Buehrle Final Action Research Report

Information and Learning Technologies Masters Program INTE 6720, Research in Information and Learning Technologies Under Direction
of Professor Jennifer VanBerschot, Ph.D.
April 2012
A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I:
Improving Communication via Online Tools to Cultivate a Cohesive Community at ICHTHUS Ministries
Stephenie Buehrle Graduate Student
A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I
Introduction and Problem Statement

The landscape of business, community, even friendships and family has significantly evolved with the internet and the establishment of web 2.0 tools and social media. Organizations struggle to understand where to begin, how to participate and are uncertain about how to most effectively establish their digital or online presence. As an extension of this statement, organizations often do not know exactly what they hope to achieve by establishing a web presence. Certainly, institutions of all sizes and disciplines stand to gain a wide range of benefits with an approach that aligns their goals and strategies with optimal tools and mindful implementation. I am a member of ICHTUS Ministries (the name of the organization has been changed to the alias of the Management Teams choosing), and I was invited by a member of the Management Team to help the church craft a strategic approach to achieving a digital presence. They recognized that, in the absence of a strategic plan, they would likely follow one of two common ill-fated paths. First, poor or inconsistent communication could alienate members rather than attract them to become more engaged in the church. On the other hand, members might have continued to build their own sites and to establish accounts without a strategic plan or guidance, leaving the institution and its members vulnerable to misuse. While I have extensive experience in process optimization, system implementation and the associated training and communication considerations, only in recent years had I become involved in activities concerning the broad space of online tools and social media. Recognizing the immeasurable potential of penetration that these tools have and will continue to have in institutions of all types, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to draw on past experiences and to amass new ones. As a member of the church, I am very interested in their goals, missions, events, activities and in being a part of the church community. Engagement in the church had become increasingly difficult for me as a married mother of two rambunctious toddlers, who works full time, attends graduate school and attempts to support and maintain relationships with my extended family. I read about 20% of the churchs electronic mail and followed the goings on of a handful of families that I knew through church on Facebook. I certainly was not actively engaged, but I did interact with church leadership on occasion to ask questions, offer suggestions or support, to make requests and, from time to time, to simply foster relationships. My inquiry about a church Facebook page and expressed interest in the communications of the church is what prompted the church representative to request my help with this project. Our early discussions, which were more exploratory in nature, were intended to inspire and motivate while also imparting the importance of focusing on meeting a particular need using online tools as a vehicle rather than engaging in online media without a plan. The timing of this community project aligned perfectly with the onset of my Research in Information and Learning Technologies graduate course. The incorporation of this project into my coursework helped to provide structure, intermediate milestones, a timeline, and
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an invaluable pool of resources in the form of professional and peer reviews of the research.
Purpose and Intended Audience

The principal objective of the research was to meet ICHTHUS Ministries desire to improve communications between and among the church and the congregation to, in turn, foster a more cohesive community. With intention, the first phase of research concentrated on the existing membership and not on the potentially larger virtual community that may later be established and perpetuated online. Through this work, ICHTHUS Ministries hoped to create 1) a public face for the ministry and 2) an on-line community for the attendees for the free exchange of information and stories within the larger community of ICHTHUS Ministries and within smaller, satellite communities (sub-communities) [of] the larger body (anonymous personal communication, February 13, 2012). While the primary audience of the research was ICHTHUS Ministries Management Team, the intent was for the entire church body to realize and partake in the benefits of the research, the improved communication, and greater engagement in the church community. Due to the timing of the project and subsequent pairing with my graduate coursework, the purpose was also to meet the requirements of the University of Colorado Denvers INTE 6720, Research in Information and Learning Technologies course. In this context, Professor VanBerschot and my peers in the program were also among the audience members of the research. As the methodology might serve as a reference for other studies and projects where establishing a strategic approach to achieving a digital presence is paramount particularly for religious organizationsthe audience might also include others engaged in such endeavors.
Research Questions
Discussions with the Management Team at ICHTHUS Ministries, following the pairing of the community project with the graduate coursework, led us to set a course and to select a focus or pilot for this first phase of research. The Management Team was primarily concerned with using online media to improve communication within the current church body (existing membership) in order to build a more cohesive community. With this in mind, the Management Team at ICHTHUS Ministries crafted the following as the principle research question: How can ICHTHUS Ministries shape their online presence to create 1) a public face for the ministry and 2) an on-line community for the attendees for the free exchange of information and stories within the larger community of ICHTHUS Ministries and within smaller, satellite communities (sub-communities) [of] the larger body?
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Given that the church expressed great concern for improving online communication, building a more cohesive community and the fact that they did not have a budget for software development or investment in a custom solution, the secondary questions guiding the research were: How can ICHTHUS Ministries improve online communication with and among the current membership? How can ICHTHUS Ministries online communication help to build a more cohesive community among members? Which existing online vehicle(s) is best suited to assist the organization in improving communication with and among their current membership? I want to note that I initially set out to help the organization identify the best tool, or tools, to meet their needs and planned to further research best practices regarding the implementation of the selected tool(s). I had hoped to provide the stewards direction regarding the objectives for each medium and to share guidelines for directly engaging community members online. Upon gathering a better understanding of the timeline and milestones of the research program, it became clear that this scope was still too large to effectively research within the boundaries of the course. Upon this realization, we reframed the research to focus on the identification of an online communication tool, or tools that could be used for enrichment of ICTHUS Ministries community.
Context of Study
At the time of inquiry, approximately 616 households were represented in ICHTHUS Ministries congregation. This translated to approximately 1,464 members made up of 872 adults and 592 children. The congregation meets in the northwest suburbs of Denver, Colorado. The family-focused church is of the multi-ethnic Evangelical Covenant Church denomination. As a member of ICHTHUS Ministries, I recalled receiving periodic emails on a wide variety of topics ranging from information on the weeks events and requests for prayer, to job notices and announcements. I inquired about whether the church had considered setting up a Facebook page similar to one used by another church in our community so that members of the congregation could more easily share and receive such information. This inquiry led a member of the Management Team of ICHTHUS Ministries to ask if I would help the church craft a strategic approach to achieving a digital presence. The representative reported that, up to that point, the church had established a web site and two of their ministries had (or, set up) their own Facebook pages. They shared weekly and monthly email updates with those who had provided email addresses, and several members of the staff had Twitter and Facebook accounts. They had not applied a master plan or strategy to the employment of online tools and, therefore, the congregation and others witnessing their presence were unsure of the best way to provide and to receive
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information. Left unattended or without a plan and governance, this community was without an easily accessible or reliable means of communication. Large segments of the population served may only have received partial information and might have either struggled to engage, or they might not have engaged at all. Ultimately, the communication issues raised resulted in concern for their effectiveness regarding church community development.
Literature Review
Throughout the course of the project, I heard it repeated many times that communication is the single greatest issue or problem of the churchand not just the church that I was focused on for this action research project, but every church. Performing a review of literature was critical to help me gain insights into this area of research. For example, I set out to find scholarly studies on the use of the internet to improve church communications. Additionally, the review of literature was useful for determining what conclusions others have reached based upon their research. What I found was an overwhelming amount of information and literature on every combination of topics surrounding church communication, social media, creating or improving community and creating community online. There were also some apparent themes in the research and some clear gaps. Religious institutions, like all institutions, stand to benefit by engaging in online communications. This finding was not particularly surprising. Perhaps more surprising was the finding that community can be enjoyed in virtually any environment, pun intended. Because we are primarily concerned with how to improve online communication for ICHTHUS Ministries, an unfortunate finding was that there are probably as many ways to go about getting started as there are results on a search for online church. While the literature review findings did not prove useful as a guide for practical application, it did result in an abundance of encouragement for entering into the online communication space. It also provided support for the possibility of fostering and enriching community using online media. Additionally, the review supplied a wide array of examples that might serve as models for ICHTHUS Ministries and other religious organizations.
Literature Review Questions

The overall research question also served as the primary focus for my literature review. How can ICHTHUS Ministries shape their online presence to create 1) a public face for the ministry and 2) an on-line community for the attendees for the free exchange of information and stories within the larger community of ICHTHUS Ministries and within smaller, satellite communities (sub-communities) [of] the larger body? For the purposes of finding applicable sources, I adjusted the literature review questions slightly from the overall questions: 1. How can religious institutions utilize the internet and social media to communicate with the congregation?
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2. How can churches foster community using the internet or social media? 3. How can religious institutions engage the congregation online?
Literature Search Procedures

I started with generic Google searches on phrases such as church communications online, improving communication between church and congregation, improving communication between church and congregation using social media, and engage membership using social networking in religious organizations. All of these searches yielded thousands of results. While I did find a few in the top search results that were helpful, I continued to narrow my search. I transitioned to Advanced Searches on Google Scholar. Initially, I focused on a keyword search where all of the following words appear anywhere in the text: communications, church, social, and media. This produced more than 386,000 results. A related search narrowing to just those articles where my words occur in the title of the article returned 5 results that were not related to my research or Literature Review questions. Much of the literature at this point related to the impact of church on social communication or the responsibility of the church regarding social media. I discarded these results as they were not relevant for this undertaking. I started again with a Google Scholar Advanced Search for online church where my words occur in the title and looked only in the areas of biology, life sciences, and environmental science; and social sciences, arts, and humanities. This yielded 42 results that were more in-line with my research. In addition to examining these 42 results, I looked further into the resources cited within the 42 results and looked at literature that cited the related works that I had found. I did find two relevant and useful pieces. In addition to the Google searches, I reviewed literature that had been shared with me by the management team of the church and followed a similar pattern of looking more closely at those cited in these materials. This led me to some great examples that will prove useful for exploring further with the management team. Finally, I explored the Auraria Library online and the Skyline Catalog. Coming up with no relevant literature, I enlisted the help of the online librarian who escorted me through the EBSCOhosts Academic Search Premier database. With her direction, I was able to find three sources that were related to my topic. I circled back to the Academic Search Premier Plus database and found a few studies that were relevant and helpful for gaining insights into my research area.
Literature Review Findings

When focusing on how to improve church communications using online tools in order to create a more cohesive community, the literature generally fell into one of two themes: 1)
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churches should be communicating online and 2) face to face interaction is not required to create community. A third observation: there are numerous examples of religious organizations using social media to communicate and serve a wide range of purposes online.
Encouragement for the church to communicate online

I discovered an abundance of material declaring that online communication and social media are standard communication tools. Embracing online forms of communication is a critical consideration for virtually all organizations, including the church. Mullins (2011) asserts in his doctoral dissertation that [the internet] is potentially the very tool that God will choose to use to reach every tribe in every nation. The church must consider this challenge carefully and be openly willing to take up the charge from God to carry out His mission online (p. 47). To this point, Mullins (2011) traced online church participation back to more than 100 different countries (p. 36). While his dissertation does not explicitly detail the data collected, it appears that he spent approximately two years studying online church and received input in the form of survey responses from 19 different pastors, 89 church staff members and an estimated 384 congregation members (Mullins, 2011, p. 165-197). Furthermore, he posited that online church is more efficient than the physical church in the area of accessibility based on his research finding that 63.5% of those surveyed agreed that they felt they could connect with a pastor via e-mail or online chat when needed or desired (Mullins, 2011, p. 101). Persinger (2009) urges churches to not wait until members are ready for the technology. Instead, he suggests that leaders think of creative ways to take them by the hand and impart knowledge through baby-step experiences (Persinger, 2009, para. 5). Similarly encouraging, Graham (2011) referenced a higher authority in her piece Facebook, social media can bring church back to its roots when she quoted Pope Benedict XVI who said, I would like then to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible (para. 9). I found it interesting that at about the same time that Graham quoted the Pope, Noomen, Aupers and Houtman (2011), completed their research study including in-depth qualitative interviews with twenty-one web designers who either professionally or on a voluntary basis work in the Dutch Catholic, Protestant or spiritual milieus (p. 1103). Of those, nine were engaged with the Catholic field, six with the Protestant milieu, and six who associated themselves with the field of holistic spirituality (Noomen, Aupers & Houtman, 2011, p. 1103-1104). They determined that all of the groups in the study struggled with less television and print (newspaper or periodical) access to their audiences and, therefore, turned to the internet as the only channel left through which the church can directly address an audience (Noomen, Aupers & Houtman, 2011, p. 1105).
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So, the use of online media to communicate with the congregation might be a necessary path for communication as other, more traditional media is used less or no longer used at all. While these sources did not explicitly study online communication methods with current membership, they do represent a wide array of sources that strongly encourage churches to engage online media as a vehicle for communication. They also serve as examples and food for thought as ICHTHUS Ministries considers which vehicles might be best suited for their communication goals.
A community can be generated and well supported online

Several sources state that community can certainly be fostered online. Similar to the Noomen study (2011) referenced previously, Cheong, Poon, Huang, and Casas (2009) not only conducted in-depth face-to-face interviews with twenty representatives of religious institutions, they also conducted a websphere and hyperlink analysis of 177 websites of Protestant Christian organizations (p. 294). Through their research, they found that the internet is much more than a medium to engage in begrudgingly as a last resort (Noomen, Aupers & Houtman, 2011, p. 1105) it provides a vehicle for a wide range of communications as shown in Table 1 (Cheong, Poon, Huang, & Casas, 2009, p. 296). Citing a number of supporting resources, they also stress that the combined use of images, audiovisuals, and interactivity, in addition to maps, texts (e.g., description of church community), and numbers (e.g., membership size), enables sight and sound to be connected to place, which in turn reinforces religious community building (Cheong, Poon, Huang, & Casas, 2009, p. 295).
Table 1. Representation of religious organizations online
Religion-online Total (%) Background of organization 80.2 History of organization 58.2 Faith beliefs/vision 77.3 Religious services 88.7 Religious programs 81.4 Community programs 41.7 Photo gallery 37.1 Map of church 67.8 Webcast 8.5 Audiocast 47.5 Discussion forum 14.1 Note. N = 177 references. (Cheong, Poon, Huang, & Casas, 2009, p. 296)
While twenty five of the 177 institutions in the Cheong (2009) analysis see value in providing a link to an interactive online forum or virtual community (p. 295), there are still many religious leaders who feel strongly that online or virtual interactions can never replace physical or face-to-face, real-life membership (Dixon cited in Hutchings, 2007, p. 246). Even so, there is no doubt that religious congregants from all reaches are fixed on the idea of incorporating technology in their spiritual undertakings and in generating community online. In Hutchings (2007) case study approach, the survey results of one of the three institutions studied showed that among the 114 respondents to the survey, half would contradict Dixons remark, as 49.6% regarded themselves as belonging to the online church (p. 248). What's more, while 93% had previously attended physical church, just under 50% continue to do so (Hutchings, 2007, p. 248). Estes (2009), made it plain to see why there are a number of people on both sides of the argument concerning whether community can be created online. "It seems impossible that
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people scattered all over the world can sit in front of machines and somehow form real community. And it is impossible if we look at the computer to try to understand such an outlandish claim (p. 56-57). Estes (2009) went on to say, The computer doesnt hold the answer; people doIts not the technology that creates community; its the people" (p. 57). Moreover, Estes (2009) believes that online communications are not only conducive to the development of community; he also declares that virtual-church communities could improve connections between believers (p. 71). His excitement about the time that we find ourselves in is contagious. Researchers, Campbell and Calderon (2007), not only believe that community can exist online; they set out to identify exactly what constitutes a Christian community online (p. 262). In their study, they observed the interactions of participants on an online bulletin board and found that discussion threads monitored from August through November, 2006, fell into four themes: topics of religion/faith (which amounted to 408 discussion threads), self-revelation towards community (included 169 threads), connection (which included 58 threads) and prayer and encouragement which included 52 threads (Campbell & Calderon, 2007, p. 272). Because ICHTHUS Ministries feels strongly about building community and encouraging two-way communication, these findings will certainly be taken into consideration. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that a growing number of believers worldwide feel so strongly in the ability to establish community online that they are founding wholly online churches, often referred to as virtual churches, in great numbers. In fact, this was the primary focus of the thesis submitted by Gilmore in 2009 entitled A Church Without Walls: Finding Community in Central Christian Churchs Online Campus. In her research, she identified twelve churches in the world attempting this online, interactive presence with what they call Internet (or online) campuses (2009, p. 1). Of the177 centralonlinecampus.com participants who completed Gilmores (2009) survey, 74% are registered online (p. 21). This is an important point, she emphasizes, as the traditional sense of community can be severely weakened if participants in the community are permitted to remain anonymous (Lindlof cited in Gilmore, 2009, p. 21-22). While ICHTHUS Ministries was not interested in establishing an online church (at least not yet), these findings certainly support the notion that churches can engage the congregation online and can foster community using the Internet. It also provides some useful and actionable guidance on best practices for supporting community, in the traditional sense, online.
A Sea of Examples
I encountered innumerable examples of religious institutions embarking on the use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and many are blogging and beginning to incorporate mobile technology in their practices. To get an idea of the wide range of applications, one needs only to type church and Facebook into any search engine and see the long list that results.
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At the time of this review, blogs, Facebook and Twitter seemed to be the vehicles of choice for churches (and a wide range of other institutions, as well). While it was not originally planned as a formal segment or data collection scheme for this research project, observing the variety of methods employed for the use of social media by religious institutions provided a great deal of information and ideas for how a church might use online tools to engage in two-way communication with their congregation. Take, for example, Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, Mich., [which] spent two weeks educating their congregation about Twitter (Rochman, 2009). Rochman identified Mars Hill as one of these examples where churchgoers regularly tweet throughout the service (2009). While Westwinds seems to use Twitter primarily to engage the members of their brick and mortar congregation during services (with over 600 followers), Mars Hill has nearly 37,000 followers from all over the world. It appears that Mars Hill is also engaging the members of their 14 physical churches while simultaneously attracting followers exclusively online. Rochman made reference to another church called Trinity Church. When I attempted to locate this church on Twitter, I was met with the results that you see illustrated to the right in Figure 1. The image is not meant to be legible, but to illustrate how many churches with a name very similar to Trinity Church that have accounts on Twitter. As declared in this sections heading, there was a sea of examples. The Chapel, a church in Libertyville, Illinois, was one of another seemingly endless list of churchesthis list representing churches with Fan Pages on Facebook. According to Persinger (2009), The Chapel was using Facebook to share updated news feeds, videos, event notifications and more (para. 10). Many of these examples provide compelling evidence that churches can communicate using social media and can engage their congregants online fostering a stronger sense of community among their members. They could even be helpful in crafting a plan for how a church can engage their congregation online in order to achieve a more cohesive community.
Quality of Literature
In reporting on the quality of literature, I have first detailed the parameters that I set for my literature search and, secondly, discuss the quality of several sources and their research methods.
Parameters for Literature Search

As recommended by Koshy (2010), I worked to get a balance of books and papers (p. 51). I also focused only on literature published within seven to ten years ago (p. 51). I followed Koshys guidance to include refereed papers (2010, p. 51) and looked for primary sources (Thomas, 2009, p. 30).
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The breakdown of sources as they relate to the quality parameters that I set for my research is presented in Table 2 below.
Table 2. Quality of Sources
Source The Question of Christian Community Online: The Case of the Artist World Network The Internet Highway and Religious Communities: Mapping and Contesting Spaces in Religion-Online The reason your church must Twitter SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World Creating Church Online: A Case-Study Approach to Religious Experience A Church Without Walls: Finding Community in Central Christian Churchs Online Campus Facebook, social media can bring church back to its roots Action research for improving educational practice Online Church: A Biblical Community RSS-Powerful Potential for Ministries In Their Own Image? Dont wait! Introduce new technology to your congregation Twittering in Church, with the Pastor's O.K Dialogue on Facebook How to do Your Research Project: A Guide for Students in Education and Applied Social Sciences
Type Journal Article Journal Article eBook eBook Journal Article Masters Thesis Blog Book Doctoral Dissertation Journal Article Journal Article Blog Article Blog eBook
Publish Date 2007 2009 2009 2009 2007 2009 2011 2010 2011 2006 2011 2009 2009 2009 2009
Refereed X X
Primary X X
X X X
X X
X X X X
As shown in the table above, all sources were 6 years old or newer at the time of inquiry. I included five journal articles, a Masters Thesis and a Doctoral Dissertation. Six of the sources (perhaps more) were peer reviewed or refereed. Several sources, while not refereed, are primary sourcesin other words, written by individuals with first-hand experience of the claims and results described in their literature.
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Critique of Research Methods

Of course, the blogs, books and other sources that are not examples of peer reviewed work do not substantiate their conclusions as convincingly as those where more formal research was performed. In the more formal studies, a number of participants were measured by a range of data collection methods, giving the findings more credence. Still, these less formal sources tended to provide examples and guidance that is directionally more similar to the how to assistance sought by ICHTHUS Ministries. With regard to the peer reviewed works, the following section examines the methods of research associated with several sources referenced in the literature review. In their qualitative study, Campbell and Calderon (2007) performed an in-depth content analysis of the threads shared on the discussion board that they monitored. I found their research to be thorough and well informed as they observed and considered a large sample of threads over a significant span of time. The large sample helps to establish the validity of their research. However, because they focused their research on one discussion board, the reliability of their research could have been in question. Might the results be skewed due to the similarities of participants attracted to this particular discussion board? By relating the conclusions of this study to those established from previous studies (Campbell & Calderon, 2007, p. 264), the researchers addressed the question of reliability. I also noted that Campbell has performed a great deal of research that has been acknowledged and published prior to this study (Campbell & Calderon, 2007, p. 277). I found the work performed by Cheong, Poon, Huang, and Casas (2009) to be interesting and compelling. While many researchers commonly rely on surveys or interviews as their instruments for collecting data, this research primarily rests on the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and associated data to empirically [examine] religion-online in order to understand how online technologies are employed for religious community building (p. 292). This research yielded strong quantitative results over a large sample set. Next, they added to the validity of their study by approaching the research questions from additional viewpoints with the use of surveys and in-depth interviews. Hence, they collected qualitative data for further analysis as a part of their methodology. This research happens to reference Campbells work, as well as demonstrate the breadth of experience that these authors have in performing such research. Authors Cheong and Poon have multiple refereed works published in their names. At first glance, Hutchings research might not seem valid or reliable because he only examined three participants or institutions in his study. How can the findings of a study based on three subjects be generalized to other like institutions? What gives Hutchings research credibility is the fact that each of his three participants is actually an institution at the center of a case study. Case study findings do lend themselves to generalization because they provide such detailed descriptions of cases (Koshy, 2010, p. 99) providing the reader a detailed account of reality that can then be related to the readers own experience (Koshy, 2010, p. 99). Koshy indicates that case studies can certainly be focused on a single case, but Hutchings work and findings are based on three cases, adding to the reliability of
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his results. Also, note that two of the three institutions studied by Hutchings conducted surveys, adding quantitative support to the qualitative work of his case study. Hutchings also performed interviews across all cases and performed direct observation. The use of multiple data collection instruments added validity to Hutchings research and findings.
Gap in Literature
Consider my analogy to recreating a masterfully prepared meal as I work to frame a clear depiction of the gap in the literature. Think of a time when you have eaten at an excellent restaurant. Imagine that you enjoyed something like plank grilled salmon with a New Orleans inspired remoulade sauce. If you wanted to recreate the dish, how would you go about reaching this goal? More than likely you would look for a recipe. What tools do you need? What ingredients do you need? Do you need to be concerned with the height of the flame and the time on the grill? Do you prepare the sauce in advance? What steps must you take to prepare the salmon? Without some pretty clear guidance on exactly how the chef prepared her masterpiece, you might be able to create a meal that is similar, but probably not the same as what you experienced and are seeking. This is, relatively speaking, the same scenario that I encountered in my Literature Review. ICHTHUS Ministries is seeking a more cohesive community by way of improved communications using online tools. How do they arrive at this goal? There is a great deal of literature that promotes generalities with regard to social media. It is clear that Facebook and Twitter are the media of choice for most religious organizations. From observation, it seems that the institutions are enjoying varying degrees of effective communication and have very diverse goals or purposes driving their engagement with these forms of media. This is the equivalent of observing that there are dozens of different ways to prepare salmon. What's more, it is not difficult to uncover materials that advise on the use of specific tools. For example, I came across a source with seemingly valuable advice for managing a Facebook page (Smith, 2011), and another excellent source demonstrating various uses and practical application of Twitter (Coppedge, 2009). I even came across a helpful guide for funneling useful materials to and from your church via RSS Feeds (Nicholaou, 2006). In keeping with my analogy, all of these guides are similar to finding resources on how to make a cream sauce or which type of wood you might choose for plank grilling. They are very helpful, but they are not answering the principal question. They are not providing the recipe. I did not locate a single source that provides guidance for a religious institution on how to embark on the adoption of the internet or social media for ones communication goals. I did not see anything that helped to determine what tools are needed and in what combination they should be applied to achieve the desired end result. As such, religious institutions are left with having to estimate which tools they should employ. Without step by step guidance, churches might move forward with the implementation of internet communication tools,
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social media or other technology without a pre-defined strategy. Some of these ill-planned implementations will bear fruit, while others will result in a dismal waste of time and effort that risks alienating the community rather than bringing them closer together. The target for this research was to provide ICHTHUS Ministries, and possibly other religious institutions, with a recipe for successful implementation. Combining the learning from observing numerous examples with the Literature Review findings and conclusions drawn from other sources, I sought to unveil the patterns that serve to improve communication and community for the church. Based on these findings, we planned to approach the selection of tools with the objectives in mind and to choose media applicable to the goal, therefore increasing the likelihood of achieving the desired end results.
Literature Review Summary

The literature certainly confirmed that online tools and social media have become the mainstay of communication. Theres no shortage of encouragement for religious institutions to take up technology and to work to leverage it for their missions. Furthermore, there is evidence that "community" can unequivocally be built and established online and that religious institutions are not exempt from this opportunity. Plus, most of the relevant resources confirmed the possibility for the church to improve communications with their membership using tools online. The Literature Review revealed countless examples of religious institutions doing just thattaking up technology and working to improve communications. This revelation further shaped the research, as it was plain to see that the vast number and variety of examples provided another data set for observation and learning. The prominent gap exposed by the Literature Review was the absence of research that addresses the question how? This was the central question that I had come to learn was (and likely still is) paramount for church leaders everywhere. "The number one question that churches struggle to answer is, how do we improve communication?" (Anonymous, personal communication, February 9, 2012). This research aspired to answer that question. Through this work, my plan was to provide the recipe or to map out guidance regarding what questions to ask, setting the goal, what tools are needed, what options exist and recommended implementation steps.
Methods
Through the data collection and analysis portion of our community action research, our aim was to identify potential vehicles for online communication and to determine the toolor toolsdeemed appropriate for fostering a more cohesive community at ICHTHUS Ministries. Furthermore, we sought to gather perceptions of the then current environment with regard to communication and community so as to establish a baseline for later comparison.
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Site Selection and Sampling

As mentioned previously, the timing of this community project aligned perfectly with the onset of my Research in Information and Learning Technologies graduate course. I chose to use this project as the focus of my research in hopes that the discipline reinforced by the program would serve to provide structure, intermediate milestones, a timeline, and an invaluable pool of resources in the form of professional and peer reviews of the research. Once I considered the need of the church and their expressed interest to embark on this project, I determined that it was a good fit and did align with the requirements of the Research in Information and Learning Technologies requirements. The stakeholder groups for this research included: The project champion and primary point of contact at ICHTHUS Ministries The Management Team at ICHTHUS Ministries The Congregation of ICHTHUS Ministries
Data Collection
The data collection instruments for this research included a survey and an interview. The intended application of these instruments in service to the research questions is presented in Table 3, below.
Table 3. Data Collection Instruments Listed by Research Question
Research Question
How can ICHTHUS Ministries shape their online presence to create 1) a public face for the ministry and 2) an on-line community for the attendees for the free exchange of information and stories within the larger community of ICHTHUS Ministries and within smaller, satellite communities (sub-communities) within the larger body? How can ICHTHUS Ministries improve online communication with and among the current membership?
Primary Source
Congregation Survey
Secondary Source
Subject Matter Expert Interview
Congregation Survey
Subject Matter Expert Interview Subject Matter Expert Interview Subject Matter Expert Interview
How can ICHTHUS Ministries online communication help to build a more cohesive community among members?
Congregation Survey
Which existing online vehicle(s) is best suited to assist the organization in improving communication with and among their current membership?
Congregation Survey
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There were three primary goals of the data collection portion of this research: 1. To establish a baseline regarding perceptions of engagement in the church community. 2. To establish a baseline regarding perceptions of communication. 3. To identify potential vehicles for online communication to determine the toolor toolsdeemed appropriate for the stated goal. In other words, the survey for the Management Team and congregation was designed to establish a baseline regarding participants perceptions, level of interest, and preferences regarding the church community, communication and online media. With a meet them where theyre at approach in mind, the survey was also intended to determine which online media might be more readily accepted and adopted by the congregation. The survey was initially piloted to the ICHTHUS Ministries Management Team on February 27, 2012. The Management Team completed the online version of the survey which was administered using Google Forms. Since the Management Team was an integral part of developing the plan and the survey, I encouraged them to share their feedback and to make recommendations regarding the survey that I would consider for implementation prior to distributing the survey to the congregation. We then launched the survey to additional church staff and the congregation online from March 2, 2012 through March 25, 2012 (see final version of the survey in Appendix C). Announcement of the survey was made via email on March 2nd. Fifty four respondents completed the online survey. The survey was delivered in hard-copy format to the attendees of ICHTHUS Ministries Town Hall Meeting on March 4, 2012. Sixty completed surveys were collected at the Town Hall Meeting. Finally, a hard-copy version of the survey was also included in the weekly bulletin distributed during church services on March 11 and March 25, 2012. Forty additional surveys were collected following distribution during church services. Together, this totals 154 surveys collected. Additionally, I conducted one interview with an expert in the field of social media: a Facebook employee assigned to work directly with business clients of the social networking giant. The interview was intended to gather information regarding the capabilities and potential fit of Facebook with the objectives of the church and this project. For this interview, I employed a semi-structured format and included open-ended questions (see interview questions and notes on responses in Appendix C). The 30 minute interview was conducted by telephone on March 3, 2012.
Data Analysis Procedures

The survey instrument yielded mostly quantitative results. While no open-ended questions were asked, some questions did include an Other option with a space to write in alternative responses. Conversely, the interview yielded qualitative data for examination and consideration.
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Quantitative Analysis
To analyze the quantitative data collected via the survey, I moved the data from a Google spreadsheet to Microsoft Excel. As recommended by Koshy (2010), on a separate sheet from the raw data, I created a table for each question where I could record the frequency of the various responses (p. 108). When the question called for one choice, I used sort and count functions in Excel to quantify the results. I also used the auto-sum function to doublecheck my work and ensure that I had accounted for responses from all 154 respondents (in some cases, the response was Not Selected). I want to note that the demographic data was not required in the online format, but all remaining questions were required. Because most of the surveys were completed in hardcopy, respondents were able to skip questions. This resulted in 30 surveys that did not select a response for questions that were intended to be required. I decided to include these responses for analysis for two reasons. First, 30 surveys makes up nearly 20% of the total number collected. This seemed like too large a portion to disregard. Second, the Management Team values every single response for each question and I wanted to be sure to account for each one. When multiple selections were possible, I used the Excel filter to quantify all cells in the questions response column that contained text representative of each choice. Next, I also looked at each response to identify any answers that were written in or added in the Other fields. Since the Other fields were the last choice for each of the multi-select questions, the responses that were added were easy to spot by sorting the response column in alphabetical order and then visually inspecting the data.
Qualitative Analysis
Making use of the Interview results required qualitative analysis. I started by reading my interview notes to get a sense of the data and how it related to my research (Koshy, 2010, p. 112). Upon reading my notes from the telephone interview, I felt that the data could be categorized as closely related to communication or to community or both. Additionally, during my first glance at the data, I felt that some comments were positive and some were negative. That is to say some comments indicated this might be a good tool choice for ICHTHUS Ministries while other comments indicated that this might not be a good tool choice for ICHTHUS Ministries. Per Koshy (2010), I constructed a table that would allow me to track my assessment of the comments (p. 112). I put each of the comments in the left side of the table. To the right of each comment I typed Communication and/or Community and I noted (+), (-), or (+, -). Next, I pasted the data into an Excel spreadsheet where I could filter the comments and look at the various combinations of Communication, Community, (+), (-), or (+, -).
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Ethical Procedures
In an effort to address potential ethical issues: I de-identified all participants and the organization throughout research documentation I kept identities of all participants and the organization confidential. I put careful consideration into the methods of collecting and storing data. I incorporated procedures ensuring the accuracy, trustworthiness and relevance of the information collected and the results. I also incorporated Research and Survey Permission Forms (see Appendices). (Koshy, 2010, p.82)
Impact
ICHTHUS Ministries was expected to emerge with an implemented strategy for establishing their online presence in a way that improves communication with and among the congregation to further their engagement in the church community. This research and the subsequent implementation at the church certainly caused some participants to push the boundaries of their comfort zonesor even to break them. Some members of the Management Team expressed reservations from early on in the project. Among the notions expressed were: whether the congregation would be interested in adopting the new technology, whether we could successfully train them and engage them in the new forms of communication, whether existing forms of communication would become obsolete, whether any change at all is even necessary and whether the investment of time and effort would prove to be valuable.
The Management Team continued to consider and discuss their concerns throughout the course of the project and research. As discussed more in the Findings section below, the data analysis portion of this research yielded inconclusive results (we were not able to clearly identify a tool or combination of tools that are both a great fit for the communication needs outlined by the Project Champion and tools that will be embraced by the majority of the congregation). In the absence of a conclusive result, the first phase of the project may have been perceived by some of the participants as a failure. Considering some of the reservations of the Management Team going into the first cycle of the research, some might also have been relieved that the results were inconclusive.
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I saw it as a single action research cycle and a tremendous learning experience that could lead to a more refined process for data collection in the second round of research. Discussions on the results of the data analysis led the Management Team to consider how surveys could be administered better in the future. Together we also discussed the positive outcome of having some demographic data on the congregation that did not previously exist. The follow-up discussions also led the team to share individual perceptions regarding the potential uses and benefits of moving forward with different online vehicles for communication and community building. While informal, these discussions certainly resembled the valuable and informative focus group data collection instrument. My thought following these discussions was that the conversation and work to establish a thoughtful strategy for establishing ICHTHUS Ministries online presence was certainly not over. In fact, the next steps were discussed almost immediately and the work continued into a next phase of planning.
Checks for Rigor

I worked, throughout the research and community development project, to establish trust. I met face to face with the participants as much as possible over a prolonged period of time (Stringer, 2007, p.57) to get to know them and to establish a neutral position with regard to the research. In these meetings, I involved the Management Team in the planning and execution of the research. I continually shared results and discussed observations (Stringer, 2007, p.58). In addition to performing a broad literature review, we sought the input of the Management Team, the congregation and third parties who are not affiliated with the church. To ensure representative sampling, we planned to promote and campaign for diverse participation in the survey ((Stringer, 2007, p.58). Despite these efforts, we learned that there were additional steps that we could have taken in the final execution of the survey which might have yielded more reliable data. More about this is presented in the Findings section. I documented and distributed details of the schedule, tasks, events, decisions, plans, and procedures throughout the research cycle so that the Management Team was privy to the same information as me, the researcher (Stringer, 2007, p.59). I regularly referenced actual results and terminology, (keeping ethical considerations at the forefront), to further confirm that the research took place as documented. I retained raw data, project notes, and all other materials associated with the research as a part of the studys audit trail for future reference (Stringer, 2007, p.59). Summarily, the strategy that I employed to ensure credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability (Stringer, 2007, p.57) was to capture and share with the participants as much detail as possible throughout the research segment of the project, onward into the final report and beyond the report throughout implementation. I believe that these efforts were successful in creating a partnership and in gaining trust. All of the measures taken and shared with the Management Team served to establish an environment of full transparency and, therefore, learning that could be shared by all. The
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Management Team did ask that I continue to work with them to further study and decide on the next course of action through the implementation of their plan.
Schedule
Again, this work represented the marriage of an academic action research project and a community development project. In practical application, I worked from one comprehensive schedule. Below, the schedule is presented in two parts (see Table 4 and Table 5) to allow for more simplified review and to clearly present the separate milestones and areas of focus. I used different colors to easily distinguish between months and different shades of the same color to distinguish between weeks.
Table 4. Action Research Schedule
Week 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Study Focus Identifying and Issue or Problem Developing your Action Plan Writing an Action Research Proposal Data Collection Organizing a Literature Review Writing a Literature Review Issues and Challenges in Research University Break Data and Evidence Testing and Critiquing Your Knowledge Building a Reliable and Valid Final Action Research Project Organizing Your Final Action Research Project Completing Your Final Research Project Reflections Conclusion
Project Milestones Three Potential Areas of Inquiry Due 2/15: Draft Action Research Proposal Due 2/17: Feedback Due 2/19: Action Research Proposal
Due 3/6: Draft Literature Review Due 3/8: Feedback Due 3/10: Literature Review Social Media Governance Practitioner Certification
Due 4/10: Draft Data Analysis Section Due 4/12: Feedback Due 4/24: Draft Final Action Research Report Due 4/26: Feedback Due 4/28: Final Action Research Report Reflection
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In Table 4 (above), I have presented a schedule documenting the research and the key milestones of the project. The primary audience for this schedule was me, as the researcher. This schedule was dictated by course requirements. Any deviation from the original schedule was minimal.
Table 5. Participants Schedule
Week of 30-Jan 6-Feb 13-Feb 20-Feb 27-Feb 5-Mar 12-Mar 19-Mar 26-Mar 2-Apr 9-Apr 16-Apr
23-Apr 30-Apr 7-May 14-May
Research Site Activities Establish Project: Strategy for Establishing ""Digitial Presence" for Church Identify Pilot Area and Primary Goal for Research Project 2/13: On-site Meeting Present plan and schedule to Management Team for feedback 2/20: On-site Meeting Discuss "data collection" (surveys, interviews) with Management Team Incorporate Feedback into Data Instruments Discuss Communication Plan Begin collecting data (surveys, interviews) Organize Literature Review 3/6: On-site Meeting Analyze Literature, Draw Conclusions, Write up Literature Review 3/13: On-site Meeting Close data collection activities, Initiate Social Media Policy Continue refining Social Media Policy, Begin thinking about who would like to actively add content online Receive Management Team's Draft Social Media Policy, review, provide feedback 4/3: On-site Meeting Finalize Social Media Policy, Present first look at Research Highlights No planned activities 4/17: On-site Meeting Following Program Test/Critique, share conclusions with Management Team, Initiate transition to Implementation Transition to implementation, Management Team and others involved begin interacting and adding content online as prescribed Touch base, share ideas, give limited feedback Touch base, share ideas, give limited feedback 5/15: On-site Meeting Observation/Evaluation - Are we seeing changes? What's working? What's not working? Adjust the plan?
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Table 5 (above), represents the original schedule most relevant for the participants specifically, the Management Team of ICHTHUS Ministries. Notice that I met several times with the Management Team (indicated in red type). While regular status updates and realignment with the plan are common in project management discipline, these face to face meetings were also intended to serve another purpose. I sought to position myself with the Management Team and the congregation at ICHTHUS Ministries in such a way that they recognized me as a neutral partner working to help them achieve their ultimate goal of a more cohesive community (Stringer, 2007, p.49 51). There were some adjustments to the project Participants Schedule (see final schedule in Appendix B). Here is a summary of the changes reflected in the final schedule: The survey was distributed at ICHTHUS Ministries Town Hall Meeting on March 4th; it was not accessible to the congregation until March 11th. The survey was then distributed, again, to the congregation on March 25th. The development of the Social Media Guidelines was not a part of the research project, but was an important task required for the organization. The schedule and plan for the development of the Social Media Guidelines was adjusted several times. The final schedule also includes changes reflecting the fact that the Management Team had to go beyond the original schedule to further consider their goal(s) for social media and their online presence. These changes pushed the implementation, communication and training milestones out later. While the implementation milestones were not required for the course, they are critical for the successful completion of any project and were managed following the close of the formal research window.
Methods Summary
The Management Team at ICHTHUS Ministries managed to pull together their team and to agree to a goal, schedule and plan. They set out to assess their congregations engagement in community, the members perceptions of church-related communications and which online tools seemed most prevalently used among their congregants. Extensive planning went into the development of the survey and into the research overall. Several checks for rigor were discussed and in place and the broad schedule allowed for ample opportunity to collect data that would meet those checks for rigor. Still, there was one consideration regarding the administration or execution of the survey that was not discussed in detail, which had a significant impact on the outcome of the data collection for this research. The congregation was not granted time within the service to complete the survey. More about how this data collection step impacted the outcome is discussed in the Findings section, below.
Findings
With data collection focused primarily on a survey of church members, this portion of the research did not yield significant or actionable results. When the research was conducted,
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ICHTHUS Ministries did not have accurate data regarding the congregations make-up as it relates to age, education, race, household income and so on. Even still, it would appear that the sample of survey respondents was skewed toward an older demographic (see Figure 2, below). This was the most dramatic finding related to this research with 85% of respondents over 40 years old. The reason that this may be relevant is that the younger categories have been shown to use social media more than older adults (Chou, Hunt, Beckjord, Moser & Hesse, 2009, para. 4). This result is more relevant still if, in fact, the survey demographics were not an accurate representation of the congregation. While ICHTHUS Ministries does not have complete demographic data, there are a number of reasons why I suspect that this was not a representative sample. First, I had simply observed a lot of young families. The church has an active childrens ministry, youth ministry, and young adult ministry. Secondly, the demographic statistics that the church had collected from the Sunday morning sign-in sheets indicated 592 children 17 years of age and younger and 616 households represented in the congregation. Assuming the parents of those children had their children at an average age and that they had an average 2 children per household, roughly half of the households would be made up of parents 44 years of age and younger.
Demographics of respondents
There was a near even mix of males versus female respondents with 63 males responding to the survey and 88 females. Of the 154 respondents, 131 were 41 years of age or older. The population that responded to the survey was made up mostly of college educated individuals with 134 indicating completion of at least Some College and 92 of the respondents noting completion of a 4-year degree or more. The income distribution covered a wide spectrum from less than $10,000 annually to $150,000 or more. Seven of the respondents reported a household income of less than $30,000. Forty three respondents fell between $30,000 and $59,999. Twenty nine respondents indicated a household income of $60,000 to $89,999 and 53 respondents reported incomes greater than $90,000. The church members who responded to the survey were mostly white, married individuals with 143 selecting either White or White, non-Hispanic and 120 individuals indicating they are married.
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Measurement of engagement in community

We sought to establish a baseline metric for members level of engagement in the church community. In doing so, they could potentially implement a communication plan and conduct a follow-up survey to see if more members report being engaged in the church community following the implementation. To measure members engagement in the church community, the Management Team included questions in the survey inspired by the Gallup (2012) organizations Faith Member Engagement studies. The two questions in this vein were: Outside of your family members, is there someone at church that you feel cares about you as a person? and Outside of your family members, is there someone at church that you care about as a person? Of the 154 respondents, 149 and 148 responded yes, respectively. Additionally, 112 respondents indicated routine participation in a committee, small group, class or specific ministry and 117 members reported that they attend church services offered by ICHTHUS Ministries every week. Because the vast majority of respondents indicated that they are engaged in the church community, the results of the survey might prove to not be very useful. If they previously selected answers indicating significant engagement, it would be very difficult to measure improvement in engagement with a similar tool in follow up studies.
Measurement of communication perceptions and preferences

Because improving communication (online) is one of ICHTHUS Ministries objectives for this project, the survey included questions related to members assessment of current communications at ICHTHUS Ministries, questions related to preferred methods of communication and questions regarding specific types of communication. The majority of respondents (109) expressed overall satisfaction (Satisfied or Very Satisfied) with communications related to the church. Most also indicated that the church keeps members informed with 133 selecting choices ranging from adequately to fully informed (see Figure 3, right).
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The pie chart, above, also shows that a nearly equal number of respondents believed the church over-communicates as those who indicated that the church does not communicate enough. With regard to types of communication, members who responded indicated that communications related to Church Events, Members prayers and praises, and Ministries are most important to them (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Important Communication Items
The survey results indicated 123, 102, and 100 selections for Church Events, Members prayers and praises, and Ministries, respectively. In presenting this data to ICHTHUS Ministries, I suggested that this may prove useful as they implement the tool, or tools, that are selected as a result of this research. Focusing on communications in these areas might prove to be more engaging for church members.
Measurement of preferences for online media and communication tools

To help ICHTHUS Ministries select the appropriate tool(s) for engaging in online communications, we asked questions in the survey regarding members current use of online sources and their preferences of online sources for locating and sharing more church related information. If the 154 respondents of the survey were an accurate representation of the total population at ICHTHUS Ministries, the church would have to communicate via email in
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order to meet them where they are at. Notice the survey results for this question in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Select the online sources that you use regularly (total sample)
Select the online sources that you use regularly:

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Email Surfing on Facebook the Internet Twitter I do not use Information the internet Sites Contains Not Selected "phone"
At the time of the survey, most respondents (132) indicated that they use email regularly, with just 48 respondents indicating use of Facebook and only 9 using Twitter. Email was, again, the most preferred medium for receiving more information if it were to be shared online. Next to email, Church Website, Facebook, Church Affiliated Blog, and, finally, Twitter (109, 59, 21, 11, and 4 respondents, respectively) were also indicated as possible avenues for receiving more information in the future. A dramatic difference between the age groups preference for social media is clear to see visually by comparing Figure 6a to Figure 6b, below.
Figure 6a. Preference for Finding Online Information (Population Older than 40) Figure 6b. Preference for Finding Online Information (Population 40 and Younger)
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In figures 6a and 6b, it is shown that more than half of respondents 40 years of age and younger (11/21) chose Facebook or Twitter as their preferred platform for receiving church related information in the future. The same number of respondents (11) over 40 years of age indicated as much; however 131 respondents reported being 41 years of age or older. This means that only 8% of respondents over 40 years old preferred these social media forms compared to 52% of respondents 40 and under.
Subject Matter Expert Interview

The tendency for online communication and social media to have greater appeal to a younger demographic was also reflected in the results of the interview with the subject matter expert. Without knowing anything about the demographics of the church population or the statistics that had not yet been uncovered for this cycle of research, she asked if the church might consider Facebook as a touch point for [the] younger audience (anonymous communication, March 3, 2012). Also without being able to see survey results, she suggested that Facebook would be the best option for a tool if we want to meet them where theyre at. From her experience and in her circles, everyone has a Facebook page! The expert also provided some suggestions for the use of Facebook administration that applies to virtually any organization and many other forms of social media: Know your message. [Recognize that] Facebook could be driver to existing communication (podcast on web). Facebook could be a place to generate a conversation or interaction. Dont over- intellectualize social media! Standard rule of thumb: 90 characters, ask questions, include pictures! Tell a very clear story over a very long time. Its brand marketingbuild your brand!
This guidance from the expert was very helpful. Perhaps the most outstanding bit of advice that she provided was the point regarding not over-intellectualizing social media. She encouraged us to get started and let the audience define how the tool would be useful to them. She reminded us that Facebook and social media, in general, allow users to build a relationship over time. She encouraged us to use the medium for lightweight conversation.
Reliability and Validity

Stringer (2007) reminds researchers that the first cycles of an action research process enable researchers to refine their focus of investigation and to understand the ways in which primary stakeholders experience and interpret emerging issues (p. 106). Issues did emerge through data collection contributing to questions regarding the reliability and validity of this first phase of research.
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First, while 17% of the adult population (151 of 872 members older than 17 years of age) responded, the institution was lacking complete demographic data on the congregation, so I could not confidently say that the sample was representative of the population. I indicated previously that 131 of 154 respondents were over 40 years of age. Whats more, 64% of the adults (97 of 151 adults) reported being 51 or older. Without reaching a representative demographic, especially in studies related to the use of social media, this study lacks diverse case analysis which is necessary to build credibility (Stringer, 2007, p. 58). Stringer states that it is important to ensure that perspectives of all stakeholding groups are incorporated into the study (Stringer, 2007, p. 58), which did not happen in this first phase of research. Additionally, of the four questions designed to aid in the selection of an online tool, there were no questions directly related to members communicating with one another, as you would expect in an online community. Instead, only two questions that would yield valid data for selecting an online tool were included: one that asked what online sources are used regularly and another questioning through which platforms the respondent would be willing to deliver thoughts, ideas, questions, requests and celebrations. Given the suspect validity of the data collected, the reliability would also be at risk. More planning around the execution of such a survey would yield a more transferable study. Specifically, drafting detailed procedures that carefully explore the possibility that the outcomes of an action research study may be relevant elsewhere (Stringer, 2007, p. 59), and greater focus on producing evidence that measures how members might engage with one another online would more likely result in a more valid and reliable study. The information gleaned from the interview was certainly valuable for this study and was applicable to other studies and organizations considering using Facebook as a tool for communication and engaging members in community. A measure that would improve both validity and reliability for future like studies would be the incorporation of more interviews including experts representing a range of online tools.
Comparison of Research to the Literature Review

The Literature Review showed that religious institutions are communicating online. Churches, like all organizations, are strongly encouraged to assess their social media strategies and to engage with their members and would-be members online. This finding was not definitively echoed in the data analysis portion of this research. While ICHTHUS Ministries did have a website and blog, they did not have an established plan with regard to social media. If the decision to engage in social media rested solely on the data collected from the survey, the organization might have chosen not to engage. Contrary to the beliefs of some religious leaders, the literature also gave proof that community can be encouraged, established and fostered online. Again, this finding in the literature was not clearly related to the picture painted by the data gathered. The survey
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showed that respondents were, by and large, engaged in the church community and that they did not have a significant preference for social media. There was one area where the survey results complemented the literature review. In their study, Campbell and Calderon (2007) noted that among the discussion board topics observed, fifty-two threads contained the prayer and encouragement theme, which consists of voluntary sharing related to personal aspects of members lives in order to solicit prayer (p. 172). This was also the case in the survey results. When asked, For which information items do you believe it is very important that you receive communications?, 102 respondents at ICHTHUS Ministries chose Members Prayers and Praises (66% of respondents). As mentioned previously, this data point is certainly helpful to a religious organization looking to engage parishioners online. The interview did more closely reflect the findings of the Literature Review. Both the subject matter expert and the literature indicated that the church should be communicating online and that it is possible to create community online. Of the community related comments that the expert made, here are three: People can share with others Your relationship becomes more personal. Its about building a relationship over time!
Hearing her confidence in this regard reminded me of Estes remark. He might as well have said, [Facebook] doesnt hold the answer; people doIts not the technology that creates community; its the people" (p. 57).
Limitations
Three limitations stood out in the data collection process: management of the community project, awareness of data collection instruments and survey development expertise. The limitation of time also played a part in each of the above limitations. As I discuss each, Ill also address how time was a factor in the outcome.
Management of the Community Project

The survey was intended, primarily, to help determine where the congregation is at with regard to online or social media. This determination was intended to aid in the selection of a tool for furthering the religious institutions communications goals. The survey was the primary data collection method implemented and it did not provide results that could, with confidence, aid in the selection of a tool or tools. Had the survey reached a greater portion of the population and one that was statistically representative of the population, the results might have been different. While hearing from a representative sample, demographically and otherwise, was important, we expected that we were reaching a representative sample by distributing the survey during the regular church services. As it was, the greatest opportunity to collect responses from a representative sample yielded the fewest results (40 surveys were completed by members who received the survey during the service).
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This research took place in the spring of 2012. ICHTHUS Ministries was in the midst of an extremely busy season for the church working to wrap up a sermon series while preparing for the Easter Holy Week and hosting a number of other activities simultaneously. The schedule of the church together with the timeline of the project left little time for a great deal of planning regarding the survey. This also contributed to the time constraints within the services during which the survey was distributed. The members were not given time to respond to the survey during the scheduled time of the service. I suspect this was the primary reason for receiving such a small return on the survey. While the services do cater to a wide audience, we could have possibly administered the survey in the smaller youth ministry had we anticipated that it would be critical to target a younger demographic. In an ideal setting, I would have more closely managed the administration of the survey, considered the various meeting places of the different age groups, and allotted time for completion of the survey during the regular meeting times.
Awareness of Data Collection Instruments

If there were an opportunity for a follow-up (or a do-over), I might rather have engaged a more qualitative measure as the primary data collection instrument. Asking members what role they see social media playing in the establishment of online community at ICHTHUS Ministries might have yielded more actionable results when coupled with a well-executed survey. I hadnt considered this approach until well into the data collection process when I was exposed to this instrument option in my ongoing studies. With the luxury of time, I might have investigated several more data collection instruments and made selections that would have yielded more actionable and informative results.
Survey Development Expertise

In the event that another survey might be employed, I would more directly ask questions that tie online communication between members of the congregation and community together. I would not have included questions that addressed communications related to church leadership. Those questions provided interesting information, but were really not relevant for the objectives that this research aimed to achieve. And while it was important to us that we establish a baseline regarding community engagement and communication, it is almost certainly possible that we could have asked different questions that would have yielded a more reliable measure of the congregations level of engagement and perceptions of communication. I worked to incorporate the guidance of Koshy and performed some research on survey development; still, this is not a task to take lightly. I might ask an expert in research and survey development to, at minimum, oversee and provide guidance on the development of surveys in future action research projects.
The Study is Still Valuable

The discussion and planning that followed the conclusion of the data analysis is partly what made this research valuable. We determined that the survey validated the importance of religious communities connecting over their specific prayer needs. The interview and Literature Review showed that community has been enjoyed in various forms online. The
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study also yielded some demographic data to ICHTHUS Ministries that they did not previously have.
Implications for Practice

My overall findings included a mixture of evidence. The Literature Review showed that the church needs to get online and that there are numerous benefits of creating an online presence and engaging with the congregation (and with newcomers) online. The data analysis findings did not provide conclusive evidence that ICHTHUS Ministries should move forward with establishing additional online media outlets for engaging with the congregation. Recall that there was one bit of information found in both the Literature Review and in the Data Analysis: there was evidence in both that the topic of "member prayers and praises" is very important to faith organization members. For ICHTHUS Ministries and others, if engaging online in a faith-based environment (like a Facebook page or a discussion board for a church), this is a good topic to focus on. There is evidence that it will be considered valuable and may attract further engagement from the members. The research was really intended to answer "how" the institution would engage online to foster community through online communication, and the answer to the question of how is still unclear. However, I do believe changes should still be made to the practice at ICHTHUS Ministries. The answer to whether or not the church should engage with members online (at least those who have interest) is yes. This was found in the literature review and also became clear while informally observing the behavior and results of ICHTHUS Ministries members throughout the course of the research period. Additional social media accounts were, in fact, established, launched and rolled out to the congregation. With that, the Management Team could certainly see that the interest existed and that they should pursue the topic of establishing their online presence further. It also showed them that they need to take care to communicate with members about the importance of adherence to a social media strategy and guidelines for protecting the members and the organization. There certainly is room for additional research. What are the demographics of the congregation? This is really needed to more confidently know if the samples used for future research are representative of the greater church population or not. How does the church truly measure engagement in the (church's) community? While we attempted to address this minimally in our survey, much more can be done to ensure that we are executing a valid and reliable measure of engagement. More research could be done to gather perceptions of opportunities to engage with other members of the congregation online (more relative measures of communication as it relates to the church's online presence goal). Another possible avenue is taking a narrative approach to research. In other words, the researcher could ask members what they think! For those interested in engaging online or who have experience online, how do they think specific media can be applied? The researcher could ask members directly what media they would like to use and for what purpose they think it would be useful.
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Conclusion
While the data collected via the survey did not provide evidence that convincingly helped ICHTHUS Ministries to determine the online tool best suited to assist the organization in improving communication with their current membership, the study did help them to see that this is a worthwhile pursuit. If watching their members employ online tools to share information and engage in community-building on their own was not evidence enough, the study certainly gave proof via the Literature Review and the Subject Matter Expert interview that many religious institutions have gone before them to achieve a range of successes. Many religious organizations have websites, blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. Even ICHTHUS Ministries has established many of these online vehicles apart from the Management Teams efforts. Their involvement in this research helped members to see the potential for connecting with one another, and also to see that online communication is not necessarily going to replace other forms of communication, but may be used to reach a younger demographic. ICHTHUS Ministries learned that a segment of their population feels highly engaged and largely appreciates the volume and avenues of existing communication. They also learned that members prayers and praises is among the most important topics to at least a portion of their congregation and that endeavors to facilitate such sharing would likely be well-received. Stringer (2007) notes that in following cycles [of research] other information is incorporated that further clarifies or extends participants understandings by adding information from other stakeholders and data sources (p. 106). While the course requirements for the action research project ended with the first action research cycle, the communitys work is ongoing. The use of additional qualitative measures could certainly help ICHTHUS Ministries decide which tools would be most helpful for improving online communication and how to engage those tools for the betterment of the church community. Follow-up surveys could be used to better measure engagement and demographics at ICHTHUS Ministries. Even the administration of the existing survey in such a way that a more representative sample could be achieved is a possible next step for the organization. In any case, this first cycle of research provides a foundation upon which to build the next plan of action. With small adjustments to the survey and its administration, this and other organizations could yield results that will help them to move confidently into the world of online communications and to enjoy continued growth and enrichment of their community.
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References
Campbell, H. and Calderon, P. (2007). The Question of Christian Community Online: The Case of the Artist World Network. Studies in World Christianity, Volume 13, Page 261-277. Retrieved from http://0web.ebscohost.com.skyline.ucdenver.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b3dc28 2f-59ac-4b79-8257-c5b0c2dd5a6d%40sessionmgr10&vid=4&hid=12 Cheong, P., Poon, J., Huang, S., Casas, I. (2009) The Internet Highway and Religious Communities: Mapping and Contesting Spaces in Religion-Online. Information Society, Vol. 25 Issue 5, p291-302, 12p, 1 Illustration, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 1 Map; DOI: 10.1080/01972240903212466 Chou W., Hunt Y., Beckjord E., Moser R., Hesse B. (2009). Social Media Use in the United States: Implications for Health Communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 11(4):e48. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802563/ Coppedge, A. (2009). The reason your church must Twitter. (version 1.01). Available from http://twitterforchurches.com/ Estes, D. (2009-09-15). SimChurch: Being the church in the virtual world. Zondervan. Available from http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/enUS/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310287841&QueryStr ingSite=Zondervan Hutchings, T. (December 1, 2007). Creating Church Online: A Case-Study Approach to Religious Experience. Studies in World Christianity, Volume 13 (3) 243. Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:jheu0S6bBzoJ:scholar.googl e.com/&hl=en&num=100&as_sdt=1,6&as_subj=bio+soc Gallup, (2012). Retrieved February 20, 2012 from http://www.gallup.com/consulting/faith/18265/Creating-Engagement.aspx Gilmore. K. (December, 2009). A Church Without Walls: Finding Community in Central Christian Churchs Online Campus. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.library.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/114/ Graham, K. (Feb. 24, 2011). Facebook, social media can bring church back to its roots. National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved from http://ncronline.org/blogs/youngvoices/facebook-social-media-can-bring-church-back-its-roots Koshy, V. (2010). Action research for improving educational practice (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications. Mullins, J. (May, 2011). Online Church: A Biblical Community. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/435 Nicholaou, N. (July/August 2006). RSS-Powerful Potential for Ministries. The Clergy Journal. Retrieved from http://0web.ebscohost.com.skyline.ucdenver.edu/ehost/search/advanced?sid=96cf879ef65b-4869-ac28-7c6d641edcaa%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=24 Noomen, I., Aupers, S. & Houtman, D. (2011). In Their Own Image? Information, Communication & Society, 14:8, 1097-1117. Routledge. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.597415
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Persinger, C. (April 27, 2009). Dont wait! Introduce new technology to your congregation. MediaSalt. Retrieved from http://www.mediasalt.com/2009/04/27/dont-waitintroduce-new-technology-to-your-congregation/ Rochman, B. (May 03, 2009). Twittering in church, with the pastor's o.k. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1900265,00.html#ixzz1ogU wjDNy Smith, C. (01 26th, 2011). Dialogue on Facebook. Retrieved from http://cameronsmithblog.com/ Stringer, E. (2007). Action research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Thomas, G. (2009). How to do your research project: A guide for students in education and applied social sciences. Sage Publications (CA).
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Appendix A: Consent
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Survey Consent March 2012 Dear Participant, We are conducting an action research project on improving communication among the members of our church. This research is intended to help the members of our church to enjoy a more cohesive community. If you decide to participate in this study, please complete the following survey (it will take about 5 minutes). There are no right or wrong answers. Your individual answers to the questions will not be identified or published. We are not collecting names. You may discontinue your participation in this study at any time without penalty. Answering and completing this questionnaire indicates your willingness to participate in this study. Choosing to continue indicates that you have read and understood the description of the study and you agree to participate. Thank you for your time. The Research Team
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Interview Consent March 3, 2012 Dear Madam, I am conducting an action research project on improving communication, specifically online communication, among the members of my church. This research will help the members of our church to cultivate a more cohesive community. If you decide to participate in this study, you will be asked to participate in a one-on-one interview that will take around 15 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers. You will not be identified. You may discontinue your participation in this study at any time without penalty. Please complete the form below to indicate your willingness to participate in the action research project. Thank you for your time. Stephenie Buehrle
I grant my permission for the use of my ideas, work, or words in research. I understand that every good faith effort will be made to maintain confidentiality in any reports of this research. ___________________ (Name) ___________________ (Signature) ___________________ (Date)
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Appendix B: Final Schedule
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Week of 30-Jan 6-Feb 13-Feb Research Site Activities Establish Project: Strategy for Establishing ""Digitial Presence" for Church Identify Pilot Area and Primary Goal for Research Project 2/13: On-site Meeting Present plan and schedule to Management Team for feedback 2/20: On-site Meeting Discuss "data collection" (surveys, interviews) with Management Team Incorporate Feedback into Data Instruments Discuss Distribution and Communication Plan 2/27: Stephenie send survey to Management Team 2/28: Members of Management Team complete the survey, share final ideas by end of day 2/29: Stephenie send revised final survey to prep for Sunday Bulletin 3/3: Stephenie conduct interview 3/4: make survey available online, email congregation Organize Literature Review 3/6: On-site Meeting 3/11: make survey available in Sunday bulletin, remind congregation Initiate Social Media Policy Analyze Literature, Draw Conclusions, Write up Literature Review 3/13: On-site Meeting Begin compiling survey data Continue refining Social Media Policy 3/25: make survey available in Sunday bulletin, remind congregation Continue refining Social Media Policy Begin thinking about who would like to actively add content online Stephenie continue to compile survey data 4/3: On-site Meeting Stephenie deliver Social Media Policy Draft to Management Team Present first look at Research Highlights Stephenie performing data analysis and write-up 4/17: On-site Meeting Following Program Test/Critique, share conclusions with Management Team Introduce Implementation Plan (Communication Plan, Training, Roll-out) Last Tuesday of the Month, no meeting, Continuing working through questions regarding Social Media Guidelines 5/1: On-site Meeting 1) Review Social Media Guidelines, finalize this week 2) Time Permitting, begin discussing plan for next steps
20-Feb
27-Feb
5-Mar
12-Mar
19-Mar 26-Mar 2-Apr
9-Apr
16-Apr
23-Apr
30-Apr
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On-site Meeting as needed Transition to implementation, draft plan (however formal or informal you would like) Consider Communication, Training, Roll-out Plans Begin establishing online presence as prescribed (set up accounts, begin to build content or start the conversation) On-site Meeting as needed Execute Implementation Plan (communicate, roll-out, point to training) On-site Meeting as needed Touch base, share ideas, give limited feedback (Don't over-complicate, analyze or judge. The more natural conversations will be more engaging for all involved.) Last Tuesday of the Month, no meeting On-site Meeting as needed Touch base, share ideas, give limited feedback (Don't over-complicate, analyze or judge. The more natural conversations will be more engaging for all involved.) Continue communicating online On-site Meeting as needed Observation/Evaluation - Are we seeing engagement? What's working? What's not working? Brainstorm. Propose next steps.
7-May
14-May 21-May 28-May 4-Jun 11-Jun 18-Jun
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Appendix C: Data Instruments
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Survey (In application, the front page of the survey included the consent form.)
Section 1 of 4: Demographics Reminder: the survey is anonymous! Please help us to understand the demographics of the population that completed the survey. This will help us to know if measurable differences are due to a change in our practices or due to a change in demographics.
Are you Male or Female?
Male Female
What is your age?

17 18 22 26 31 41 51 61 or younger 21 25 30 40 50 60 or older
What is the highest level of education you have completed?

Less than high school High school/GED Some College 2 Year College Degree (Associates) 4 Year College Degree (BA, BS) Masters Degree Doctoral Degree Professional Degree (MD, JD)
What is your total household income?

Less than $10,000 $10,000 - $19,999 $20,000 - $29,999 $30,000 - $39,999 $40,000 - $49,999 $50,000 - $59,999 $60,000 - $69,999 $70,000 - $79,999 $80,000 - $89,999 $90,000 - $99,999 $100,000 - $149,999 $150,000 or more
What is your current marital status?

Single, Never Married Married Separated Divorced Widowed
What is your race?

White White, non-Hispanic African American Hispanic Asian Pacific Islander Native American
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A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I Section 2 of 4: Community

Outside of your family members, is there someone at church that you feel cares about you as a person?
Yes No
Outside of your family members, is there someone at church that you care about as a person?
Yes No
Do you regularly participate in a committee, small group, class or specific ministry?

Yes No
How often do you attend a Sunday worship service at our church?

1 = Every Week 2 3 4 5 = Rarely
Section 3 of 4: Communication
Overall, how satisfied are you with communications related to our church
Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied
Select which one best describes your impression of communications within our church?

Over-communicates Keeps us fully informed Keeps us fairly well informed Keeps us adequately informed Gives us only a limited amount of information Doesnt tell us much at all about whats going on
From which sources do you now receive most information? (select all that apply)

Weekly Bulletin Weekly Email Town Hall Meeting Direct message with church member Website Blog Other __________________________________
For which information items do you believe it is very important that you receive communications? (select all that apply)
Weekly Service Topic and Readings Weekly Sermon Notes Ministries Classes Building News Church Finances Members prayers and praises Church Events Missions Other __________________________________
How satisfied are you with the opportunities available to you to express yourself to church leadership?
Very Satisfied Somewhat Satisfied Undecided Somewhat Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied
If you wanted to express your thoughts or suggestions to church leadership, what would be your preferred method? (select one)
Face to Face Telephone In Writing Email Facebook
If you were to ask for a personal response from church leadership, how would you prefer to receive the response? Page 43 of 50

(select one)
Face to Face Telephone In Writing Email Facebook Other __________________________________
Section 4 of 4: Online Media and Communication Tools

Select the online sources that you use regularly. (select all that apply)
Surfing on the Internet Email Facebook Twitter I do not use the internet Other __________________________________
How often do you go to your favorite internet site or source?

1 = Several Times Each Day 2 3 4 5 = Rarely
If we were to share more information with you online, where would you prefer to find it? (select all that apply)
Church website Church affiliated blog Email Facebook Twitter Other __________________________________
Through which online platforms would you be willing to deliver your thoughts, ideas, questions, requests and celebrations? (select all that apply)
Church website (online form) Church affiliated blog (blog comments) Email Facebook Twitter Other __________________________________
Again, sincere thanks for your time. We plan to use the responses from this survey to shape the communication plan for our church. Your feedback is much appreciated!
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Interview Questions
Note: At this juncture, I had not yet, realized how the time constraints would influence the research scope and questions. This reflects the original research questions.
Introduce yourself, your position in your work life and describe what you do there. How much experience do you have with other social media? Our goal: To more actively engage the congregation in the church community by way of improved communication through online sources. The strategy that were focusing on is improving communication through online sources. a. Which existing online vehicle(s) is best suited to assist the organization in improving communication with and among their current membership? b. For each medium selected, what objectives should the steward(s) of the medium continually seek to achieve? c. What guidelines should the steward follow with regard to his/her individual participation and presence? 1. If I want to engage the existing membership (known audience) in online communication to foster more cohesive community, how might I do that? (Im curious about Cause pages. Are they a fit?) 2. More specifically, if I want to create two way dialogues between members of church leadership and the congregation, how might Facebook be helpful? 3. If we want to allow some of our conversations or exchanges to be viewed publicly and others to be more private (satellite communities/groups), can you describe how that might work? 4. What are your thoughts around the objectives of the stewardwhat should he/she focus on to keep the conversation on track (to keep expectations on track)? 5. Do you have recommendations regarding the tone or personality of the individual(s) participating?
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Appendix D: Data
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Survey
The raw survey data can be accessed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjY6bRYLRAswdEZsTmppaURsSldr U1VJOVFhYU10WXc
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Interview Notes
Telephone Interview: Social Media Subject Matter Expert Interviewer: Stephenie Buehrle Date: March 3, 2012 Introduce yourself, your position in your work life and describe what you do there. She is a client partner at Facebook providing Marketing Solutions. She calls on the second biggest advertiser in the world. How much experience do you have with other social media? She generally uses and is comfortable trying out various types of social media. She uses Facebook to engageas you might expectand for news (reading stories that interest her friends)! She uses Twitter as a resource and uses Pinterest and Google+. Our goal: To more actively engage the congregation in the church community by way of improved communication through online sources. The strategy that were focusing on is improving communication through online sources. d. Which existing online vehicle(s) is best suited to assist the organization in improving communication with and among their current membership? e. For each medium selected, what objectives should the steward(s) of the medium continually seek to achieve? f. What guidelines should the steward follow with regard to his/her individual participation and presence? Facebook started with an idea to connect people in a dorm. People have become accustomed to using it to create their outside world inside Facebook. Their philosophy: when information is more free-flowing, transparent, we will truly live in a better world. For example, she suggested, be the same Stephenie all the time. 1. If I want to engage the existing membership (known audience) in online communication to foster more cohesive community, how might I do that? (Im curious about Cause pages. Are they a fit?) She addressed my question with her own questions: Do they want to connect with you online? Is it important to them? Does it fit with their identity? What do you want them to do? Connect with other members? What does the church want to say? Lightweight ways to connect. Start small and grow overtime. Could have groups. Map out several plans and see what people respond to. Look at churches and see what they are doing. 2. More specifically, if I want to create two way dialogues between members of church leadership and the congregation, how might Facebook be helpful? 3. If we want to allow some of our conversations or exchanges to be viewed publicly and others to be more private (satellite communities/groups), can you describe how that might work? 4. What are your thoughts around the objectives of the stewardwhat should he/she focus on to keep the conversation on track (to keep expectations on track)? 5. Do you have recommendations regarding the tone or personality of the individual(s) participating?
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A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I Rather than address the questions specifically, she felt it would be easier to share her overall thoughts. She encouraged me to read a New York Times article titled, Why People Share.
Some important things to note if youre considering using Facebook as a communication tool: Technology changes faster than human Communication (-) behavior! When you post online, likely only 16% will see Communication (-) your post. Contrary to popular belief, you havent really shared with EVERYONE! Youre only going to reach a small population. How do you get them engaged? Reallystart Communication, Community (+) and see what people respond to. Guidelines: who is on the page? Is it a place Communication (+, -) where people are getting really personal? Set protocol: who gets back to people when someone posts ______? Her clients typically have a global page and a market page for every brand. She asks her clients Whats your message? Communication (+, -) Whose voice is represented? Communication (-) What resources are you devoting to Communication (-) maintenance? Touch point for younger audience? Communication (+) Facebook could be driver to existing Communication (+) communication (podcast on web). Facebook could be a place to generate a Communication (+) conversation or interaction. What do you think about ______________? Your audience will wonder, What do I need this Communication, Community (+, -) for? If you want them to continue to be your audience, youll need to provide a good answer to the question. Give them what they want. Benefits to using Facebook? People can share with others easy sharing and growing! Choosing Facebook over virtually any other medium, you are meeting people where they are (if they are online) Your relationship becomes more personal. It gives you a place to tell your story! Show up! Leave Facebook page open to community to define. Well be sharing information there, but well let you define it. Do you want a Page (fan page) or a Profile (up to 5000 friends)? Community (+) Communication, Community (+) Community (+) Community (+) Community (+)
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A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I Dont over- intellectualize social media!! Were simply making ourselves more out in front. Standard rule of thumb: 90 characters, ask questions, include pictures! Its about building a relationship over time! Lightweight interaction. A very clear story over a very long time. Its brand marketingbuild your brand! Communication, Community (+) Communication (+) Community (+) Communication, Community (+)
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Buehrle Final Action Research Report

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Information and Learning Technologies Masters Program INTE 6720, Research in Information and Learning Technologies Under Direction

of Professor Jennifer VanBerschot, Ph.D.

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I:

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Introduction and Problem Statement

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Purpose and Intended Audience

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Literature Review Questions

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Literature Search Procedures

Literature Review Findings

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Encouragement for the church to communicate online

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A community can be generated and well supported online

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Parameters for Literature Search

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Critique of Research Methods

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Literature Review Summary

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Site Selection and Sampling

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Data Analysis Procedures

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Checks for Rigor

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

23-Apr 30-Apr 7-May 14-May

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Measurement of engagement in community

Measurement of communication perceptions and preferences

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Measurement of preferences for online media and communication tools

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Select the online sources that you use regularly:

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Subject Matter Expert Interview

Reliability and Validity

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Comparison of Research to the Literature Review

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Management of the Community Project

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Awareness of Data Collection Instruments

Survey Development Expertise

The Study is Still Valuable

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

Implications for Practice

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I

A Strategic Approach to Achieving a Digital Presence Phase I