Table 1.

Data collection methods and purpose, in chronological order

Time	Data Collection Method	Purpose
Week 4	Open-ended, paper-based anonymous survey	To explore youth’s general feelings about the use of computers in the project
Week 9	Open-ended, online survey in the computer-mediated communication system	To explore youth’s perceptions about the community development project and computers
Weeks 1-13	Participant observation and raw field notes (Reflective notes were also added to the field notes.)	To obtain a detailed description of all project meetings, events, and communications with project participants (Reflective notes provided an audit trail.)
Weeks 14, 15	One-hour youth interviews (singly, in pairs, and, in one case, with a group of 3) (All interviews were taped, transcribed, checked, and edited for accuracy in transcription.)	To explore youth’s perceptions about the use of computers in the project
Weeks 14, 15	One-hour adult facilitator interviews (All interviews were taped, transcribed, checked, and edited for accuracy in transcription.)	To enhance the author’s interpretation, adult facilitators were interviewed about their impressions of youth’s perceptions of computers in the project.
End of study	Quantitative analysis of notes	To investigate youth’s involvement with online notes and to determine who wrote and opened notes