HELPING PEOPLE'S

Kathleen McNiff is a blogger with QSR International, the people that brought you NVivo. Get in touch with Kath on Twitter @ KMcNiff . Imagine you’re sitting on a qualitative goldmine—in-depth interviews, focus groups, intriguing survey results, nuanced observations and a comprehensive lit review.  All the traditional boxes are ticked and yet there’s the nagging feeling that something is missing.  Chances are, it’s social media—and that’s probably why you’re here.   The Challenges There are so many impassioned and revealing conversations taking place online that it’s becoming harder (and more dangerous) to ignore them.  But embracing social media is not straightforward and you may be grappling with questions such as:   How do I build social media into my research design? What platforms are worth concentrating on? How should I collect the data? What tools and methods should I use to analyse it? NVivo gives you a practical way to face these challenges.   NCa...

Hello to the NSMNSS blogosphere! You may recognize my name from posts and events over the past year, and I am delighted to be a part of the continued work of the New Social Media, New Social Science project as a contributing blogger. I recorded a short introduction for the visual and aural communicators out there! I have served on the graduate faculty member of the Capella University School of Business and Technology since 1999. I thought I would teach a course or two but fell in love with online teaching and here I am! Capella learners are scholar-practitioners, working adults who integrate life and career experience with rigorous academic study. I currently focus my efforts on dissertation supervision, which provides a living laboratory for observing the development of new research—primarily with online qualitative methods. Their struggles and triumphs help me understand the eclectic mix of practical and scholarly skills needed to successfully conduct research. I am also an indepen...

Dear NSMNSS members, We're delighted to invite you to the next set of free NSMNSS network activities: ■   We will be holding our final Knowledge Exchange Seminar, hosted at NatCen Social Research on 15 March at 35 Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0AX. This half day session (12.30-4.30pm) will focus exclusively on the issues related to data and analysis quality arising from social media research , please see the programme copied below for more details. We have very limited spaces for this event so places will be allocated on a first come first served basis and preference will be given to participants willing to contribute a case study or example from their own experience to one of the sessions.  If you would like to attend the seminar please contact us (see below) confirming your contact details (email and phone number). We would hope attendees are able to share their experiences throughout the day of quality issues they have faced using social media. ■   Although t...

Not long ago entrepreneurs depended on financial capital to build the physical stores and factories needed to launch a business. And while costly physical operations are still important in some lines of business, 21century entrepreneurs see social capital as essential to a new venture. “Social capital” is the ability to build mutually-beneficial networks of partners, allies and customers ( Adler & Kwon, 2002, p. 214 ; Carolis & Saparito, 2006 ; OttÓSson & Klyver, 2010 ; Xiong & Bharadwaj, 2011 ). Free or cheap technologies make it possible for start-ups to build social capital and sell products and services without huge initial investments. How do women entrepreneurs perceive their opportunities given the availability of these technologies and how do they use them to build networks that generate business? How have their choices vis a vis use of technology influenced the types of businesses they chose to run– and the goals they have for the future? This set of questions ...