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Discover enacted data collection methods, understand researcher's role, and explore collaborative research events online for qualitative studies.
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Chapter 9 Generating data with enacted methods Janet Salmons, PhD
Objectives After reading and reflecting on Chapter 9, you will be able to: • Distinguish between types of enacted data collection. • Analyze ways in which each type might be employed to achieve the study purpose. • Understand the role of the position and role of the researcher in planning and conducting research with consenting participants. • Consider how decisions made about the type of data collection relate to other design decisions for the online study.
What are ‘enacted’ Methods? • In ‘enacted’ methods, researchers construct a situation that allows for data to emerge or be generated in response to various kinds of verbal, written or visually communicated prompts or tasks. Such situations are here referred to as research events.An online environment, community, forum, virtual world or game is selected or designed as the event setting. • This kind of research is highly collaborative, and participants may take roles as co-researchers who co-construct new knowledge.
How is data collected? • Data may be captured or collected within the research settings, or external to the setting in journals or forums established for this purpose. Visual, verbal, written, and/or multimedia data can be collected from:
Typology of Online Visual Methods Use diverse visual approaches to communicate, elicit responses and/or collaborate with participants.
Participatory Online Research Participants take an active role in some or all stages of the process. Participants may be involved with research because they want to understand critical issues and problems and apply findings in order to improve personal, organizational or community circumstances. • For example: • Researchers and participants work on a project together (creating an online site, webinar, newsletter, discussion on social media) and study their own process as well as the results. • Participants use photovoice techniques to document their experiences of a common issue, then reflect on, share and discuss the pictures in a web conference. • Participants explore a topic online, by saving and sharing links, screen shots or visuals that represent diverse perspectives. • Your ideas?
New kinds of experiments In the late 1990s, researchers began to imagine ways to do field experiments online. They called the electronic settings ‘Microworlds’: Microworldsrefer to dynamic computer-generated environments … that simulate conditions encountered in the field … MWs simulate an environment, and not the behavioral phenomenon that occurs within that environment, and are therefore distinct from computer simulations that seek to discover accurate mathematical models of behavior. (DiFonzo et al., 1998, p. 278). • How would they use today’s technologies? • What kinds of research could be conducted using qualitative online experiments? • What online environments could you use for experiments? • How would you organize the environment? • What data could you collect, how? DiFonzo, N., Hantula, D. A. & Bordia, P. (1998) Microworlds for experimental research: Having your (control and collection) cake, and realism too. Behavior Research Methods, 30(2), 278–86.
vignettes and role plays online When thinking about doing role plays to explore problem vignettes, how would the study be different depending on your choices about the use of information and communications technologies as the medium, setting or phenomenon? Medium: ICT allows researcher and participant to communicate, taking roles within the vignette. Setting: ICT is chosen because the features allow the researcher and participant to see each other, or to exchange digital artifacts in the role play. Phenomenon: Researcher asks participant to demonstrate the use of an ICT given the situation discussed in the vignette.
The final word in preparation for data collection: Practice! • Practice using different technologies as the setting for collaborative interactions. Can you record the event? Do participants need to create avatars or learn new tools to interact? How can you make it easy to participate? • Take a research question (from your own study or an article) and devise a way to create an enacted event to answer it. • Once you have decided on an approach, practice until you are confident.
Collecting Data Online & theQualitative eResearchframework While the researcher may be deeply engaged with the activities associated with data collection, it is important to remember how this phase fits into the overall inquiry.