Digging into the Subjectivity of Mobile Apps “Non-Users” – A Single Case Study Approach

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) use is a matter of societal importance. These technologies are developing at a rapid pace and require significant investments on the part of governments, companies and even individuals. Their adoption in everyday life constitutes a challenge as the potentialities of ICT are plentiful: education, business, health and culture are a few of the many sectors impacted by IT. This is even truer with mobile technologies. The reasons why people accept and adopt these technologies remain a vast domain for research. In this project, instead of focusing on the reasons for accepting and using ICT, a reverse viewpoint was taken, trying to investigate the subjectivity of one “non-userâ€. Building upon the avenue suggested by Stephenson that a single case study might be as rich as studies with several individuals, an investigation was conducted using nine conditions of instruction with the same participant ( Q sample=29; P sample=1). The research findings revealed four distinctive viewpoints and that “non-use†was far from being a homogeneous concept.