Digital Methods for Qualitative Research

Description:

Researchers using communication technologies for online interviews or focus groups, or to study posts, Tweets or documents, must think carefully about the implications of each design decision they make.

In this hands-on training, participants will learn how to apply holistic design thinking for studies that use one or more method of online data collection:

• Extant: Studies that rely on existing data posted online or included in archives or databases, or through online observations.
• Elicited: Studies that use data elicited by researchers' questions or visual prompts through online interviews (1-to-1 or group), participant observations or through written exchanges in open-ended questionnaires, narratives, journals.
• Enacted: Studies that generate data through online simulations, games, role-plays or other highly-interactive research events.

Participants can use their own research projects for the exercises, or use cases provided by the tutor.

Please note that familiarity and some experience with qualitative methods will be beneficial.

Topics:

• An introduction to the Qualitative E-Research Framework and the Typology of Online Visual Methods
• Aligning purpose and design through all aspects of the study
• Selecting Extant, Elicited and/or Enacted methods to collect data
• Selecting Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and milieu
• Using visual methods with diverse ICTs including web and videoconferencing, virtual worlds or social networking sites from mobile devices or computers
• Addressing ethical issues

Objectives: By the end of the seminar participants should be able to:

• Appreciate the specific need for a holistic, systems-thinking approach to designing research that uses technology.
• Understand key questions to ask in each area of the research design.
• Know how visual communication, elicitation and collaboration can be carried out online.
• Apply and further develop the ideas in exercises. After the training they can build on the exercises to design their own research, or use the approaches with their own students.

Who will benefit: Social researchers across all sectors, as well as those who teach qualitative methods or supervise research. Familiarity and some experience with qualitative methods would be beneficial.

Tutor: Janet Salmons is an independent researcher, writer and consultant through Vision2Lead. Janet has served on the online graduate faculty of the Capella University School of Business since 1999. She develops and teaches doctoral courses in leadership and ethics in a digital world. She serves as dissertation supervisor for doctoral learners and as a Scientific Merit Reviewer for research proposals. She was honored with the Harold Abel Distinguished Faculty Award for 2011-2012 and the Steven Shank Recognition for Teaching in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Dr. Salmons’ inquiry into emerging online methods has resulted in development of numerous models including the “Qualitative E- Research Framework” (2012, 2015) and the “Typology of Online Visual Interview Methods” (Salmons, 2010, 2012). She contributed to the Social Media in Social Research e-book (NatCen, 2014) wrote Doing Qualitative Research Online (forthcoming,Sage), Qualitative Online Interviews (Sage,2015) and Online Interviews in Real Time (2010). She edited Cases in Online Interview Research (Sage, 2012) and the Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy with Lynn Wilson (IGI Global, 2009).

Cost:

£260 but SRA members pay £195

Website and registration:

www.the-sra.org.uk/training

Region:

Scotland

Keywords:

Visual Methods

Related publications and presentations:

Visual Methods

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