Acceptance of open access of scientific information and educational resources in Croatian academic community

Krelja Kurelović, Elena. (2017). Acceptance of open access of scientific information and educational resources in Croatian academic community. PhD Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Information Science.
(Poslijediplomski doktorski studij informacijskih i komunikacijskih znanosti) [mentor Špiranec, Sonja].

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Abstract

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to offer contribution in understanding of factors that are relevant in terms of accepting open access and discovering links that enable the acceptance of open access to scientific information and educational resources by the members of the Croatian academic community. This dissertation focuses on two areas, and involves open access to scientific information, i.e. open access to scientific communication and open educational resources. Open access is based on the free flow of information, which acquires new dimensions with the development of web technologies. The term “Open Access” (OA) is described as achieving free access not only to scientific information, but also to any and all knowledge, and the subsequent integration of that knowledge into the system of public education, since science and education share an unbreakable bond. Open Access is in accordance with academic activity and participation in both science and education. In the theoretical part of this dissertation, first an overview of basic ideas and development of the initiative of open access to scientific information is presented. Two ways of open access publishing are compared: online journals (the “gold route”) and digital repositories (the “green route”). Then, different quantitative indicators of the prevalence of use of open access to scientific information in the world are analyzed and a critical assessment of Croatia’s position regarding the matter is given. By comparing the works of various authors, the most important advantages and limitations of open access to scientific information are analyzed. Next, the dissertation explains the terms “Open Educational Resources” (OER) and Creative Commons licenses. Key events in the development of the Open Educational Resources Initiative are presented, which is crucial for understanding the meaning of the term OER. Important OER characteristics are systematized and their pedagogical and digital dimensions stressed. Furthermore, types of OER are analyzed, particularly, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As a contribution in making OER more recognizable, the most popular OER repositories, directories and search engines are described and compared. Furthermore, the advantages and limitations of usage of open educational resources are analyzed. The importance of adopting strategies and implementation policies of open access to scientific and educational content at the institutional and national level is also discussed, and such documents currently existing in Croatia are analyzed, albeit scarce in number and with more emphasis on open educational resources. Prior to the research part of the doctoral thesis, relevant research and studies on open access to scientific information and open educational resources are analyzed and compared in order to determine what theoretical models are used in such processes, and what findings and conclusions have been made by other authors. The aim of this research is to identify the relevant factors that influence the acceptance of open access to scientific information and educational content in the Croatian academic community. For the purposes of this research the model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) formulated by Venkatesh is used and supplemented with the variable named “Open Access Culture”. This new variable in researach model includes awareness, attitudes, perception and behavioral norms towards open access to scientific information and open educational resources, and it is observed on a personal, professional and organizational level. In order to achieve the aim of the research and test a conceptual research model, 4 main and 20 auxiliary hypotheses were proposed. The research was conducted in two phases with a specifically designed online questionnaire who has applied on a stratified random sample. The aim of the first phase of the research was to test the reliability and internal consistency of the designed questionnaire, on the convinience sample of respondents. According to the Cronbach Alpha coefficient of reliability and the results of correlation between items of each variable the correction of the first version of the questionnaire has been made. The questionnaire explicitly explains the concept of Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER), so that there is no different interpretation of these terms, which can affect the results of the research. Research population consists of members of Croatian academic community, employed fulltime at public universities in Croatia (at Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Osijek, Zadar, Pula and Dubrovnik), elected in academic titles as well as assistants, and whose e-mail addresses were publicly available on the Web. There were 2500 e-mails sent with a invitation to participate in the research, with hyperlink to online questionnaire, and 425 respondents fully completed the questionnaire. Distribution of respondents in sample according to universities, academic title, scientific field and gender is almost identical to the population, with a smaller deviation of assistants and senior assistants as well as respondents from the field of art which are less represented in the sample because of bigger drop out rate. For the analysis of the results descriptive statistics was used, while for the testing of the hypotheses several tests were utilized, predominately linear and multiple regression analysis and t-test. Looking at individual results of descriptive statistics, lowest score has the variable "facilitating conditions", both for open access to scientific information and for open educational resources. That means that the respondents did not recognize the existence of factors that would facilitate the participation in initiative of OA and OER, such as professional assistance or technical, organizational, financial and other forms of support. According to the arithmetic mean, the biggest score was achieved for the variable “open access culture”, especially at the personal and professional level. The results indicate a high level of awareness of open access to scientific information and open educational resources in general, as well as positive attitudes towards them, but also indicate the need to change professional norms and bringing the new ones that foster open access to scientific information and educational resources (OA culture at professional level). In particular, there is a lack of OA and OER policies at national and institutional level which give guidance to the members of the academic community and regulate the norms of behavior towards OA and OER, as well as new metrics of scientific impact. By testing the hypotheses, two were fully accepted (H1 and H4), the second hypothesis was partially accepted (H2.1 was accepted, while H2.2 was rejected), and the third hypothesis was rejected (H3). The first hypothesis has confirmed that the modified UTAUT model is statistically relevant and that the combination of all proposed independent variables from the research model has significant prognostic value for accepting open access to scientific and educational content. The variables “performance expectancy”, “effort expectancy”, “social influence” and “open access culture” have a significant influence on the intention of participation in open access to scientific and educational content, while the intention of participation and the facilitating conditions have a statistically significant influence on the actual participation in open access to scientific and educational content. The variable “open access culture” has the highest individual influence and prognostic value, while the “social influence” variable has the lowest. The second hypothesis has confirmed statistically significant difference in using formal and informal scientific communication through open access (H2.1), with larger use of informal scientific communication; while statistically significant difference in using open access for scientific and educational content has not been confirmed (H2.2). It has not been confirmed that the demographic variables have influence on the acceptance of open access to scientific and educational content, so the hypothesis H3 rejected. Furthermore, the results show that the level of acceptance of open access to scientific and educational content in the Croatian academic community is statistically significantly lower than 3.5, and it is therefore considered as not sufficiently accepted (H4 is confirmed). However, statistically significantly higher intention of participation in open access to scientific information and open educational resources has been confirmed, which suggests the willingness of the participants to engage in the Open Access Initiative once the necessary prerequisites for easier use of open access have been achieved.

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