Quick exercise for research methods course at Weatherhead School of Management on how people choose and consume books.

1. Reading Habits: How People
Choose and Consume Books
Qualitative interview research exercise
George Mount
Erica Sackett
ORBH 560: Research Methods
Weatherhead School of Management
Case Western Reserve University
September 2016

2. eBook versus e-reader
choices: a wicked problem!

3. Closet IS research?

4. What am I
buying this for?
Will I need to
take notes on
this book?
What are my
buying options?
Choose medium
Our pre-interview
idea of how books
are chosen and
consumed

5. Case #1: Robert, 55, self-employed laborer
• Chooses books mostly by referral
• Tends toward non-fiction, no reason
• Books either from small home library or local public library
• Seasonality: reads more during winter when not working
• Online/ebooks: Does not buy books online or read ebooks, feels
overwhelmed by the choices
• Perceived ebook advantage: storage

6. “The outlier is your friend.”
-Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook.

7. Case #2: Lauren, 23, medical school student
• Reads for stress relief from medical school
• Tends toward fiction, more relaxing, likes the stories
• Buys books from bookstore, does not like Amazon shopping
experience
• Will re-read books very often (up to 12 times)
• Perceived ebook advantage: storage
• Wants hard copies to build a library

8. Conclusions

9. The Seasonality of Reading

10. Ebooks do not make a library

11. Book choice by referral

12. The preference to mark books changes the equation

13. Ebook: Storage Space

14. Data Reduction:
Who told me
about this book?
Where can I find
a hard copy?
Do I want to
keep a copy for
re-reading?
Mediating variable:
-Seasonality
-Desire to have a library?
Spurious variable:
-Fiction/non-fiction

15. Questions/Considerations/Takeaways
• Data sample: next interview someone who prefers ebooks
• Data sample: next interview someone who writes in books
• Digitization of ebooks: not a selling point?
• Choosing books through referrals, not algorithms