by the type of information
that was available for analysis. We used log data related to the usage by the sub-
jects who were given access to both breast cancer website as well as discussion
boards. The subjects were all women who were diagnosed with breast cancer
and were at varying stages of cancer ( n
394). The log statistics for the first
16 weeks were collected on an individual keystroke level as the participants used the
system.
The key variables are the extent of website usage and discussion board usage.
These variables are operationalized as total time spent (in minutes). The data was
analyzed using paired sample t tests to see if there was any significant difference
between the total time spent on the website and the total time spent on the online
discussion board. An independent sample test was also conducted to see if time
spent in website versus discussion boards varied with cancer stage (75% of the par-
ticipants had early stage and 25% of participants had late stage). Mean age of the
participants was 51 years; 73% were Caucasians; 25.1% were African Americans,
and 1.9% other minorities.
The results from the paired sample t tests showed that there was statistically
significant differences between the usage of the website and that of the discus-
sion board ( t
=
-7.025; p < 0.001) (see also Figs. 8.2 and 8.3). The stage of breast
cancer however was not found to have any moderating effect, although a signifi-
cantly higher amount of time was spent by early stage breast cancer patients on the
website and the discussion boards, compared to late stage breast cancer patients.
=
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