1st Edition

Doing Research In and On the Digital Research Methods across Fields of Inquiry

Edited By Cristina Costa, Jenna Condie Copyright 2018
    226 Pages 1711 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    226 Pages 17 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    As a social space, the web provides researchers both with a tool and an environment to explore the intricacies of everyday life. As a site of mediated interactions and interrelationships, the ‘digital’ has evolved from being a space of information to a space of creation, thus providing new opportunities regarding how, where and, why to conduct social research.

    Doing Research In and On the Digital aims to deliver on two fronts: first, by detailing how researchers are devising and applying innovative research methods for and within the digital sphere, and, secondly, by discussing the ethical challenges and issues implied and encountered in such approaches.

    In two core Parts, this collection explores:

    • content collection: methods for harvesting digital data
    • engaging research informants: digital participatory methods and data stories .

    With contributions from a diverse range of fields such as anthropology, sociology, education, healthcare and psychology, this volume will particularly appeal to post-graduate students and early career researchers who are navigating through new terrain in their digital-mediated research endeavours.

    Chapter 1: Doing research in and on the digital

    Cristina Costa, University of the West of England, UK & Jenna Condie, Western Sydney University, Australia

    Part I: Collecting content: methods for harvesting digital data

    Chapter 2: Feeling appy?: using app-based methodology to explore contextual effects on real-time cognitions, affect and behaviours

    Linda K. Kaye, Rebecca L. Monk and Iain Hamlin, Edge Hill University, UK

    Chapter 3: Adapting a method to use Facebook in education research: taking phenomenography online

    Naomi Barnes, Griffith University, Australia

    Chapter 4: An exploration of lived experience in a digital world: how technology is revolutionising substance misuse recovery

    Stephanie Dugdale1, Sarah Elison-Davies1, Glyn Davies1, Jonathan Ward1, Michaela Jones2

    1 Breaking Free Group, Manchester, UK 
    2 in2recovery, Manchester, UK

    Chapter 5: Exploring breast cancer bloggers’ lived experiences of ‘survivorship’: the ethics of gaining access, analysing discourse and fulfilling academic requirements

    Cathy Ure, University of Salford, UK

    Chapter 6: Text research on online platforms: heuristic steps and pitfalls

    Tom Van Nuenen, Tilburg University, Holland

    Chapter 7: Tinder matters: swiping right to unlock new research fields

    Jenna Condie, Garth Lean, and Donna James, Western Sydney University, Australia

    Chapter 8: Remote ethnography, virtual presence: exploring digital-visual methods for anthropological research on the web

    Shireen Walton, University College London, UK

    Part II: Engaging research informants: digital participatory methods and data stories

    Chapter 9: The visualisation of data in a digital context

    David A. Ellis, University of Lancaster and Hannah L. Merdian, University of Lincoln, UK

    Chapter 10: Designing digital platforms for citizen data and public discourse on climate change

    Lily Bui, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

    Chapter 11: In search of lost purpose: the dream life of digital

    Erinma Ochu, University of Salford, UK

    Chapter 12: Using digital stories in healthcare research: ethical and practical dilemmas

    Carol Haigh, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK & Pip Hardy, Independent Researcher, UK

    Chapter 13: Conclusion: (re-)exploring the practical and ethical contexts of digital research

    Jenna Condie, Western Sydney University, Australia, & Cristina Costa, University of the West of England, UK

    Biography

    Cristina Costa is Associate Professor Digital Education and Society, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

    Jenna Condie is a Lecturer in Digital Research and Online Social Analysis at Western Sydney University, Australia.