WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS VILLAGE WEBSITES? A study submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in Information Systems At THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD By HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD September 2012
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WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS VILLAGE WEBSITES?
A study submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in Information Systems
At
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
By
HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD
September 2012
ii
Abstract
Background- Village websites are, in essence an information service provided by the
village. In Brunei, not much emphasis however has been placed on village websites as
an information resource despite their existence. This leads to questions on how aware
are Bruneians of these websites, and how do Bruneians normally search for any village-
related information.
Aims - The study aims to explore the situation of village websites in Brunei and of
perceptions towards the websites.
Methods- A two-phased sequential mixed methods research strategy was used. The first
phase involved a paper-based survey distributed to a number of Bruneians to explore
aspects of awareness towards village websites, information behaviour when seeking
village-related information and perceptions towards village websites. The second phase
involved an interview via Google Docs to explore some emerging questions from the
survey findings. Priority was placed on the findings from the survey.
Results- Awareness toward village websites was generally low. Respondents used a
mixture of sources when searching for village-related information e.g. mass media,
friends, family and acquaintances. Village-related information sought included local
history, information about the Head of Village, village products, activities, population
and places of interests in the village. Respondents were also likely to consult people
over using online sources or other reference materials when seeking village-related
information, although ‘people’ varied between social interaction with friends, family or
acquaintances and interaction with appointed roles such as Head of Village.
Respondents generally thought positively of Bruneian villages having their own
websites and some had used the websites to find information about village products,
current village news and activities.
Conclusion- The study showed that exchange of village-related information was more of
a synchronous, social behaviour in Brunei. Providing information on village websites
seems to contradict the aforementioned nature of exchanging village-related
information. It is suggested that emphasis could perhaps be placed on promoting the
variety of available sources relating to village information to users, be it of the people-
variety or mass media such as village websites.
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Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ ii
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ v
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. vi
Appendix 5 -Ethics documentation and outcome ............................................................................... 67
Appendix 6- Research Schedule .......................................................................................................... 71
v
List of Figures
Figure 1-1 Website of Beringin village, Malaysia p.1
Figure 1-2 Website of Long Melford village, UK p.2
Figure 1-3 Website of Wang Kelian village, Malaysia (USP programme) p.3
Figure 1-4 Website of Boksaggot village, Korea (INVIL) p.3
Figure 1-5 Online Library Feedback form of School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London p.4
Figure 1-6 Website of Katok village, Brunei p.6
Figure 1-7 Website of Temburong District Office, Brunei p.7
Figure 3-1 The Mixed Methods research strategy used p.14
Figure 3-2 Summary of Research Objectives, Research Questions and Survey Questions p.15 Figure 3-3 Survey findings and the further questions asked in the Follow-up email interview p.17 Figure 4-1 Age and Gender of Respondents p.23
Figure 4-2 Employment Status of Respondents p.23
Figure 4-3 Other village websites known by respondents p.24
Figure 4-4 Respondents’ familiarity pattern towards village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village One Product’ p.27 Figure 4-5 Sources of information for village-based local places of interest p.28
Figure 4-6 Sources of information for ‘One Village One Product’ p.30
Figure 4-7 Response pattern for preferred content topics in a village website p.38
Figure 4-8 Village websites supplied and website status p.56
vi
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank members of the Bruneian community back home who willingly
spent some of their time answering my survey. To my one email correspondent, thank
you for taking the time to respond to my email and then proceed to give insightful
responses to my questions. I also thank my dissertation supervisor Dr Andrew Madden
for his help and advice.
Last but not least, to my family, there are no words that can adequately express my
gratitude for your endless support throughout the year. Thank you.
1
1. Introduction
1.1. On village websites
A village website can be used as a medium to transmit information about a village, be it
to promote or to act as an information centre for the village. With the wider selection of
publishing tools currently available on the web, other than opting to have their own
web domain, some villages have made full use of open source tools such as Blogspot and
WordPress to create their websites. Coupled with the current popularity of social
networking sites, some villages even go beyond having a website by opting to
communicate village information and news through their own Facebook or Twitter
account instead. The availability of these free tools does bring convenience in creating
website content due to their usually straightforward functionality and ease of use.
Village websites are in essence, a kind of information service provided by the village.
Figure 1-1: Website of Beringin1 village in Malaysia, run by the Beringin village committee
(with the committee’s chairman as the webmaster). The website acts as a medium of communication concerning village information and village news, and serves as a way to
maintain ‘silaturrahim’ (bonding ties) between the village residents as well as village-natives who are currently living away from the village.
1 Beringin village website http://www.kgberingin.com/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012.
Figure 1-2: An example of a village website in the UK; Long Melford Village Website. The ‘Long Melford Contacts’
2 page states that the website is created ‘to provide information about the
village to visitors and residents’, and ‘is run by a committee within the Long Melford Business Association’. The contacts also acknowledge how collecting information about the village is
‘sometimes difficult, and contributions are always welcome’.3
Village websites have also become a part of governmental initiative to bridge digital
divide between rural and urban areas such as Korea’s Information Network Village
(INVIL) project to bridge digital divide and to boost rural economy through
informatization, and Malaysia’s Universal Service Provision (USP) programme to bridge
digital divide (Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications of Malaysia, 2009). The
two programmes generally involve the creation of village webpages. There are also
other studies connecting village websites to the context of promoting local products and
local tourism (Choo and Jamal, 2009; Boonratana, 2011).
2 Long Melford village website http://www.longmelford.co.uk/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012. 3 First paragraph, http://www.longmelford.co.uk/Contacts/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012.
Figure 1-3: An example of a village page built under Malaysia's USP scheme. This is the village webpage for Wang Kelian Village
4 in Perlis, Malaysia.
Figure 1-4: An example of a village page (for Boksaggot Village5 in Gangwon, Korea) built
under Korea's INVIL project.
4 Wang Kelian village http://telecentre.my/kampungwangkelian/ Last accessed on 31st August 2012.
4
In the provision of an information service, it is not uncommon to bring users’
perspectives into the picture. Institutions like libraries have normally engaged in
seeking feedback from users in order to monitor quality of services they provide.
Figure 1-5: An online Library Feedback form6 from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London.
There are also studies officially looking into user perceptions as research topic such as
Nzivo (2012) who looked into perceptions of adult users of public libraries and
information services in Kenya National Library Service, and Kannappanavar and Swamy
(2010) who looked into perceptions of users of agricultural universities in India. Both
studies generally aim to identify ways in which library services and their management
could be improved. Similarly Kim (2011) has also stated on how findings from studies
on user perspective have been reported to contribute to a more effective information
management, website design and provision of library services.
5 Boksaggot village http://www.invil.org/english/village/gangwon/ Last accessed on 31st August 2012. 6 SOAS, UCL http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/feedback/ Last accessed on 2nd September 2012.
1.2. Research Context: Villages and Village Websites in Brunei Darussalam
1.2.1. Concerning Villages in Brunei Darussalam
The Brunei Darussalam Statistical Yearbook 2010 introduced the country as such:
“Brunei Darussalam is situated on the north-west of the island of Borneo,
between east longitude 114° 04’ and 11° 23’ and north latitudes of 4° 00’ and 5°
05’. It has a total land area of 5765 sq.km with a coast line of about 161 km along
the South China Sea. It is bounded in the north by the South China Sea and on all
the other sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak which divides Brunei
Darussalam into two parts i.e. the eastern part which is the Temburong district
and the western part which consists of Brunei-Muara, Tutong and Belait
districts.” [p.2]
The four districts –Temburong, Brunei-Muara, Tutong and Belait- are divided into
several ‘Mukim’ (sub-districts), which in turn is made up of many ‘kampung’ (villages).
The Mukim is headed by a ‘Penghulu mukim’ (sub-district head), while the ‘kampung’ is
led by a ‘Ketua Kampung’ (village head). To date, there are altogether thirty-eight Mukim
in the whole country7, and approximately four hundred villages8. The villages range in
size and population and there are concerns that some sub-district heads and village
heads are ‘responsible for bigger areas and larger populations than their counterparts’
(Shahminan, Ya’akub and Thien, 2011, para. 7). There are hence plans for a nationwide
rezoning which sees the merging of smaller-sized villages with fewer residents, and the
restructuring of larger-sized villages into smaller villages for a more ‘effective
management of villages and residents’ (Shahminan, Ya’akub and Thien, 2011, para. 4).
Each village in Brunei usually has a village consultative council (‘Majlis Perundingan
Kampung’ or MPK in short) - intended to function as a committee of ‘leaders, thinkers
7 Postal Services Department, Brunei. 8 MS Wikipedia ‘Kampung di Brunei’.
6
and strategic planners for the community development in each one’s area’9 (Titah,
2010) - as well as a neighbourhood watch (‘Kejiranan Kampung’), formed. ‘Satu
Kampung Satu Produk’ (One Village One Product) on the other hand, is a village
community-based, socio-economic activity aimed for the development of each village
(Koo, 2012). This initiative is intended as a wider scope than merely economic reasons,
as aspects of ‘‘semangat berkerjasama” (spirit of cooperation) and “bersatu padu”
(unity) amongst the village community form part and parcel of the initiative
(Badaruddin, 2012). In order to encourage a more active participation from the villages
in realizing the initiative, a ‘Majlis Anugerah Kampung Cemerlang’ (Excellent Village
Awards) has been held twice in year 2010 and 2012. In the recently-held Award in
2012, eighteen villages were deemed successful in bringing forth their products and
hence were eligible to be appraised in the Award.
1.2.2. Concerning Village websites in Brunei Darussalam
Most existing Bruneian village websites belong to the MPK10, where the website name is
usually in the form of MPK + village name (e.g. the name of the village website of Rataie
village in Temburong district is mpkrataie11) and the official logo of the MPK institution
is usually placed on the website header. Other villages that do not do it as mentioned
(e.g. the website name is not using the MPK + village name format) would normally have
a section about their MPK on their website.
9 His Majesty’s Titah at Majlis Anugerah Kampung Cemerlang Peringkat Kebangsaan 2009: ‘Majlis Perundingan Mukim dan Kampung adalah perlu untuk menjadi jentera penggerak, pemikir dan perancang bagi pembangunan masyarakat di kawasan masing-masing’. 10 Village Consultative Council. The council will henceforth be referred to as ‘MPK’ in this dissertation. 11 MPK Rataie http://mpkrataie.wordpress.com/ Last accessed on 27th August 2012.
Figure 1-5: An example of a Bruneian village website; Kg Katok12
. The official MPK institution logo is shown on the top left.
Not much emphasis, however has been placed on these websites, for example between
the four districts, only the Temburong District Office13 listed the MPK blogs as links on
their official website, while this is yet to be seen with the official websites of the other
three districts, even though there are villages in the other districts that actually have
websites of their own. In the recently held 2012 Excellent Village Awards, it was
observed that only one village listed their website as a contact point of reference in the
official programme booklet, even though twelve out of the eighteen villages that took
part do have websites of their own. Looking through village pamphlets obtained from
an exhibition prior to the 2012 Excellent Village Award, it was also observed that only a
few villages included details of their website in the pamphlets. Details pertaining to the
village head such as name and address, contact phone numbers and some emails are the
more typical contact information listed.
12 MPK Katok http://mpktk1.weebly.com/ last accessed on 2nd September 2012. 13 and 13 Temburong district office http://daerah-temburong.gov.bn/ last accessed on 2nd September 2012.
‘newspaper’ (one respondent) and another respondent added that they also ‘talked
to the residents in local places and got to know about the history after talking to
them’. Three respondents did not specify the sources.
2. Information about Head of Village
Eight respondents stated that they needed information about the ‘head of village’,
such as ‘who is the current head of village’. Of the eight respondents, one respondent
elaborated that she needed to know who the current village head was because she
‘had to get to the village to conduct research for her Brunei Studies course’.
Two respondents stated that they asked their ‘friends, family’ as well as ‘the
residents of the village’. Two respondents stated that they consulted ‘online
resources and newspaper’ for the information. Four respondents did not specify
their sources.
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3. Village products
Six respondents stated that they wanted to know about the villages’ products such
as ‘the types of products and who were producing them’. One respondent
particularly referred to One Village One Product. Of the six respondents, only one
respondent stated the source: ‘Internet’, while the other five respondents did not
specify their sources.
4. Village activities
Three respondents stated that they wanted to know about ‘activities conducted in
the village’. Of the three respondents, only one respondent stated the source
(‘Internet’). The other two respondents did not specify their source
5. Information on village population
Three respondents stated that they needed to know about the population of a
particular village (‘how many residents live in the village’). Of the three respondents,
one respondent stated that the information was found from ‘online resources and
books’, while the other two respondents did not specify the sources.
6. Places of interests and recreational places situated in the village
Two respondents stated that they wanted to know about ‘recreational and places of
interest’ that can be found in a particular village. Of the two respondents, one
respondent stated that she asked her ‘family, friends or acquaintances’ for the
information, while the other respondent did not specify the source.
Other information mentioned by respondents include ‘the location of the village’ (the
source was ‘friends and family’) and ‘the name of the mosque in the village and its
history’ (the source was not specified). Four respondents did not state the type of
information they looked for, but they did supply their sources for the information:
‘Internet’, ‘TV and radio’, ‘library’, ‘newspaper cuttings and articles’, ‘locally published
34
books in the library’ and from ‘telephone books, and then I would call the person
needed straightaway’.
Who or where do respondents ask if they needed assistance in looking for any village-
related information?
Most respondents indicated that they would use a mixture of likely sources. The sources
could be categorized into four modes of information-seeking behaviour:
1. Refer to online sources
Thirty-seven respondents stated that they would most likely search for the
information ‘online’, where sources such as ‘Internet’, ‘Google’, ‘websites’,
‘Facebook’, ‘blogs’ and ‘official government websites’ were mentioned in their
answers.
2. Engage in informal social interaction
Twenty-four respondents stated that they would likely ask their ‘family, friends,
acquaintances or relatives’. Seven respondents stated that they would most likely
ask the ‘village residents’ while five respondents stated that they would ask
‘members of public’.
3. Interact with appointed roles
Fourteen respondents indicated that they would ‘go straight to the head of village’,
either by ‘meeting face-to-face or calling the person’. Other official bodies were also
mentioned such as ‘District Office’ (six respondents), ‘Information Department’ (one
respondent) and ‘Library’ (one respondent). Other authority figures likely to be
sought besides Head of Village were also mentioned, such as ‘Imam’ (one
respondent) and ‘Teacher’ (two respondents).
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4. Use other reference materials
Five respondents stated that they would likely refer to ‘Newspapers’, with two
respondents referring specifically to ‘Local news on TV’. Other materials cited
include ‘Guide books’ (two respondents), ‘road signs’ (one respondent) and ‘map’
(one respondent).
4.1.4. Perceptions towards village websites
What were the main purposes of visiting Bruneian village websites?
Twenty-four respondents (25.8%) had answered the question, which implied that they
had visited the websites in the past, and provided purposes for their visits. Sixty-nine
respondents (74.2%) left the question unanswered.
There were three main patterns of usage identified. Other patterns of usage outside the
three categories are mentioned separately.
1. To find information about village products
Two respondents stated that they wanted ‘to know what are being produced by the
village’ and what the ‘best-selling products’ were. Three respondents specifically
cited that they wanted to know about ‘One Village One Product’.
2. To update on current news
Eight respondents stated that they ‘wanted to know the current development and
current news’ of the village, and also because they wanted to know ‘what was going
on in the village’.
3. To find out about activities conducted by the village
Six respondents stated that they wanted to know about ‘activities conducted by the
village in which the residents participated in’. One respondent specifically wanted to
know about ‘youth-related activities’ conducted by the village, and one respondent
wanted to know about the ‘carnivals’ organized in the village.
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One respondent stated that she visited the village websites to find out about the origin
and history of a particular village while another respondent wanted to know the
location. Three respondents stated that they were ‘searching for information’, but did
not specify the nature of information wanted, while two respondents stated that they
‘wanted to know what sort of information was provided at the website’. One of the two
respondents specifically used the word ‘curiosity’.
Do respondents think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites?
Eighty-one respondents (87.1 %) agreed that it was necessary for villages in Brunei to
have their own websites, with only one respondent (1.1%) stating ‘No’. Four other
respondents (4.3%) stated ‘Not sure’. Seven respondents (7.5%) did not answer the
question.
Of those who answered the question, seventy-eight respondents managed to include a
reason for their opinion while eight respondents did not supply any reasons. There
were generally two patterns of reasoning identified:
1. The websites can be a convenient way for information exchange
Majority of respondents based their opinions on ‘convenience’ where most reasoned
that the websites can be ‘a convenient medium to communicate information about
the village’ and ‘a convenient medium for people to get access to information about
the village’. Four respondents stated that the websites would be ‘a convenient way
for the village to update the residents and the public on activities happening in the
village’ with one respondent stating doing this ‘will help in involving the community
in a larger scale’. Three respondents stated that the websites are ‘fast and easy way
to get information’, while one respondent also reasoned that ‘websites are easily
accessible nowadays i.e. via mobile phones unlike the old days’. One respondent
particularly stated that for her ‘the web is usually the first source of reference when
it comes to info-seeking before moving on to other sources such as asking around
and checking out local printed newspaper’.
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One respondent reasoned that if there were websites for the villages then ‘it would
be easier for the residents to communicate and solve problems without going back
and forth to meet the Head of Village’. This theme of problems able to be solved by
the village residents themselves was similarly expressed by six other respondents
who indicated that ‘the websites can be a good source of reference for any
information needed’ either ‘urgently’ (one respondent) or not, although it was also
cautioned by the respondent that ‘the information on the website needs to be
regularly updated’.
2. The websites can be a promoting medium for the villages
Thirteen respondents reasoned that the websites can be used to ‘promote the village
and its products’, with one respondent stating that ‘the more obscure villages’ could
also benefit from this since a village website can make the villages more ‘well-
known’ to the public or ‘increase public awareness’ of them.
The only respondent stating that it was not necessary for villages in Brunei to have their
own websites reasoned that ‘there are too many villages in Brunei’ and that ‘making
own website for each village needs a lot of input from a lot of people as well time’.
As opposed to the villages having their own individual websites, respondents were also
asked in another question if they thought it was important to have a ‘one-stop’ portal
which contained all information about Brunei villages, and also to provide reasons for
their opinion. With this question, a number of respondents unfortunately expressed
uncertainty over the word ‘one-stop’ that was being used, which resulted in them not
commenting on the subject of having a single village portal versus individual village
websites when providing a reason for their opinion. Twenty-five respondents however,
provided reasons which relate to the subject of having a single village portal versus
having individual village websites, showing that the question did successfully provide
the intended meaning to a proportion of respondents.
Despite the slight ineffectiveness of the question, the findings for the question were:
75.3% (seventy respondents) agreed that it was important to have a ‘one-stop’ village
38
portal while 2.2% (two respondents) expressed disagreement. 4.3% (four respondents)
stated that they were not sure. 18.3% (seventeen respondents) did not provide any
answers.
The reasons provided by the twenty-five respondents who understood the question as
intended mainly revolved around ‘convenience’, that it would enable ‘fast access of
information’. One respondent stated that a one-stop website/portal would ‘make it easy
to search for information compared to having individual websites, because it would be
time-consuming just to find those individual websites’. The theme of convenience
continued to other reasons provided: “You only go to one website that links to others
rather than go to many websites’; ‘So that people don’t need to remember specific
website/s just to get the information about the village’ ; ‘It is important because if
there’s such a portal, you don’t need to access so many different websites just to get
information’ and ‘it would be easier for the local people to refer to it especially for our
‘Kenali Negara Kitani’ 19campaign’
What topics should be covered in a village website?
Respondents were presented with a selection of twenty content topics20 and were asked
to select their top eight choices of topics that they thought should be included in a
village website. Seven respondents selected more than the specified eight choices. With
these responses, only the first eight options selected by respondents are presented in
Figure 4-7 below. The remaining options selected by the respondents are included
separately. The remaining eighty-three respondents kept to the specified eight choices.
Three respondents did not answer the question.
19 ‘Kenali Negara Kitani’ is a local tourism campaign to encourage locals to explore and discover local wonders (Reedz, 2007) from anakbrunei.org. 20 As stated in Chapter 3, the topics used as options were referred from the website content of Endah Village, one of the websites built under Malaysia’s USP programme (Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications of Malaysia, 2009).
39
Figure 4-7: Response pattern for preferred content topics in a village website
The extra choices selected by the respondents were ‘Current village news and updates’
(selected four times); ‘Village forum’ (selected twice); ‘Village directions and locations’
‘Recreational area’ (selected once); ‘Village history and origin’ (selected once);
‘Neighbouring villages’ (selected once) and ‘Blog’ (selected once).
Significant majority of respondents appeared to think that a village website should
cover ‘Information on tourism and local business in the village', ‘Village History and
origin’ and ‘Village population and residents’ (the top three topics selected) with
69
58
47
46
17
30
20
34
47
53
48
11
31
37
63
13
48
5
17
18
Information on tourism and local business in the village
Village population & residents
socio-economy
vilage administration
Agriculture & farming
Safety
Health
Education
Village Facilities
Recreational Area
Village location & directions
Neighbouring villages
Women & Youth events
Photo and Video Gallery
Village history and origin
Blog
Current village news & updates
Village forum
Advertisements
Online shop
0 20 40 60 80
Number of respondents
40
information on ‘Recreational area’ following closely behind. Other than the four
aforementioned topics, there was no significant pattern in preference discerned with
the other topics due to almost equal number of respondents choosing between the
topics. Respondents however appeared to show the least preference for ‘Village Forum’
as a content topic.
Respondents were also asked to state any other information that they thought ought to
be covered in a village website. There were generally two aspects of information
suggested:
1. Information on general well-being of village residents
Four respondents thought that a village website should include information about
‘people who need help such as the poor and destitute’. Another respondent stated
that ‘accounts of daily life of the village residents – for example economic-wise-
ought to be included, so that their views and opinions can be communicated more’.
One respondent thought that a village website should also include ‘views and
opinions of the village residents’. Another respondent thought there should be ‘a
chat-like component to the website that enables more communication between
village head and the village residents.’ Two respondents thought that information
regarding ‘village committee’ should also be included on a village website. One
respondent suggested information about ‘LegCo i.e. the representative for the
villages’ zone’ so that ‘people would know who to contact’.
2. Information about village activities
Twelve respondents wanted to see information about village activities, either
upcoming or already conducted activities. One respondent specified on ‘sports
activities’ and five respondents specified on ‘activities conducted by the village
mosque and religious events’. Two respondents suggested ‘calendar of annual
activities for example events and carnivals organized in the village’. Two other
41
respondents suggested ‘information on the short and long term planning for the
village’.
4.1.5. Other comments
Respondents were given space to add on any of the topics covered in the survey. The
additional comments provided by respondents mainly revolved around two aspects:
Village website
One respondent commented that a village website ‘should focus on village
development and lifestyle’. Another respondent reminded that ‘websites like these
i.e. village websites need to be regularly updated’ while another respondent stated
that ‘these websites need to be utilized, not left unused’.
Head of Village
Although unelaborated, one respondent commented on ‘the role and responsibility
of the Head of Village towards the village residents’. One respondent commented on
‘how to encourage the Head of Village to make use of IT, such as using blogs, in
organizing and updating village information’.
42
4.2. Discussion of survey findings
Awareness towards village websites is generally observed to be quite low amongst the
respondents. Only 33.3% knew that a number of villages in Brunei had their own
websites compared to 65.6% who stated that they were not aware of the fact. This
concurs with the higher proportion (59.1%) of respondents who stated that they ‘did
not know or were not sure’ if their own village did have a website, compared to 37.9% of
respondents who answered definitely with either ‘Yes, my village has a website’ or ‘No,
my village does not have a website’. Similarly, 61.3% of respondents indicated that they
never heard any of the listed websites belonging to ‘One Village One Product’ villages,
despite how majority (86%) knew about the initiative. Furthermore, only 7.5% of
respondents managed to list other village websites that they knew about.
The reasons provided by respondents who stated that they did not know about the
websites, however explained why there was a low awareness generally existed amongst
respondents. Respondents cited lack of exposure -‘not much information was provided
about the villages having their own website’-as the main reason. There is inference that
the village websites could benefit from more exposure and several indications that
information about the websites ought to come from the Head of Village and the local
media.
Lack of involvement with village matter is another main reason cited to explain the low
awareness towards village websites. Coupled with the finding of how only 26.9% of
respondents had sought village-related information before (compared to 68.9% who
said they never had the need) does to an extent question the necessity of providing
village websites as an additional information service on the village’s part. The needs
assessment process (Goto and Cotler, 2005; Cullen, Thompson et al., 2012) might
control the issue of relevance to an extent, but when Yeh (2007) wrote of how factors
such as ‘personal interest, restrictions, affection and habit’ can ‘influence the knowledge
types that people recognize and accept’ (para. 9), it implies that there are other
uncontrollable factors that may also affect the usage rate of the information service.
43
Despite the general low awareness towards village websites, most respondents (87.1%)
actually thought positively towards the notion of villages in Brunei having their own
website; the village websites were viewed as a convenient method to communicate
village information as well as to get access to information about the village. The appeal
of convenience and how it influences both ‘academic and everyday-life information
seeking’ has similarly been addressed by Connaway, Dickey and Radford (2011, p. 179).
Only one respondent, in contrast, thought that it was not necessary for villages to have
their own websites due to the high number of villages in Brunei and it would time-
consuming and needs a lot of input from people. Since at present, the village websites in
Brunei are created and maintained by the MPK, which consisted of residents of the
village itself (i.e. not a paid job), the reasoning might to an extent ring true.
Regarding information behaviour, it is found that online sources (i.e. village websites,
blogs, Facebook) are the least cited source of information for both village-based local
places of interests and One Village One Product. Information about the two are generally
obtained from TV, radio and newspaper/online news portal. Information is also
obtained via word of mouth, although there is more evidence of this for village-based
local places of interest than One Village One Product.
Based on their past information behaviour, respondents who had sought any village-
related information in the past were found to be looking for information pertaining to
local history, information about the Head of Village, village products, activities and
population and places of interests in the village. With these, respondents were found to
have consulted a mixture of various sources such as mass media (Internet, TV, books,
and newspaper) as well as friends, family and acquaintances. When respondents were
asked to state where or who they were likely to ask if they needed assistance in looking
for any village-related information, more respondents stated that they would likely ask
people over using online sources or other reference materials – which concurs with the
social nature of information dissemination in a village setting mentioned by Horowitz
and Kamvar (2010)- although it is observed that ‘people’ consists of everyday informal
social interaction with friends, family or acquaintances, as well as interaction with
44
official information bodies or appointed roles such as Head of Village. The Head of
Village has also been mentioned frequently by respondents in the survey as a source of
information when it comes to matters relating to Brunei villages.
It is noted that those respondents who had visited the village websites in the past
reported of using them to find information about village products, current village news
and village activities. These topics are more or less similar to the kind of village-related
information sought by respondents in the past regardless of sources used as reported
earlier, but with a noticeable less emphasis on local history. There is implication that
respondents would like to see local history covered in a village website as evident from
the high proportion of respondents choosing 'Village history and origin’ as a preferred
content topic. Other preferred village website contents include information pertaining
to village tourism and local business in the village, village population and residents.
When asked to comment on other information that they thought ought to be covered in
a village website, some respondents thought that information about residents who
needed help such as the less fortunate, information about activities and events
conducted by the village mosque, information about the village committee (MPK) as
well as a kind of outlet for views and opinions of the residents for the attention of the
Head of Village, ought to be present in the village website as well. The aforementioned
contents suggested by respondents consisted of real-life experiences, which agrees with
Rizvanoglu and Ozturk (2007)’s finding of the link found between the content of village
websites and daily life experience and values.
45
4.3. Second Phase- Email interview findings
As stated in the Methodology, this phase seeks to clarify further a few emerging
questions identified in the survey. The questions mainly revolved around village
websites and the role of Head of Village.
4.3.1. On Village Websites
Based on the survey findings, there is inference that the village websites could benefit
from more exposure and promotion since respondents cited lack of exposure -‘not much
information was provided about the villages having their own website’-as the main
reason for the lack of awareness towards village websites. The interviewee was asked if
proper promotion would bring more people to visit the websites. The interviewee
generally expressed agreement to this:
“I firmly believe that if proper promotions are made, people will come and visit
and check out the information available, even if the number of visitors will not be
instantaneously high. It will have to be gradual.” (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
When asked on ways to promote the websites, the interviewee suggested using a
mixture of medium such as having ‘press conference or advertising on government
websites’ or having ‘a show or two concerning the “one village one product” program’
which then ‘could be used to promote the village websites.”
The survey showed that only 26.9% of respondents had sought some village-related
information in the past, while 68.9% said they never had the need. The interviewee was
asked to comment on whether these figures would affect the necessity of villages having
their own websites:
“The fact that there are people responding that they had sought some village-
related information can be taken to mean that those websites are relevant to
some. There is always ‘audience’ for different types/forms of information, so the
relevancy here cannot be denied. Human beings are peculiar creatures. Things
46
will only become relevant when they’re the ones experiencing it or finally have
the need to search for.”
“When it comes to searching for information, different individual has his/her
own style. There are people who do his/her own research first before asking
other people and this includes me. The web is a wealth of information and most
Bruneians have access to the internet. There will be people utilizing these
websites, as long as they’re well-maintained, vetted (i.e. the info) and frequently
updated (where appropriate) and have easy site-navigation.”
“From personal experience, the culture in Brunei is that people like to verbally
ask other people they know or their acquaintances when it comes to matters
related to Brunei villages or via word-of-mouth. But not everyone has the luxury
of getting the exact info they need in this way. So where else can people turn to?
There is the “Jabatan Daerah21” but they have their working hour limitation, so
the web can be a very quick way to get information, especially if the website is
very good in organizing information.” (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
Regarding another survey finding on how one respondent did not think it was necessary
for the villages in Brunei to have their own websites, citing inconvenience due to how
there are too many villages in Brunei as the reason, and how creating and maintaining
the website would be a time-consuming job that needs a lot of input from people, the
interviewee stated that:
“Too many villages in Brunei” is not a good reason to make it unnecessary. At
this stage in Brunei, it can be a good idea for those villages to have/start their
own website (or online presence) especially if they have information that they’d
like to share with/disseminate to Bruneian people.”
21 District office
47
“While I can see his point regarding input and the time it may consume, the key is
getting the amount info to be “just right” as opposed to “info-dump”. It’s difficult
to say what is exactly ‘right’ and sometimes we can only know from trial-and-
error. But at this stage, the “basic” information such as village administration
(who’s the current Village head of a particular kampong22), economic products or
tourism that a village would like to promote (e.g. One Village one product),
important activities that they’d like people to know about, would be good as
starters. Frequent updates (where appropriate) is also important.” (Interviewee,
4th August 2012)
The respondent also elaborated on ‘village portal’ (Question 18 in the survey asked
about a village portal). The interviewee thought that a village portal could ‘be valuable
as info hub on Brunei villages as not every Bruneian knows that some villages (with
their interesting names) do exist in Brunei’. The interviewee also thought that the portal
could have ‘a weekly-updated and randomly-chosen “Featured Kampung of the week”
somewhere on the front-page where people can click on it to view what info that have
been made available online for that particular kampong23.”
4.3.2. The role and responsibility of the Village Head as a conveyer and source of village
information
In the survey, the Head of Village has been mentioned a number of times as a source of
village-related information. The interviewee was asked to comment on the roles and
responsibility of the Head of Village as conveyor and source of village information.
Regarding this, the interviewee believed that the Village Head ‘has to be involved’
because he is the ‘leader and there are responsibilities that come with that’. The
interviewee also elaborated that ‘village heads can be regarded as the “liaison” or
middlemen between the government and the “anak buah kampung24”.
22 Village 23 Village 24Loosely translated as ‘Village residents’
48
As for the role of the Head in relation to village websites, the interviewee stated that:
‘[The Village Head] doesn’t have to be the one personally doing the IT hands-on.
He can be the one overseeing the process and making sure his helpers/assistance
update any information needed’. (Interviewee, 4th August 2012)
The interviewee also added that ‘With IT, it doesn’t mean that the “traditional” verbal
way of handing out information must be rid of. Both can work together nicely.”
The interviewee was asked to comment on whether there should be any IT training25
organized for the Village Head or the MPK. The interviewee believed that ‘training is
important’ but ‘it doesn’t have to be in depth (such as professional-grade video editing)
but enough of the necessary and important things.’ The interviewee also added on:
“But in the event that they still haven’t possessed the skill yet, they can delegate
the task to their “anak buah kampung26” or family members who are IT-savvy for
the time being. *BUT*, it is important to make sure the information that needs to
be updated have been vetted by the PR (as well as the MPK) i.e. the info are
correct so as to prevent misleading the public.” (Interviewee, 8th August 2012)
4.4. Discussion of findings
There was, in general, consensus that promotion of websites would encourage more
people to visit the websites, but it was also similarly acknowledged that usage would
depend on the individual itself, for example if the individual needed any village-related
information at the time or if using village websites suit their ‘style’ of searching for
village-related information. The Bruneian culture of verbally asking people that they
know or exchanging information via word-of-mouth when it comes to matters relating
to Brunei villages was also acknowledged and may also play a role in the usage rate of
village websites as source of information for village-related information. The emphasis,
25 Lim and Lee (2007) wrote of IT education scheme in Korea ( See Literature Review) 26 Loosely translated as ‘Village residents’
49
however, is observed to be less on the number of audience that the website would
attract, but more on having a village websites that is ‘well-maintained’, ‘frequently-
updated’, has ‘easy site-navigation’, having reliable i.e. ‘vetted’ information to avoid
‘misleading the public’ and on having a website that is not an ‘info-dump’ site,
As a leader, the Head of village was expected to be involved as both conveyor and
source of information as the Head is usually regarded as a ‘liaison’ between the
government and the ‘anak buah kampung27’. This, to an extent explains why the Head of
Village was frequently cited as a source of village-related information in the survey. In
relation to village websites as an additional information service provided by the village,
it was acknowledged that ‘IT’ and using people as source (such as Head of Village) can
work together, for example it was suggested that the Head and the MPK were the people
who needed to vet the information being updated on the village websites.
27 Loosely translated as ‘village residents’
50
5. Conclusions
5.1. Review of dissertation aim and objectives
This dissertation aimed to be an exploratory study of the situation of village websites in
Brunei and of perceptions towards the websites. A two-phased sequential mixed
methods research strategy, consisting of a paper-based survey in the first phase and a
follow-up interview, was implemented to meet the aim.
There were three objectives to the study:
o To find out whether Bruneians are aware of the existence of these village
websites
Research questions under this objective involve detecting awareness level of village
websites for the respondents’ own village, of village websites in Brunei in general
and of village websites belonging to villages with ‘One Village One Product’. From the
survey, the awareness for all three was generally found to be low. There was
inference that the village websites could benefit from more exposure. The
subsequent interview session saw agreement that promoting the websites would
encourage more people to visit, but usage rate would also depend on the individual
information-seeking style and need for village-related information.
o To investigate the information behaviour of Bruneians when seeking village-
related information i.e. sources of information and nature of information sought
Research questions under this objective involve identifying sources of information
for village-based local places of interest and ‘One Village One Product’, the kind of
village-related information sought in the past and the sources used, and well as their
likely point of reference when searching for any village-related information. Mixture
of sources has been found to be used by respondents such as mass media as well as
friends, family and acquaintances. Information sought includes local history,
information about the Head of Village, village products and activities, population and
51
places of interests in the village. Respondents were also likely to consult people
over using online sources or other reference materials when searching for village-
related information, although it is observed that ‘people’ consists of everyday
informal social interaction with friends, family or acquaintances, as well as
interaction with official information bodies or appointed roles such as Head of
Village. The subsequent interview session acknowledged the Bruneian culture of
verbally asking people they know or exchanging information via word-of-mouth
when it comes to village-related information.
o To explore the perceptions of Bruneians towards village websites.
Research questions under this objective involve identifying purposes of visiting
Bruneian village websites, seeking views on whether they think it is necessary for
villages in Brunei to have their own websites, and also views on topics that should
be covered in a village website. It is found that respondents thought positively of
Bruneian villages having their own websites. Respondents have used the websites to
find information about village products, current news and activities. Topics
preferred to be covered on the websites include village history and origin,
information on village tourism and local business, and information on village
population and residents. The subsequent interview session saw emphasis being
made on having websites that is well-maintained and contained reliable and vetted
information.
5.2. Implications of study and suggestions for future work
Findings obtained particularly pertaining to information behaviour highlight the
complexity of users and their relationship with information services provided. Users for
example may have their own preferred style of seeking needed information which may
stem from personal preference or is shaped by culture and traditions. This study shows
that exchange of village-related information is observed to be more of a synchronous
social behaviour in Brunei; obviously this gives certain implications on village websites
52
as an information service, since the provision of information on the village websites
seems to contradict the synchronous and social aspect of exchanging village-related
information. Rather than trying to shape users’ information seeking style to suit
changing circumstances, it is perhaps better to place more emphasis on creating
awareness on the variety of sources relating to village information that are available to
users, be it from the people-variety or mass media such as village websites, and to
create awareness that information and knowledge can be gained from any of these
variety of sources.
Future studies may want to delve into the website-development process of creating a
village website, particularly those websites created more from a ‘bottom-up’ process
(Liff, 2005, p.51) where the village websites are created and maintained by a
volunteering resident or committee in the village. Studies could perhaps look at
information needs of developers of the village websites, particularly on the content
development front.
Word count: 12572 (excluding Title Page, Abstract, List of Figures, Acknowledgements
and Appendices)
53
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1. Sila tandakan kategori umur awda. Please tick your age category.[Select from options]
2. Sila tandakan jantina awda. / Gender [Select from options]
3. Sila tandakan kategori status pekerjaan awda / Employment status [Select from options]
4. Sila nyatakan nama kampung tempat awda tinggal. /Please state the village in which you live
5. Adakah kampung awda mempunyai laman web sendiri? Is there a village website existed for your village? [Select from options]
6. Beberapa kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam ada mempunyai laman web sendiri. Adakah awda pernah menyedari tentang hal ini? A number of villages in Brunei have their own websites. Were you aware of this? [Select from options]
7. Jika awda menjawab ‘Tidak’ pada Soalan 6, sila nyatakan sebab/ If you answered ‘No’ to
Question 6, please state your reason. 8. Sila tandakan laman web kampung yang awda ketahui dari senarai dibawah. Awda boleh
menandakan lebih dari satu jawapan. Please tick village websites that you have heard of from the following. You may tick more than one option. [Select from options]
Jika tidak pernah mendengar, sila tandakan kotak dibawah.
Please tick the box below if you never heard any of the above websites.[If applicable, tick option]
9. Jika awda mengetahui laman-laman web kampung tempatan lain (atau laman facebook)
yang tidak disebutkan diatas, sila nyatakan diruangan disediakan. Awda hanya perlu menyatakan nama kampong. If there are any other Brunei villages’ websites you are familiar with, please state them below. (Note: It is alright to state just the village names without mentioning the URL. You may also include village Facebook sites here)
10. Jika awda pernah melayari laman-laman web kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam,
apakah tujuan utama awda melayari laman web tersebut? Awda tidak perlu menjawab soalan ini jika tidak pernah melayari mana-mana laman web kampong. If you have visited any Brunei villages’ websites before, what were the main purposes of the visits? You may ignore this question if you have not visited any Brunei villages’ websites before.
11. Adakah awda mengetahui tentang tempat-tempat menarik tempatan seperti Lubuk Batu
Mas Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Tasik Buluh Aie Merah, Taman Warisan Wasai Batu Mapan,
65
Matan Fishing Village & Matan Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Herba Kampung Putat dan sebagainya? Sila tandakan satu kotak jawapan dibawah. Are you aware of local places of interests such as Lubuk Batu Mas Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Tasik Buluh Aie Merah, Taman Warisan Wasai Batu Mapan, Matan Fishing Village & Matan Homestay, Taman Rekreasi Herba Kampung Putat etc? Please tick one answer below [Select from options]
12. Jika awda telah menjawab ‘Ya’ pada Soalan 11, sila tandakan 3 (TIGA) sumber maklumat utama bagi awda tentang tempat-tempat tersebut dari pilihan dibawah. If you answered ‘Yes’ to Question 11, please tick your 3 (THREE) main sources of information about the places from the following options. [Select from options]
13. Adakah awda mengetahui tentang inisiatif kerajaan ‘Satu Kampung, Satu Produk’? Are you aware of the government initiative ‘One Village, One Product’? [Select from options] 14. Jika awda telah menjawab ‘Ya’ pada Soalan 13, sila tandakan 3 (TIGA) sumber maklumat
utama bagi awda tentang ‘Satu Kampung, Satu Produk’ dari pilihan dibawah. If you answered ‘Yes’ to Question 13, please tick your 3 (THREE) main sources of information
about ‘One Village, One Product’ from the following options. [Select from options] 15. Adakah awda pernah mengalami situasi dimana awda memerlukan maklumat yang
berkaitan tentang sesuatu kampung? Contohnya: Maklumat tentang ketua kampung terkini, produk tempatan, sejarah tempatan, dan sebagainya? Have you ever had the need to seek for any village-related information before? For example, searching for details of the current village head, information on local products, local history etc? [Select from options]
Jika ‘Ya’, sila nyatakan jenis maklumat yang awda perlukan dan sumber awda bagi maklumat tersebut. If ‘Yes’, please explain what information you were looking for and the source of the information.
16. Jika awda memerlukan bantuan untuk memperolehi apa saja jenis maklumat yang
berkaitan tentang sesuatu kampung, dimanakah atau siapakah tempat rujukan awda? Contoh situasi: memerlukan maklumat tentang lokasi dan arah tuju kampung, maklumat tentang ketua kampung, dan sebagainya. If you need assistance in looking for any village-related information, where do you/who are
you likely to ask? E.g. trying to find out village location and directions or searching for village head contact details etc.
17. Pada pandangan awda, adakah perlu bagi kampung-kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam
untuk mempunyai laman web kampung sendiri? Sila nyatakan sebab bagi pandangan awda. Do you think it is necessary for villages in Brunei to have their own websites? Please give your reasons/opinions.
66
18. Pada pandangan awda, adakah ianya penting jika terdapat satu laman web atau portal yang berbentuk ‘one-stop’ yang menghimpunkan semua maklumat tentang kampung-kampung di Negara Brunei Darussalam? Sila nyatakan sebab bagi pandangan awda. Do you think it is important to have a ‘one-stop’ website or portal which contains all information about Brunei villages? Please state your reason why.
19. Pada pandangan awda, apakah tajuk-tajuk yang patut terdapat didalam laman web
kampung? Sila tandakan TIDAK LEBIH DARI 8 pilihan dibawah: What topics do you think should be included in a village website? Please select NO MORE THAN 8 options from the following: [Select from options]
20. Jika ada sebarang maklumat lain yang awda fikir perlu terdapat di dalam sesebuah laman
web kampung, sila nyatakan di ruang bawah. If there is any other information that you think ought to be covered in a village website, please include them below.
21. Apakah awda mempunyai sebarang pandangan yang ingin ditambah mengenai tajuk-tajuk
didalam kajiselidik ini? Is there anything else you would like to add about any of the topics covered in this survey?
Terima kasih kerana telah meluangkan masa untuk menjawab soalan-soalan kajiselidik ini. Jika awda ingin memberi maklumat yang lebih tentang jawapan yang telah awda berikan, sila tinggalkan alamat e-mel awda dibawah, dan awda akan dihubungi penyelidik melalui e-mel. Sebarang maklum-balas yang diterima tidak akan diketahui umum.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. If you would be willing to be contacted to further discuss your answers in an email interview, please leave your email address below. Your responses will remain anonymous.
Contact e-mail:______________________________________(Jika ingin dihubungi / if you would like
to be contacted)
67
Appendix 5 -Ethics documentation and outcome
The following six pages were the ethics documentation that was used to apply for ethics
clearance for this research project, dated 08/06/2012. The information sheet used to
inform prospective participants about the research was included in Appendix 3. The
research project was classed as ‘low risk’.
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites?
Date: 08/06/2012
University Research Ethics Application Form
for Undergraduate & Postgraduate-Taught Students
This form has been approved by the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC)
Complete this form if you are an undergraduate or a postgraduate-taught student who
plans to undertake a research project which requires ethics approval via the University Ethics Review Procedure. Your Supervisor decides if ethics approval is required and, if required, which ethics review procedure (e.g. University, NHS, Alternative) applies. If the University’s procedure applies, your Supervisor decides if your proposed project should be classed as ‘low risk’ or potentially ‘high risk’. *PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR DEPARTMENT MAY USE A VARIATION OF THIS FORM: PLEASE CHECK WITH THE ETHICS ADMINISTRATOR IN YOUR DEPARTMENT*
This form should be accompanied, where appropriate, by all Information Sheets / Covering Letters / Written Scripts which you propose to use to inform the prospective participants about the proposed research, and/or by a Consent Form where you need to use one.
Further guidance on how to apply is at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/approval-procedure/review-procedure
Guidance on the possible routes for obtaining ethics approval (i.e. on the University Ethics Review Procedure, the NHS procedure and the Social Care Research Ethics Committee, and the Alternative procedure) is at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/approval-procedure/ethics-approval Once you have completed this research ethics application form in full, and other documents where appropriate, check that your name, the title of your research project and the date is contained in the footer of each page.
If your Supervisor has classed the project as ‘low risk’:
Email this form, together with other documents where applicable, to your Supervisor; and
Sign and date Annex 1 of this form and provide a paper copy to your Supervisor.
Important Note for Supervisors:
Following the ethics review the Supervisor must provide the academic department’s Ethics
Administrator with a copy of the ‘low risk’ research ethics application that s/he reviewed and
a completed Ethics Reviewer’s Comments Form indicating the ethics decision that s/he took
in relation to it. The Ethics Reviewer’s Comments Form can be downloaded here:
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites?
Date: 08/06/2012
University Research Ethics Application Formfor Undergraduate & Postgraduate-Taught Students
I confirm that I have read the current version of the University of Sheffield ‘Ethics Policy Governing Research Involving Human Participants, Personal Data and Human Tissue’, as shown on the University’s research ethics website at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy A1. Title of research project: WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS
LOCAL VILLAGE WEBSITES?
A2. Name of Student: HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD
Department: INFORMATION SCHOOL Email: [email protected] Tel.: 07552691753
Name of Supervisor: DR ANDREW MADDEN
A3. Proposed Project Duration:
Start date: 11/06/2012 End date: 03/09/2012
A4. Mark ‘X’ in one or more of the following boxes if your research:
involves adults with mental incapacity or mental illness
involves prisoners or others in custodial care (e.g. young offenders)
involves children or young people aged under 18 years
involves using samples of human biological material collected before for another purpose
involves taking new samples of human biological material (e.g. blood, tissue) * involves testing a medicinal product *
involves taking new samples of human biological material (e.g. blood, tissue) * involves additional radiation above that required for clinical care * involves investigating a medical device *
* If you have marked boxes marked * then you also need to obtain confirmation that
appropriate University insurance is in place. To do this email [email protected] and request a copy of the ‘Clinical Trial Insurance Application Form’.
It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with the University’s Ethics Policy Governing Research
Involving Human Participants, Personal Data and Human Tissue before completing the following
questions. Please note that if you provide sufficient information about the research (what you intend
to do, how it will be carried out and how you intend to minimise any risks), this will help the ethics
reviewers to make an informed judgement quickly without having to ask for further details.
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites?
Date: 08/06/2012
A9.1. This question is only applicable if you are planning to obtain informed consent:
How do you plan to obtain informed consent? (i.e. the proposed process?):
First phase- The survey is distributed in paper-copies. Information about the research is
provided on the front-most page of the questionnaire. Participants are directed to it and asked to
read the information provided carefully. Consent is assumed to be given if the participant
chooses to complete the questionnaire after reading the information sheet.
Second phase – It is made clear in the survey previously that if participants were willing to be
contacted for further interview (in email), then they could leave their email in the space
provided. Consent is assumed to be given if the participant decides to leave their contact email.
10. What measures will be put in place to ensure confidentiality of personal data,
where appropriate?
First phase - The questionnaire will be anonymous so confidentially will be guaranteed.
Second phase – The emails left by the respondents would only be used to contact them for the
follow-up interview, and it is assured that only the researcher knows about the email details.
Participants are also contacted separately i.e. no ‘Cc:’ Bcc:’ are used.
A11. Will financial / in kind payments (other than reasonable expenses and
compensation for time) be offered to participants? (Indicate how much and on
what basis this has been decided)
No compensation or reward is offered.
A12. Will the research involve the production of recorded media such as audio
and/or video recordings?
YES NO /
A12.1. This question is only applicable if you are planning to produce recorded media:
How will you ensure that there is a clear agreement with participants as to how
these recorded media may be stored, used and (if appropriate) destroyed?
Not applicable.
Guidance on a range of ethical issues, including safety and well-being, consent and anonymity, confidentiality and data protection’ are available at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/policy-notes
Name: Hajah Nurulhuda binti Haji Mohamad Research title: What are the perceptions of Bruneians towards local village websites? Date: 08/06/2012
For Undergraduate & Postgraduate-Taught Students
Student Declaration
(The student completes Annex 1 if the Supervisor has classed the
student’s proposed research project as ‘low risk’)
The Supervisor needs to receive an electronic copy of the form, and other documents
where appropriate, plus a signed, dated paper copy of this Annex 1 ‘the Student
Declaration’.
Full Research Project Title: WHAT ARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF BRUNEIANS TOWARDS
LOCAL VILLAGE WEBSITES?
In signing this Student Declaration I am confirming that:
The research ethics application form for the above-named project is accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.
The above-named project will abide by the University’s ‘Good Research Practice Standards’: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/good
The above-named project will abide by the University’s ‘Ethics Policy Governing Research Involving Human Participants, Personal Data and Human Tissue’: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy
Subject to the above-named project being ethically approved I undertake to adhere to any ethics conditions that may be set.
I will inform my Supervisor of significant changes to the above-named project that have ethical consequences.
I will inform my Supervisor if prospective participants make a complaint about the above-named project.
I understand that personal data about me as a researcher on the research ethics application form will be held by those involved in the ethics review process (e.g. my Supervisor and the Ethics Administrator) and that this will be managed according to Data Protection Act principles.
I understand that this project cannot be submitted for ethics approval in more than one department, and that if I wish to appeal against the decision made, this must be done through the original department.
Name of Supervisor: DR ANDREW MADDEN Name of student: HAJAH NURULHUDA BINTI HAJI MOHAMAD Signature of student: