Online participant absent research: quality, emotions and ethics Aimee Grant [email protected]
Transcript
Slide 1
Online participant absent research: quality, emotions and
ethics Aimee Grant [email protected]
Slide 2
Overview Emotions and ethics in qualitative research Increasing
interest in Big Data The use of big online sources for qualitative
research Methods: case studies, data collection, analysis Issues
Ethics Emotions Quality Conclusions
Slide 3
Emotion and ethics in research Emotion and ethical issues
impact on research quality Both considered at length in participant
present research Amanda Coffey: the Ethnographic Self Beginning to
be considered in participant absent research Jonathan Scourfield
documentary analysis of suicide case files Need to apply these
lessons to online research
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Big Data Definition Not yet a single definition Lots of data
Online ? Unable to analyse without use of computers Use: health
research Google searches to track flu and ebola Twitter
understanding tobacco/ e-cig company activity Increasing interest
COSMOS - http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/cosmos/
http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/cosmos/ ESRC Big Data and Society journal
(Sage)
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Using Big Data qualitatively Facebook understanding the use of
Facebook breastmilk banks Twitter analysis of advice provided by
quit smoking accounts Urban dictionary discourse analysis of
entries including chav mum Comments from online news articles
response to murder in USA Not clear where principles of documentary
analysis should end and qualitative big data should begin
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Focus for today: breastfeeding in public and waterpipe
smoking
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Data selection, collection and analysis Breastfeeding: Case of
Wioletta Social media Twitter Facebook Newspaper comments Mail
Online BBC Guardian Waterpipe smoking Tweets from a one week period
relating to 8 # Analysis Semiotic Thematic Discourse (Mail Online
comments only)
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Issues: ethics Should we ask for permission to collect this
data? How should we use the data? What about identifiable data
(user names, photographs) What about illegal activity
Communications Act 2003 UK Press Complaints commission BSA
principles
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Issues: emotions Analysis of Twitter relatively unproblematic
Shisha uncontentious Breastfeeding many uncontentious posts
Minority of posts with offensive views Mail online comments
Incredibly offensive comments were quite normal Sexist language
Suggestion of sexual violence against breastfeeding women Coffey
Reflexivity essential Should not aim for a neutral stance Is there
any real risk to the researcher? Regular debriefing Colleagues
Field notes Regular breaks
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Issues: quality What is good participant absent online
qualitative research? Appropriateness of data to answer your
research question Understand limitations of data source, data
collection tool Analysis: Conforms to ethical principles (eg: BSA)
But researcher also needs to feel ethically comfortable The
conservative course may be the most suitable Need for reflexivity
Should not pretend that we are being neutral in analysis especially
eg: discourse analysis
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Conclusion Research using Big Data is likely to remain popular
for sometime Useful for government, but also can be used for
sociology Essential to consider appropriateness of research design
Ethics and emotions should not be ignored but many other issues are
also relevant, and further debate is required