SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSIONS

Participation in a Group Audio Conferencing and Textual Chat as Affected by

Communicator's Personality Characteristics and Discussion Topics

Ina Blau

and Azy Barak

Department of Learning, Instruction & Teacher Education, University of Haifa, Israel

Chais Research Center for Integration of Technology in Education, The Open University, Ra'anana, Israel

Department of Counseling & Human Development

Department of Learning, Instruction & Teacher Education, University of Haifa, Israel

Keywords: Online discussion, Participation, Synchronous e-learning, e-Communication, Extroversion-introversion,

Discussion topic, Audio conferencing, Textual chat.

Abstract: The development of instructional technology increases the use of synchronous e-learning procedures which

enable real-time interactions. The study explores whether the willingness to participate as well as actual

participation in synchronous group discussions is affected by participant personality (extroversion-

introversion), medium characteristics and discussion topic sensitivity. The research is composed of two

sequenced sub-studies. The first one investigates the willingness to participate while the second study

explores the degree of actual participation in discussions. An online self-report questionnaire was

completed by 405 adult Internet users. Following that, 120 volunteers extracted from this sample were

randomly assigned to face-to-face, audio conferencing, or textual chat gender-mixed experimental

conditions and conducted two short discussions (having low and high degrees of topic sensitivity). The

relation between estimated and actual participation was explored, as well as the equalization effect of online

interactions. The first study findings show that, in general, participants prefer conventional over sensitive

discussion topic; they also prefer face-to-face discussion rather than online communication. As

hypothesized, participant personality affects the willingness to partake in discussions: extroverts prefer

taking part via a more revealing communication medium; introverts express greater readiness for discussion

via textual chat. The results of the study expand the understanding of student behaviour in synchronous e-

learning.

1 INTRODUCTION

The quick development of Internet technologies

increases the use of synchronous communication

which enables real-time interpersonal interactions in

cyberspace. Participation in online group discussions

is affected, among other factors, by medium

characteristics, discussion topics, and participant

personality. The present study investigates the level

of participation in face-to-face communication

versus synchronous interaction through audio

conferencing and textual chat. Specifically, the study

explores whether the willingness to participate, as

well as actual participation in group discussions, is

affected by participant personality (i.e., extroversion-

introversion), medium characteristics, and the

sensitivity of discussion topic. At this point in time,

the research of the willingness to participate in group

discussions (the first study of two-study series) is

finished, and the exploration of actual participation

(the second study) is work-in-progress. The results

expand the understanding of behaviour in

synchronous e-learning, and group e-communication

within social and organizational contexts.

2 RELATED STUDIES

There are several theories that differentiate media by

their inherent features in order to predict efficient

communication. One of the leading theoretical

approaches is the Media Richness Theory (Daft &

Blau I. and Barak A. (2009).

SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSIONS - Participation in a Group Audio Conferencing and Textual Chat as Affected by Communicator’s Personality

Characteristics and Discussion Topics.

In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Computer Supported Education, pages 18-23

 SciTePress

Lengel, 1984). According to this theory, face-to-face

communication is considered the most efficient way

to convey complex messages. Empirical research

regarding the influence of media richness on

communication provides mixed results: some studies

found evidence supporting it (for recent review see

Donabedian, 2006), while other findings pointed to

the fact that a rich medium provides distracters that

may negatively affect communication (Blau &

Caspi, 2008; Caspi & Levin, 2008; Setlock,

Quinones & Fussell, 2007). Some researchers even

claimed that a "lean" communication medium (such

as e-mail or textual chat) may provide rich

interpersonal communication. Walther's (1996;

2007) findings on the "hyperpersonal effect" of e-

communication showed that text-based interaction

can possibly equal or even exceed relational effects

derived from comparable face-to-face interactions.

This approach received extensive theoretical and

empirical support in studying online communication

(e.g., Joinson, 2003; 2007; Suler, 2004) and e-

learning (e.g., O’Sullivan, Hunt, & Lippert, 2004).

The claim that online video, audio, or textual chat

may be as efficient as face-to-face communication

(Walther, Loh & Granka, 2005) has been studied

mostly in a textual environment. The increasing use

of online audio and video conferencing (Ng, 2007;

Wang, 2006) requires studying the impact of these

media' characteristics on online behaviour. Voice

provides meta-communication features of human

messages through loudness, intonation, pitch, and

breaks (Pickett, 1998). Thus, audio conferencing

may have a different effect on interpersonal

interaction than chat (Barak, 2007), and result in

different group behaviour (Blau & Caspi, 2007).

Studies comparing synchronous online and face-

to-face communication showed controversial results:

while some of them found decreased participation in

audio conferencing and textual chat (Berge & Fjuk,

2006), others claimed that textual chat (Hudson &

Bruckman, 2002; Lobel et al., 2002) and audio

conferencing (Blau & Caspi, 2008) increase

participation compared to offline interaction.

Personality characteristics of users may impact

interpersonal and group online behaviour; the trait of

extroversion-introversion is considered of particular

relevance to Internet use (Amichai-Hamburger,

2005; 2007). An extrovert is a friendly person who

seeks company, desires excitement, takes risks, and

acts on impulse, whereas an introvert is a quiet,

reflective person who prefers his or her own

company, does not enjoy large social events, and

does not crave excitement (Eysenck & Eysenck,

1975). Discussing the role of the Internet as a

compensatory psychological tool, Kraut et al. (2002)

claimed that people who easily befriend offline

would also have more online friends ("the rich get

richer" phenomenon). Other researchers hold that

the protected Internet environment may assist

introverts in expressing themselves more freely in an

online than in an offline relationship ("poor to get

rich"; Amichai-Hamburger, 2007; Maldonado, et

al., 2001; McKenna, Green & Gleason, 2002). It has

been noted that while extroverts feel comfortable

both offline and online, introverts express

themselves significantly more freely on the net

(McKenna, Seidman, Buffardi & Green, 2007).

Interacting online, introverts adopt offline behaviour

patterns of extroverts (Amichai-Hamburger,

Wainapel & Fox, 2002; Maldonado et al., 2001;

McKenna & Seidman, 2005), among others active

participation in discussions (McKenna et al., 2007).

It should be taken into consideration that the

relation between personality characteristics and

online behaviour may be mediated by participant

demographics (Hamburger & Ben-Artzi, 2000;

Maldonado et al., 2001), type and amount of Internet

use (Anolli,

Villani & Riva, 2005; Peris et al., 2002),

and discussion topic sensitivity (Hertel, Schroer,

Batinic & Naumann, 2008).

3 METHOD

The present study aims to explore some

psychological aspects of synchronous group

communication using the Internet. Group behaviour

in face-to-face communication versus online

interactions through audio conferencing and textual

chat are compared. Specifically, the study

investigates whether medium characteristics,

participant personality (i.e., extroversion –

introversion), and discussion topic sensitivity affect

the willingness to participate and the actual degree

of participation using the different media. The

research is composed of two sequenced sub-studies.

3.1 Study 1

The first study investigates the willingness to

participate in discussion as related to medium

characteristics, participant personality, and

discussion topic sensitivity. The hypotheses were

that extroversion-introversion would correlate with

willingness to participate in face-to-face

communication mode compared to audio

conferencing or textual chat discussion (because of

the differences in the degree of perceived

CSEDU 2009 - International Conference on Computer Supported Education

anonymity) and that the sensitivity of discussion

topic would augment this tendency.

3.1.1 Participants

An online viral sampling of 405 Israeli adult Internet

users, 118 of them men (29.1%), was composed.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of participants' age

(Range: 18-76, Median: 29, Mean: 31.89, SD: 10.97,

Skewness: 1.08).

age

80604020

Frequency

Figure 1: Participant age distribution.

Table 1 shows the percentage of the participants'

Internet usage in general and online synchronous

communication tools in particular.

Table 1: Percentage of the Internet and communication

applications usage.

Usage level

Internet-

general

Personal

chat

Chat

room

Audio

Each day 85.7 24.4 0.2 0.7

2-3 times at

week

10.6 14.6 0.7 6.2

Ones at week-

ones at month

3.7 13.8 3.2 9.4

Less then

ones at month

0 15.1 6.9 18

Not using 0 31.9 87.2 62.7

3.1.2 Instruments and Procedure

The participants completed an online self-report

questionnaire sent by email. To measure the trait of

extraversion-introversion we used a scale composed

of 12 items from Hebrew short version of the NEO-

PI-R questionnaire based on the Big Five model

(Costa & McCrae, 1992). Scale internal consistency

was high (α=.80). The score of extroversion-

introversion (Range: 21-69, Medium: 51, Mean:

51.26, SD: 8.08) was computed by summing up

participant answers to the items (scale 1-6). For the

statistical analysis the participants were divided into

two groups (extroverts and introverts) using the

median scale score (the participants who received

the median score were defined as introverts).

In addition, the participants were asked to

imagine group discussions and report (on a scale of

1-8) about their willingness to discuss conventional

and sensitive topics using different communication

media: face-to-face, audio conferencing and textual

chat (following Hertel et al., 2008).

3.2 Study 2

The second study explores the degree of actual

participation in a group discussion as influenced by

medium characteristics, participant personality, and

discussion topic sensitivity. In addition, the second

study investigates the relationship between estimated

and actual participation, as well as the equalization

effect of online communication (i.e., more equal

online participation compared to offline one,

because of the diminished status differences between

communicators). The hypotheses were that

extroversion-introversion would correlate with

actual participation in face-to-face versus audio

conferencing or textual chat discussions, and that the

sensitivity of discussion topic would augment this

tendency. In addition, it was hypothesized that the

willingness to participate positively correlates with

actual participation, and participant personality

characteristics moderate this correlation. Concerning

the equalization effect, it was hypothesized that

online participation would be more equal compared

to offline one, and the participation using textual

chat would be more equal in comparison to

participation through audio conferencing.

The participants of the second study consisted of

120 volunteers derived from Study 1. The

participants were randomly assigned to three (i.e.,

face-to-face, audio conferencing and textual chat)

gender-mixed experimental conditions and two short

non moderated discussions (i.e., having low and

high degree of topic sensitivity) were conducted.

The discussions were recorded and the willingness

to participate was compared to actual behaviour in

each communication mode.

SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE DISCUSSIONS - Participation in a Group Audio Conferencing and Textual Chat as Affected

by Communicator's Personality Characteristics and Discussion Topics

4 STUDY 1 RESULTS AND

DISCUSSION

4.1 Effects of Media and Discussion

Topics

Table 2 shows the means (1 = "not at all", 8 = "very

much") and SDs of the participants' willingness to

discuss the conventional and sensitive topics through

audio conference, chat, and face-to-face.

Table 2: Means and SDs of the willingness to discuss

different topics through communication media.

Medium

Topic Sensitivity

F2F Audio Chat Average

Conventional M

6.60

1.57

3.15

1.90

3.23

1.95

4.33

1.06

Sensitive M

6.06

1.98

2.66

1.77

3.06

2.26

3.93

1.03

Average M

6.33

1.43

2.90

1.63

3.14

1.80

4.13

0.91

A 2x3 repeated measures ANOVA showed main

effects for communication medium, the sensitivity of

the discussion topic, and their interaction (see Table

3).

Table 3: Effects of medium and discussion topic

sensitivity on the willingness to participate: Repeated

measures ANOVA.

Effect F df p

Medium 483.1 2, 403 <.001

Topic 62.02 1, 404 <.001

Interaction 3.45 2, 403 <.05

Generally, participants preferred the

conventional (M=4.33) over the sensitive discussion

topic (M=3.93, p<.001); they also preferred face-to-

face discussion (M=6.33) rather than audio

conferencing (M=2.90) and chat communication

(M=3.14, p<.001). For online interactions,

participants preferred using chat rather than audio

conferencing (p<.05). Discussing a conventional

topic, there were no statistically significant

differences between audio (M=3.15) and textual

communication (M=3.23), but offline interaction

(M=6.60) was preferable than both online

communication modes (p<.001). Discussing a

sensitive topic, the participants also preferred offline

(M=6.06) than online communication, but chat

(M=3.06) was preferable than the interaction

through audio conferencing (M=2.66, p<.001). Is

seems that participants felt more comfortable

discussing the sensitive topic via a "lean"

communication medium. The use of personal textual

chat mediated the media effect on the willingness to

participate in discussions; using audio conferencing

mediated the effects of medium, discussion topic

and their interaction. Thus, participants' media

preferences seem to be affected by their past

experiences in using audio conferencing and chat

communication.

4.2 Effects of

Extroversion -Introversion Trait

Table 4 shows the means and SDs of extroverts' and

introverts' willingness to discuss different topics

using different communication media. As

hypothesized, participant personality affected the

willingness to partake in discussions (see Table 5).

In general, extroverts (M=4.29) were more

inclined to participate in discussions than introverts

(M=3.98). Participant personality interacted with

type of medium. There was no statistically

significant difference in willingness of extroverts

(3.11) and introverts (3.18) to discuss through

textual chat. However, using audio conferencing

(p<.01) and face-to-face (p<.001) extroverts (audio

conferencing M=3.12, face-to-face M=6.63) were

more inclined to partake compared to introverts

(audio conferencing M=2.70, face-to-face M=6.05).

Table 4: Means and SDs of the willingness to discuss by extroversion-introversion, type of medium, and topic sensitivity.

Extroverts Introverts

Medium

Topic Sensitivity

F2F Audio Chat Average F2F Audio Chat Average

Conventional M

6.88

1.36

3.41

1.90

3.21

1.87

4.50

1.05

6.34

1.70

2.91

1.87

3.25

2.03

4.17

1.06

Sensitive M

6.39

1.86

2.83

1.77

3.01

2.21

4.08

0.96

5.75

2.04

2.50

1.75

3.11

2.30

3.79

1.06

Average M

6.33

1.43

3.12

1.60

3.11

1.72

4.29

0.86

6.05

1.54

2.70

1.63

3.18

1.87

3.98

0.94

CSEDU 2009 - International Conference on Computer Supported Education

Through online discussions, extroverts did not

show preferences for a particular communication

medium, while introverts preferred chat (M=3.18)

than audio conferencing interactions (M=2.70,

p<.01).

Thus, introverts expressed greater readiness for

discussions via medium low in transmitting social

communication cues than did extroverts. The use of

personal textual chat mediated the extroversion-

introversion trait effect on willingness to participate

in discussions.

Table 5: Effects of extroversion-introversion, medium, and

discussion topic sensitivity on the willingness to

participate: Repeated measures ANOVA.

Effect F df p

Extroversion 12.14 1, 404 <.001

Type of medium 484.26 2, 403 <.001

Topic sensitivity 62.01 1, 404 <.001

Medium x

Extroversion

3.81 2, 403 <.05

Topic x

Extroversion

.14 1, 404 n.s.

Medium x Topic 3.46 2, 403 <.05

Medium x Topic

x Extroversion

.54 2, 403 n.s.

5 THE STUDY CONTRIBUTIONS

The current study contributes to cyberspace and

media communication research. On the theoretical

level, the study explores the effect of

communication media as well as psychological

factors on online behaviour. The impact of

personality characteristics and their interaction with

media features are analyzed. Online interaction is

investigated through communication media having

different degrees of anonymity (visual anonymity vs.

both visual and auditory anonymity).

Methodologically, the study combines

quantitative (measurement by a questionnaire) and

qualitative (a content analysis) research methods.

Such a mixed design allows the exploration of both

universal and unique aspects of human online

behaviour. A methodological weakness of previous

studies was overcome through random assignment

of participants into different experimental

conditions. However, the study did not rely on a

laboratory experiment; conducting the research in a

natural habitat of actual Internet environment

improves the ecological validity of the study and

enlarges the generalization of its findings (Riva,

Teruzzi & Anolli, 2003). In addition, the study

crosschecked the willingness to communicate

through different media with actual online

behaviour, and explored whether participant

personality characteristics moderate the relationship

between the declared and actual participation.

The present study proposes some implications

concerning the use of synchronous online

communication, and especially audio conferencing

which – despite its growing use in social, learning,

and organizational context – has rarely been studied.

In addition, the study explores both social and

performance aspects of communication – a

combination especially relevant to e-learning and

group e-communication in organizations. The results

of the study broaden the understanding of human

behaviour in synchronous online communication.

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