Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Minna Isomursu and Marja Harjumaa
especially difficult problem in research projects that involved repeating field trials in several countries,
and for the sake of comparability across trials quantitative questions were preferred.
4.2.4 Challenges of methods based on group activity
As many ageing have decreased hearing ability, group situations (e.g. focus groups) were sometimes
challenging, as the participants had difficulty in following each others. Also, some researchers had
observed that group situations did not encourage participants to express and discuss their personal
age-related deficiencies.
However, group-based methods were also found to be suitable, for example, in observing and
collecting data about experiences of the primary user of the service, i.e. the older user, and his or her
close ones. For example, group interviews or discussions where the spouse and grown-up children of
the older user were present often turned out to be very rich in detail. The presence of familiar persons
stimulated discussions and insight that would have been difficult to evoke by a researcher who was a
stranger for the user.
4.2.5 Informed consent process
Almost without exceptions, the researchers have found out that describing the research details
necessary for signing an informed consent has required explaining the research details verbally and
discussion with the user. This was clearly necessary in cases where blind or vision impaired users
were involved. However, also with other older users verbal discussion was usually a preferred method
over written descriptions of research conditions. In some cases, a written description of the details of
the research was presented to the users, but the researchers and nursing professionals involved in
user recruitment noticed that the long, detailed written informed consent scared some users away,
and made them to refuse to take part in the research.
4.2.6 Sensitivity towards the changing conditions
It was not unusual that researchers had to change plans if the situation was not opportune for a
meeting scheduled for an interview or other data collection meeting. As an example, if the participants
were tired, their family members were not present, or participants seemed unsecure or unwilling to
participate, the meeting had to be rescheduled or cancelled. Sometimes, the participants became too
tired to continue, and the interview was stopped and continued later. This requires sensitivity and
constant evaluation of the situation by the researcher.
4.2.7 Integrating the service into everyday life of the ageing user
The successful field trial requires that the users genuinely adopt the service into their everyday lives.
In many field trials, we observed that the users did not really adopt the service and use it in their
normal lives, but rather “tested” the technology as a separate object that had no role in their own lives.
One field trial, the one dealing with the meal ordering service, was a clear exception. All users
adopted it and used it in their daily lives. Also, none of the users dropped out during the trial. One
explaining factor might be that the service interface was clearly integrated into a more comprehensive
service chain with other actors, i.e. the meal delivery kitchen and logistical process of delivering
meals. Therefore, the users might have been better aware of the impact on their action on other
people, and therefore complied with expected usage pattern. The compliance was much lower in field
trials where the service use was solitary, i.e. it did not trigger any actions on other people or other
actors in the service chain.
5. Discussion
The researchers had concerns considering the sampling of users. They thought that older people who
voluntarily participate in user studies generally have more positive attitudes toward technology than
most old users. In some cases, the participants may participate because of the social interaction it
provides them, which might have an effect on the results. The latter has also been recognised in
Kayser-Jones and Koenig (1994) referenced by Eisma et al. (2004).
Creating true value with ICT based services for older users was experienced difficult. The researchers
expressed difficulties in fully understanding what was valued by older users, and what was important
in their everyday lives. Earlier research has pointed out that many new technologies are often also
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