Challenges of researching social media

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

Thank you.

@[email protected]