Update from our webinar

We ran a very succesful webinar this week exploring the challenges facing researchers who use social media platforms for qualitative research. You can view the webinar by following this link:

https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-02-05.0803.M.0D5B68C957...

Please be aware the audio quality was poor for the first 6 minutes but is fine after that.

We'd like to open up the discussion to people who couldn't attend the session, so please do consider the questions below and share your thoughts on the issues raised over on our Methodspace forum.

1. What issues are raised by researchers going 'undercover' in online communities to research online behaviour?
2. How can we ensure that the person we observe/interact with online fits our sample profile, how can we verify/trust profiles?
3. How can you guarantee confidentiality if the platform owns the data created/shared on it?
4. When we interact with people online what impact does that interaction have on people's behaviours, is there a 'hawthorne effect' with online research via a vis observational studies more generally?
5. How can we equip researchers and supervisers with adequate digitial skills and literacies
6. How would you do online Facebook research with young adolescents keeping in minds ethics and youth protection?
7. What are the practicalities and ethics of research into political extremist groups online?

We look forward to hearing from you,

Kandy