Distinguishing knowledge-sharing, knowledge-construction, and knowledge-creation discourses

van Aalst, Jan

The profiles of Groups B and C are more difficult to interpret because they include nearly equal numbers of predictions of all three of the discourse types. This could be caused by a variety of factors including the existence of smaller units of social organization that approach the discourse differently and contextual dependencies that cause the discourse on one problem to be qualitatively different from that on another. This possibility was explored for Group B using inquiry thread analysis. (Group B was chosen for this because we already know that Group C fell behind in Phase 1 and had less time for its inquiry in Phase 2.) Fig. 1 Number of correct predictions of discourse types from sub-code frequencies. Two sub-codes from each main code were used, leading to at most 14 correct predictions per group. However, because some subcodes did not uniquely predict a single discourse type and some did not correctly predict any type the number of predictions per group is generally different from 14 An inquiry thread is a temporally ordered sequence of notes on the same problem or topic. The notes need not be hyperlinked to be part of the same inquiry thread, and it also is possible that notes that are hyperlinked are not part of the same inquiry thread (for details on the method see Zhang et al. 2007 ). Nine inquiry threads were identified, of which six were active for more than a month. The longest thread (13 notes, 7 authors, and 12 readers) was active throughout the entire project and examined scientific mechanisms by which Avian Flu infection occurs; it included relatively many of the instances of concept, explanation, and deepening inquiry identified in the coding. A similar inquiry thread, but of shorter duration, began in the second half of Phase 2, and focused on a causal explanation of why children may be less susceptible to SARS (10 notes, 6 authors, 10 readers). Threads that were more descriptive were general explorations of SARS and Avian Flu in the first 3 weeks of the project, and somewhat argumentative discussions of how the media had handled the SARS outbreak, the disposal of chickens infected by Avian Flu, and the prevention of Avian Flu. Although deeper analysis would be useful, these results generally support the context-dependence hypothesis. Group B engaged in more explanation-oriented discourse when relevant concepts were available, and less when exploring SARS and Avian Flu in general and when concepts were not available.