there are a lot of obvious negatives of undertaking a netnographic research in social sciences as compared to an ethnographic data collection, but in this pandemic, what other non obvious issues need to be pondered upon and taken care of during the data collection?
Dear Mayukh,
Isolation measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 means that social researchers who conduct face-to-face fieldwork (interviews, focus groups, ethnographies, for example) are now faced with the challenge of either delaying or re-inventing their methods so that they can continue their research until these measures are relaxed.
I believe netnography is a good option to conduct ethnographic research online.
Some related papers are:
Hine, Christine (2000). Virtual Ethnography . London: SAGE Publications.
Hine, Christine. (2008). Virtual ethnography: Modes, varieties, affordances. The SAGE handbook of online research methods , 257-270.
Best wishes,
Gustavo.
We are an adaptable species. Like water rises to its level, we rise to the occasion to reach out to each other. Face-to-face interviews offer a tactile experience. However, the online interview can be recorded, easily, for future reference. This can be done in person but it is less of a challenge.
thank you Dr Gustavo for your answer and for the 2 reference papers. i will have a look at them. Thank you Dr Joan for your insights too.
Hi Sir, one of the pitfalls that I encounter in doing ethnography is that the participants or subject in the study just try to replicate the answers of the dominant in the group, wherein the validation itself is not observed compare to F2F ethnography which is we can validate the answers by observing and doing a follow-up. Another is the real vs virtual self that the participants portraying especially when rapport is not well established. Hope it helps.
F2F ethnography is as much about the spoken words as it is about the unspoken bits that get communicated, the body languages and the ambience within which the discourse unfolds. These cannot be effectively replicated by any device. However what netnography does afford is perhaps access to a larger group of people and produce new modes of knowledge production previously not taken up by the discipline(s).
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