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Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa

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dc.contributor.author Visser, MM
dc.contributor.author Van Biljon, JA
dc.contributor.author Herselman, Martha E
dc.date.accessioned 2017-07-28T09:03:55Z
dc.date.available 2017-07-28T09:03:55Z
dc.date.issued 2017-03
dc.identifier.citation Visser, M.M., Van Biljon, J.A. and Herselman, M. 2017. Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa. South African Journal of Information Management, vol. 19(1): a751. doi: 10.4102/sajim.v19i1.751 en_US
dc.identifier.issn 1560-683X
dc.identifier.uri http://www.sajim.co.za/index.php/SAJIM/article/view/751
dc.identifier.uri doi: 10.4102/sajim.v19i1.751
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10204/9357
dc.description South African Journal of Information Management, vol. 19(1): a751. DOI: 10.4102/sajim.v19i1.751 en_US
dc.description.abstract Background: Case studies are core constructs used in information management research. A persistent challenge for business, information management and social science researchers is how to select a representative sample of cases among a population with diverse characteristics when convenient or purposive sampling is not considered rigorous enough. The context of the study is post-school education, and it involves an investigation of quantitative methods of clustering the population of public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in South Africa into groups with a similar level of maturity in terms of their information systems. Objectives: The aim of the study was to propose an evidence-based quantitative method for the selection of cases for case study research and to demonstrate the use and usefulness thereof by clustering public TVET colleges. Method: The clustering method was based on the use of a representative characteristic of the context, as a proxy. In this context of management information systems (MISs), website maturity was used as a proxy and website maturity model theory was used in the development of an evaluation questionnaire. The questionnaire was used for capturing data on website characteristics, which was used to determine website maturity. The websites of the 50 public TVET colleges were evaluated by nine evaluators. Multiple statistical techniques were applied to establish inter-rater reliability and to produce clusters of colleges. Results: The analyses revealed three clusters of public TVET colleges based on their website maturity levels. The first cluster includes three colleges with no websites or websites at a low maturity level. The second cluster consists of 30 colleges with websites at an average maturity level. The third cluster contains 17 colleges with websites at a high maturity level. Conclusion: The main contribution to the knowledge domain is an innovative quantitative method employing a characteristic (in this case website maturity) as a proxy for MIS maturity. The method can be applied in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, to group a population and thereby simplify the process of sample selection of cases for further in-depth investigation. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher AOSIS en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Worklist;18718
dc.subject Case study selection en_US
dc.subject Website characteristics en_US
dc.subject TVET College en_US
dc.subject Web maturity model en_US
dc.subject Sample selection en_US
dc.title Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.identifier.apacitation Visser, M., Van Biljon, J., & Herselman, M. E. (2017). Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/9357 en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitation Visser, MM, JA Van Biljon, and Martha E Herselman "Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa." (2017) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/9357 en_ZA
dc.identifier.vancouvercitation Visser M, Van Biljon J, Herselman ME. Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa. 2017; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/9357. en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Article AU - Visser, MM AU - Van Biljon, JA AU - Herselman, Martha E AB - Background: Case studies are core constructs used in information management research. A persistent challenge for business, information management and social science researchers is how to select a representative sample of cases among a population with diverse characteristics when convenient or purposive sampling is not considered rigorous enough. The context of the study is post-school education, and it involves an investigation of quantitative methods of clustering the population of public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in South Africa into groups with a similar level of maturity in terms of their information systems. Objectives: The aim of the study was to propose an evidence-based quantitative method for the selection of cases for case study research and to demonstrate the use and usefulness thereof by clustering public TVET colleges. Method: The clustering method was based on the use of a representative characteristic of the context, as a proxy. In this context of management information systems (MISs), website maturity was used as a proxy and website maturity model theory was used in the development of an evaluation questionnaire. The questionnaire was used for capturing data on website characteristics, which was used to determine website maturity. The websites of the 50 public TVET colleges were evaluated by nine evaluators. Multiple statistical techniques were applied to establish inter-rater reliability and to produce clusters of colleges. Results: The analyses revealed three clusters of public TVET colleges based on their website maturity levels. The first cluster includes three colleges with no websites or websites at a low maturity level. The second cluster consists of 30 colleges with websites at an average maturity level. The third cluster contains 17 colleges with websites at a high maturity level. Conclusion: The main contribution to the knowledge domain is an innovative quantitative method employing a characteristic (in this case website maturity) as a proxy for MIS maturity. The method can be applied in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, to group a population and thereby simplify the process of sample selection of cases for further in-depth investigation. DA - 2017-03 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Case study selection KW - Website characteristics KW - TVET College KW - Web maturity model KW - Sample selection LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2017 SM - 1560-683X T1 - Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa TI - Evidence based case selection: An innovative knowledge management method to cluster public technical and vocational education and training colleges in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/9357 ER - en_ZA


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