Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation Internet Research Event Was Informative and Disappointing

 

Access to the Internet is an important topic these days, especially as it influences the education and general quality of life for families that have limited access to the Internet.  About 30 interested people, including myself, were eager to learn about the results of a recent study of Internet access among families in the Dallas Independent School District.  The research symposium, sponsored by the non-partisan Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation (TXHPF), was informative and revealed four key findings:

·        Hispanic families, especially the Spanish speaking segment, struggle with accessing broadband access to the Internet in their homes.

·        The primary reason for this lack of access is that broadband access was too expensive.

·        Also problematic is that families, especially Spanish speakers, lacked awareness of discounted packages to obtain broadband access in their homes.

·        Recommendations were made for broadband providers to launch Spanish-language campaigns to raise awareness of their discounted broadband plans among Hispanic families.

 

The research was conducted under the direction of Dr. Doug Jones, a recognized expert in Latin American studies who did an excellent job of presenting the study results.  A discussion of the study methodology was summarized by one slide at the end of the presentation.  Questions from the audience were then requested by TXHPF Director Jason Villalba.

Aside from interest in the research topic, research professionals such as myself are accustomed to asking questions about the study methodology. In the research courses that I teach, I usually advise students to resist embracing the results of any research study before understanding its methodology and the study limitations – especially in studies of multicultural audiences which often includes various sources of bias. Unfortunately, when it was my turn to ask some questions, Mr. Villalba abruptly interrupted me as I was beginning to introduce myself and praising their efforts by asking:  “Is there a question somewhere here?”  I was surprised by this interruption and offered to postpone my questions and allow other audience members to ask their questions.  Interestingly, Mr. Villalba did not interrupt the questions from other audience members.  I decided to raise my hand again to make a few observations and Mr. Villalba politely listened this time without interruption.

It was an especially disappointing experience to observe such a deliberate effort to mute criticism of such an important study. Indeed, I may have been the only recognized expert in the audience with decades of experience in conducting studies of Latino, Black and Asian audiences and continue to teach such related courses at area universities. Researchers ordinarily welcome feedback from research colleagues and often use the feedback to improve the design of research studies.  Following are some of the methodological concerns and observations that I was attempting to share about the study:

·        Reported levels of broadband access do not necessarily mean that families to not have access to the Internet.  Many obtain Internet access through their wireless devices alone.

·        Access to the Internet, whether through broadband or cell phones, is not the only or most important barrier.  Other research confirms that Hispanics experience navigational issues, anxieties and fears about sharing personal information on the Internet.  

·        It is not surprising that Hispanic response rates were strong to text-oriented efforts to complete a survey.  Pew Research has confirmed the value of cell phones in much of the research that they have conducted in past years.  Our research experience in Texas has shown a similar trend.

·        Telephone interviews, while involving more costs than other modes, is second only to personal interviews in being the most effective mode to obtain in-depth, reliable information from Hispanic and Black persons.  Responses to Census surveys confirms this trend.  Telephone interviews are not prohibitively expensive and lead to higher response rates when coupled with incentives and other modes.

·        Launching a Spanish-language campaign to increase broadband access among Hispanic families is premature and not supported by the research findings.  Hispanics who speak Spanish are not necessarily literate – that is, immigrants have limited education and often cannot read or write in Spanish despite having a speaking ability.  Consequently, different modes of advertisement may be needed.  Also, research did not address the issue of advertising effectiveness – that is, which aspects of the discounted programs offered by the broadband providers were considered undesirable by Hispanic families?

 

These are just a few of the observations that I made from the scant details provided about the study methodology at the event.  I would encourage Mr. Villalba, Director of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, to be more transparent about the methodology of their sponsored research and to encourage, not discourage, questions about all aspects of these studies.  I would also encourage the public to not embrace the results of any research study until they understand the methodology that was used to collect the information --- especially when the target audience includes Blacks, Latinos or Asians.