Autopilot? A reflexive review of the piloting process in qualitative e-research

Purpose: This paper examines an oft-neglected aspect of qualitative research practice – conducting a pilot – using the innovative approach of ‘e-research’ to generate both practical and methodological insights. Approach: Using the authors’ ‘e-research’ pilot as a reflexive case study, key methodological issues are critically reviewed. This review is set in a broader context of the qualitative methods literature in which piloting appears largely as an implicit practice. Using a new and emerging approach (‘e-research’) provides a prompt to review our ‘autopilot’ tendencies and offers a new lens for analysing research practice. Findings: We find that despite an initial focus on ‘practical’ aspects of data collection within our ‘e-research’, the pilot opened up a range of areas for further consideration. We review research ethics, collaborative research practices and data management issues specifically for e-research but also reflect more broadly on potential implications for piloting within other research designs. Practical implications: We aim to offer both practical and methodological insights for qualitative researchers, whatever their methodological orientation, so that they might develop approaches for piloting that are appropriate to their own research endeavours. More specifically, we offer tentative guidance to those venturing into the emerging area of ‘e-research’. Value: This paper offers insight into an oft-ignored aspect of qualitative research, whilst also engaging in emerging area of methodological interest

Online Learning during the Pandemic in Indonesia: A Case Study on Digital Divide and Sociality among Students

This paper discusses the social world of online education in Indonesia. Drawing on a qualitative study held in July to September 2021, this paper describes how students used digital technologies for both education and social connection purposes during the COVID-19 restriction policy. In contrast to the widely assumed uniformity of online education and ubiquity of information technologies, this study identifies various digital divides ranging from unequal access to and control over digital devices and the internet to the varying degrees of students’ technological skills and participation. Sociality is used as a conceptual framework to understand students’ social interactions and networks. Data was collected from online interviews and partial participant observations with high school and university students from Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali), Magelang (Central Java), Pekanbaru (Riau), and Yogyakarta. The study concludes that the digital divide in online education exacerbates existing social inequalities. Simultaneously, online education enables the construction of new forms of stratification and relationship

What Google Teaches Us About The Child Rights Movement

Technology both helps and hinders what we know about human rights. Use of Google is of central importance to both the Sociology of Knowledge and the creation of internet literacy. In this study, different search engines are compared regarding content of “child rights” in the fifty United States. Findings include: importance of algorithmic loading of sites; number of hits may not reflect the importance or accuracy of a topic; different search engines produce different findings; and personalized searches result in different results. Personalization of searches in accordance to one’s previous search history may result in people being given information that reinforces their views, not challenge them. This means that people opposed to child rights may not be afforded the same information as people who have a search history supporting them. Because searches do not necessarily yield the same information about human rights, scholars and the public must be attentive to adequately assess the accurate or skewed nature of a keyword search

Computer and information ethics: the neglect of moral issues associated with e-commerce

This research explores the ethical and social issues arising from the phenomenal growth of commercial E-Gambling within Europe. The digitised commercial services of a leading European operator is scrutinised using internet research methods from 2003 to 2006 to produce the findings. Internet research methods were selected because they offer interesting insights that have proved difficult to ascertain by others, using alternative approaches. This empirical study highlights some of the social problems associated with E-Gambling, particularly in relation to concerns with the level of problem gambling. In addition, it finds that commercial operators have a contradictory stance in terms of the delivery of their ethical policies in some commercial practices

Análisis etnográfico multi-plataforma: inmersiones en internet y desafíos de campo

The last fifteen years have seen the emergence of internet studies. Among the issues and opportunities this raises is the possibility to do virtual ethnography, involving redefinitions of fieldwork: the connections between online and offline relations, implications of technological mediation, and the ethics of such research. In this article, we address an overlooked aspect: multiplatform interactions in social networking sites (SNS).We conducted a virtual ethnographic study in a community of communication professionals, specifically public relations (CordobaPR) in Argentina. Our results give some insights into methodological debates raised by this type of research. They also illustrate challenges involved in shifting from uniplatform to multiplatform interactions, which imply a growing complexity of exchanges through multiple software layers.Diferentes cuestiones han sido discutidas en torno a la etnografía virtual en el marco de los estudios de internet, tales como los desafíos para la noción de campo, las conexiones online y offline, las implicancias de la mediación tecnológica y los aspectos éticos del proceso de investigación. El artículo se aproxima a un aspecto menos abordado: las interacciones multi-plataforma en sitios de redes sociales en internet (SRS).El estudio etnográfico virtual realizado en la comunidad de profesionales de la comunicación CórdobaPR, permite retroalimentar las discusiones en torno a la inmersión y delimitación del campo, las posibilidades de registro, la sistematización y análisis de información, así como la mutación de plataformas web y migración de usuarios. Sus resultados permiten reconocer los desafíos implicados en el traspaso desde interacciones uni-plataforma a multi-plataforma, las cuales involucran una complejización de los intercambios a través de múltiples capas de software.In den letzten 15 Jahren ist das Internet zunehmend zum Gegenstand wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen geworden. Dies beinhaltete für die virtuelle Ethnografie Neudefinitionen des traditionellen "Feld"-Begriffs und neue Herausforderungen z.B. mit Blick auf die Verbindung von Online- und Offline-Beziehungen und auf technologische und ethische Implikationen des Internets. In diesem Beitrag befassen wir uns mit einem Aspekt, der bisher nur wenig Beachtung gefunden hat: Multiplattform-Interaktionen in sozialen Netzwerken. Hierzu haben wir eine ethnografische Studie in einer Community von Kommunikationsexpert/innen insbesondere aus dem Bereich der Public Relations (CordobaPR) in Argentinien durchgeführt. Entlang unserer Ergebnisse diskutieren wir einige Besonderheiten, die mit einer solchem Forschungsansatz einhergehen, und dies vor allem mit Blick auf Multiplattform-Interaktionen, die infolge multipler Softwarenutzungen sehr komplex sind

‘New’ technologies and journalism practice in Africa: Towards a critical sociological approach.

This chapter suggests a critical sociological approach in terms of which we can closely examine the use of ‘new’ technologies by journalists in Africa. It argues that to understand the impact of ‘new’ technologies on journalism practice in Africa, ‘new’ technologies must be seen as continuous with and embedded in existing social, cultural, political and economic networks in which journalism practice is entrenched. We therefore need to examine the multidimensional factors – in everyday work practices and wider social contexts – which structure and constrain the deployment of ‘new’ technologies by journalists. This approach finds root in social constructivist approaches to technology and the sociology of journalism which respectively provide enduring insights into the impact of ‘new’ technologies on society and the working practices of journalists

Paixão e violência: expressão das emoções nas narrativas de torcidas organizadas de futebol

This article aims at contributing to the academic debate on the conflicts among Brazilian football contemporary organized supporters groups through a discussion, guided by the sociology of emotions, on the ways they produce meaning and express their affections. To accomplish this task, the narratives the organized supporters groups create in order to attribute significance to their practices and dispute the current discourses produced about them on the public debate were analysed. These narratives, collected between 2013 and 2018, were found in the organized supporters groups’ websites. We have observed that the organized supporters groups have their own particular methods to publicly manifest their feelings, which are connected not only to the social processes by which they attribute meaning to their experiences, but also to the social relations they stablish between themselves – mostly marked by mutual antagonism – and to the clubs they represent, and that pass through the construction of their community feeling.O presente artigo objetiva contribuir para o debate acadêmico em torno dos conflitos nas torcidas organizadas de futebol brasileiras contemporâneas através de uma discussão, orientada por uma sociologia das emoções, sobre suas formas de produção de significados e expressão dos afetos. Para realizar essa análise, optou-se por observar as narrativas que as torcidas produzem para atribuir significado às suas práticas e disputar os discursos circulantes a respeito delas no debate público. Essas narrativas, coletadas entre os anos de 2013 e 2018, foram encontradas nos sites das torcidas organizadas. Observamos que as torcidas possuem formas próprias de manifestação pública dos sentimentos, que estão ligadas não apenas aos processos sociais de atribuição de significados a suas experiências, mas também às relações sociais que as torcidas estabelecem entre si – majoritariamente marcadas pelo antagonismo mútuo – e com os clubes que representam, e que perpassam a construção de seu sentimento de comunidade

Disqus website-based commenting as an e-research method: engaging doctoral and early-career academic learners in educational research

This article presents an adaptation of established qualitative research methods for online focus groups by using the Disqus website-based commenting platform as a medium for discussion amongst doctoral and early-career academic learners. Facilities allowing internet users to comment on the content of web-pages are increasingly popular on news websites, social media, and elsewhere. This research deployed this technology as a means of hosting a group discussion in response to preliminary findings from a study into the teaching and learning of social research methods. This article explores the methodological and technical considerations associated with this method and presents an analysis of the data collection process. e-Research paradata generated by the website reveals how learners engaged with the discussion, whilst a thematic analysis of the comments themselves explores the nature of the qualitative data generated from responses. Website-based commenting appears to have potential as a means of facilitate learners’ engagement in educational e-research, especially when faced with constraints of distance, time, or access. However, methodological challenges may also arise when recruiting participants and sustaining discussion using this method

Bizkaiko haur abesbatzak: hezkuntza ez-formaletik eskolara

[EUS] Ikerketa lan honen helburua Bizkaiko haur abesbatzen egungo egoerari buruzko informazioa jasotzea da, Lehen Hezkuntzatik abiatuz, egoera hobetzeko ideiak proposatzeko asmoz. Horretarako, probintziako ikastetxeetako jarduera koralaren eskaintza aztertu dugu web orrialdeen bidez, abesbatzen emanaldien ikus-entzunezko materialen analisia egin eta zuzendariei galdeketa egin zaie egoera barrutik ezagutzeko. Emaitzei begira, esan daiteke errotze kultural handia izan duen euskal abesbatzen jarraipena kolokan dagoela haur abesbatzen eskasia dela eta. Badaude hainbat talde eremu formal zein ez-formalean ondare horren alde lan egiten dihardutenak. Dena den, hezkuntzako eremu formalaren bidez jarraipen hori sustatu ahalko litzateke.[ES] El objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es recoger información de la realidad coral infantil actual de Vizcaya, proponiendo ideas de mejora desde la Educación Primaria. Para ello, hemos analizado la oferta coral de los centros educativos de la provincia mediante sus páginas web, hemos examinado materiales audiovisuales de las actuaciones de los coros y se ha realizado un cuestionario a los directores para conocer la situación desde dentro. Respecto a los resultados, se puede decir que la continuación de los coros vascos, que han tenido tanto arraigo cultural, es incierta, dada la escasez la coros infantiles. Existen varios grupos tanto en el ámbito formal como en el no formal que trabajan a favor de ese patrimonio. De todos modos, se podría potenciar esa continuación mediante la educación formal.[EN] The aim of this research is to collect information about the current reality of children´s choir in Biscay, in order to propose ideas of improvement through Primary Education. To do so, we have analysed the offered training courses of choir in educational centres of the province by means of its web, we have examined audiovisual materials of choirs´ performances and a questionnaire has been made to conductors in order to get to know the situation from within. Regarding the results, it can be said that the continuation of Basque choirs which has been so deeply rooted in culture is now unforeseeable, due to the shortage of children´s choirs. There are, however, several groups both in the formal area and in the non-formal which work in favour of that heritage. Nevertheless, that continuation could be fostered through formal education