Thesis
The structure of email use: a protocol analysis to evaluate the recursive nature of email and email users
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101954
Abstract
As a central communication medium used in the workplace, it is important to understand the way email communication is used in the work environment. This study uses structuration theory to evaluate email users and the structure of email communication to gain better understanding to the social practice and how it will evolve moving forward. Specifically, aiming to know three things about email communication, (1) the ways email is used as a resource in the workplace; (2) what patterns of practice emerge; and (3) what structures guide individual email use. Using protocol analysis to address cognitive decisions behind email use, the researcher used tangible email examples to guide the interviews. Questions focused on social norms, routines and practical knowledge each participant attributed to their individual email use. The resulting transcriptions were analyzed to find reoccurring themes or threads across all the participant responses to show the most influential factors for the system and structure of email communication. The themes suggest that email communication comes with specific rules and norms associated with the medium as a unique resource in the workplace. In practice, we learned that email communication is largely driven by a user's relationship with the email recipient, their own image and how much time they spend communicating for each email message. These understandings provide a broad understanding of underlying structures for email use, demonstrating how email is used and will evolve. This paves the way for future studies as email use continues to grow and provides awareness for how to effectively use email communication in the workplace.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- The structure of email use
- Creators
- Cara Michelle Gish
- Contributors
- Todd Norton (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525100701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis