challenges of researching social media
TRANSCRIPT
It’s not ethnography if you don’t live in a tent:
Challenges of researching social media
Ashley [email protected]
@ashleygshaw
University of British Columbia February 2015
“How can studying Facebook be ethnography? Ethnography is when you go and live with people. You can’t live online. It’s not ethnography if you don’t live in a tent.”
- A colleague
Two (misguided) views.
“Forget taxonomy, ontology, and psychology. Who knows why people do what they do? The point is that they do it, and we can track and measure it. With enough data, the numbers speak for themselves. “
- Andersen (2008) The End of Theory
Where I’m coming from
Facebook in the Lives of Postgraduates: A Case Study
Threshold Concepts in connectivist MOOCs
February, 2015September 2008
Why?
www.marketingpilgrim.com
• Massive (and increasing) engagement from all ages
• Changing practices of education
• Collect, analyse, and use data in new ways
Why not?
• Because it’s there
• Technological determinism
• Speed of change
• Cultural clash
Challenges
Dual challenge of investigating how social and digital media are changing education and society while at the same time using these tools as part of the research process itself.
- Multifaceted, dynamic practices across digital and physical spaces
- Fragmentary nature of information
Defining a site of research
- Amount of data generated
- Multi-modal
- New methods required
Big Data
- Taking existing methods online
- Developing new methods
- Trap of simplicity
- Reconceptualisations of validity
Methods and Methodologies
Ethics
- Public vs. private spaces
- Ownership of data
- Anonymity
- Informed consent
- TOS
What I’ve learned (so far)• Good research practices translate
online
• Focus on the question
• Understand the space
• Flexibility
• Collect multiple types of data
• Draw on others
