Results of Preliminary Questionnaire
July 1998

• E-mail as a Communication Method in the EC

  Compared to phone, fax, face-to-face meeting, postal letter, and video teleconference, here is a chart showing the relative frequency and effectiveness of e-mail as evaluated by JEC and AEC.

• Most Common Uses of E-mail Among AEC and JEC

  The AEC and JEC respondents chose the "Top 5 types of e-mail use" among their respective committees. Here is a comparision of their rankings.

• JASC-EC self evaluation of directness

  All members were asked to respond to the question "I express myself more directly in e-mail than in regular conversation" on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1=strongly agree and 5=strongly disagree. No particular pattern appeared in the AEC responses, but half of the JEC responded neutral and only one JEC responded agreement.

  (graph 1)

  Note: Interviews later clarified that "disagreement" was interpreted to mean that they felt no particular difference in directness via e-mail than conversation, and "neutral" was interpreted as "case-by-case."

• EC evaluation of each subgroup's directness: Perception Gap

  Each group was asked to evaluate the JECs and AECs for directness in e-mail compared to conversation.
  • AEC
    Most notably, half of the AEC strongly disagreed with the statement "The AECs, in general, tend to be more direct in e-mail than regular conversation."

    (graph 2)

    Four members of the JEC, on the other hand, rated the AEC "neutral" and none disagreed.

  • JEC
    In evaluating the JECs, half of the AEC respondents strongly agreed with the statement "The JECs, in general, tend to be more direct in e-mail than regular conversation."

    (graph 3)

    What is most remarkable is that the JECs evaluated themselves the opposite, with three members strongly disagreeing, and only one member agreeing. Interviews suggested that JEC members might have expressed themselves more directly in English e-mail with the AEC, while essentially no difference in Japanese e-mail among themselves.