Final Post!

I just realized I forgot to post for this week! I will make it brief, but I wanted to reflect a bit on the last assignment. One thing that I really enjoyed about this course was how progressive it was. I could feel a transition and learning process as we proceeded through the assignments, and though my final proposal was very different from my SSHRC proposal, hopefully the learning process is visible in it! The research proposal definitely put me outside of my comfort zone, but I am glad that I did it. I feel like I learned a lot from writing it that can be used in other assignments. There was a lot of soul-searching and forging my own path, and I feel that I am now a better writer and researcher because of it.
I wanted to comment briefly on the textbooks. I think that Knight was more practical and studious, but I had a hard time getting into his chapters. Luker's book was less structured, but made me feel like even though I had no idea what I was doing, I too could write a research proposal. Luker was definitely more relatable, and though Knight's content was useful, Luker's attitude and message made this course a lot more manageable for me.
That's all! I had a great semester and learned a lot. Have a great holiday everyone and see you next term! :)

Finding Patterns & Some Final Thoughts

It’s my final post for Research Methods! Where did the time go? Not sure if anyone will be reading the blog at this point, but I still wanted to add some final thoughts. Hopefully everyone was able to successfully submit their research proposals. Now that we’ve completed the course, does this mean we no longer have to call ourselves “amateur” social researchers?  As I thought about what I could write in my final post, I reflected on what worked really well this term. The readings were all generally interesting, with some being more relevant than others, just based on our individual research interests and selected methods. I must say though that I gravitated more towards Luker’s book and really enjoyed her writing style. Throughout her book she makes good use of analogies and metaphors, which really made learning about research methods a lot more fun! For example, in this week’s readings, she refers to herself as a “Julia Child junkie.” (Luker, 2008, 198) She uses the “syrupy reduction sauce” which is a mixture of sautéed juices and some alcoholic addition as a metaphor for social researchers. She explains how social researchers are also given the task of reducing the data they have gathered into something they can “manage” and analyze in “meaningful ways.” (Luker, 2008, 199) I learned that the process of analysis and reduction is an ongoing one, which begins as soon as you come home from gathering data or even the first day you start your project. One meaningful and relevant suggestion that Luker makes is that our important job is to find “pattern recognition” in our data. (Luker, 2008, 199)

But beyond the readings, I also enjoyed attending the lectures and the learning that occurred during class participation. It was a pleasure meeting and speaking to you all about your research ideas. Best of luck and hopefully we’ll be seeing each other again very soon.

On coding and cartoonists...

Picking up on Luke's post about manual vs. computer-assisted coding - while I've been in this class, I've also been taking a class that has allowed me to conduct a small ethnographic project. I've been in the process of coding my field data for the past few weeks, and I've done it all manually - and it's been a pretty rewarding process. I can mostly imagine digital methods to be useful when there's a huge volume of data - which, in my case, there wasn't (well, there was a lot - but compared to the amount that a year-long project would amass, it wasn't much). Coding manually was helpful because it was easy for me to visualize where in the data specific things were located, and there was something I liked about the hands-on nature of the whole thing - combing through pages of text, highlighting, using sticky notes, all the while building a web of important concepts and themes. There has been something that feels kind of creative about it, about really actively engaging in the work you've done, and about searching through it for all the layers of meaning.

This is a bit of a departure (and it's probably not, you know, properly research-y), but I'm a big fan of cartoonist Lynda Barry, and when she talks about doing creative work, she's a huge advocate for using your hands and doing things manually. She talks about how, when she's working on something (whether it's writing or drawing), "The worst thing I can do when I'm stuck is to start thinking and stop moving my hands." In interviews, she talks about her process, and about how when she gets stuck on a project, she just puts it aside and moves over to another sheet of paper, where she starts drawing something else (even something as simple as painting the letters of the alphabet) - for her, the thing seems to be that being engaged in a physical way in what she's doing helps her to generate ideas. My feelings about manual coding reminded me of this - in my (pretty limited) experience so far, there has been a rich physicality and materiality to it that I have really enjoyed, that has helped me feel immersed in my data, and has engaged my mind in ways that working on a computer hasn't done.

Hey all, hope everyone is doing ok getting through the end of the term and getting their proposal in. It's been a long week, so hopefully I'm not too incoherent.

Anyhow, in reading the Luker chapter on analysis this week I really noticed the similarity between discourse/content analysis and interview analysis. It seems like after an interview has been transcribed, the process is more or less the same, which is puzzling given that Luker seems to like interviews but is skeptical of content analysis.

The trouble seems to be about correlation vs. causality, which makes me wonder if many studies really get at causality? Is establishing correlation not worth something logically at least? The boolean analysis that Luker talks about does seem to get over the limitations of overly simplistic cause and effect models, though I'm not sure I buy that it is any more "veritable".

Research Workflows

I find Luker’s reflections on the differences between computer-assisted qualitative coding, and a purely manual process very interesting. Reading Knight’s view of qualitative coding, he seems to view the processes as highly interchangeable. Based on my personal experience, digital vs. analog based workflows are not interchangeable. Luker’s observation at the computer-assisted workflow had her focusing on the minutia and work out to large themes fits with my experience of working with reading materials. When working with print materials I find it much easier to hold a mental map of the content and be able to find things based on feeling image of where it was. For example, I was able to find a specific non-indexed paragraph in a 500 page book I read five years ago by flipping through the book and locating where in the structure the content I was looking for fit. By contrast, when working with digital text, I can find specific details via keyword searches, but my sense of where things are located relative to each other, or on the scroll bar is negligible. Thus far, I’ve used both where possible; printing the digital material I was working with. As far as research applications, I think my ideal would be a combination of the digital and analog where appropriate. However maintaining the necessary links to go back and forth would be a significant workflow challenge.

I was going to write about shaping analysis, but I didn’t, here is the Yes Prime Minister clip I was going to use anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA

What Is This a Case Of?

This week, Luker talks about the hard work that begins at the end of research process just as we are all tuckered out from gathering the data. I find that I can perfectly relate to this point. It has been interesting collecting information and reviewing literature on the topic I’d chosen for my research proposal, but I see now that the biggest chunk of the work is putting it all together.

It’s not just about writing a good story. Not only we need to connect our data to the existing scholarship, we also need to make sure that the resulting account of the selected social world sheds a light on areas of this world that have not yet been lit. This actually sounds very important for the social world itself. Our research can make a difference. How progressive. What a responsibility. Our purpose, as researchers, is to illuminate our selected social worlds with additional ideas that will lead to wider knowledge.

I also really want to say this. Doing the actual research about my topic has been enjoyable. I love reading the existing literature and develop my ideas about it. I want to keep going and just read, read, read and then write about it. I have been feeling frustrated about having to write the proposal for the research before the research is complete. So far, I have re-written my questions and re-thought my methods a million of times. I wish I could finish the research first and then write a proposal. I wonder, if it's known to do that. It feels like I would have a very clear idea about the research questions after I've asked everything I could and gathered all the info I could.

Ethics...oh dear

So my original research question really had nothing to do with people, well, people who were recently alive. Originally I was going to do research on the posthumus fame of artist - which was inspired by the Frieda and Diego exhibit at the AGO (which you should all go check out!). It was going to be, for the most part, content analysis based.

However, we are a long ways away from SSHRC and things have changed. Instead, I am interested in the information seeking behaviour of children. Which stems from the realization that young patrons (7-12ish) tend to not want to you computer based resources for class assignments. So there we have it, my proposal will now not only include live people, but live, children...people.

There is a lot of responsibility involved in research, and even more so when the subject is a person. It involves building relationships that are transparent - and the foundations of these would be trust and disclosure. Knight summarizes how build this relationship (pp 170) (distilling the information that was referred to in reading and class) by providing a list that I will most definitely refer to as I write this daunting proposal.  

Being grateful for research subjects

Like Michelle said in her blog post, Knight's points on having a backup plan for when research does not go as planned are extremely helpful. It's very easy, especially in the proposal stage, to lean on the idea that the research will go completely as planned or that at the very least, enough data will be collected to justify the study in the first place. The reality is that people drop out of studies, data can be mishandled, and in general anything can go wrong! Our guest speaker this week reminded us that no one owes a researcher their time, and I think this mentality is important for planning a research project that deals with human subjects. It is easy to view our subjects as potential data warehouses, but in reality they are people with lives and more pressing matters than your project (sadly!). I think it's important to keep in mind that studies would not exist without the help of co-operative research subjects. Thinking of research subjects in this way has also helped me to write out the "ethics" portion of my proposal, as it caused me to put a lot of thought into how to justify asking students to participate in my study. Seeing a more "human" side to research has ultimately has made me a better potential researcher!

Plan B's and interviewing children

The readings this week were all helpful and applicable to us as we continue to work on our proposals. In the Knight reading, I found it interesting to learn that it is important to have a “plan B” for when your research project could go wrong. He talks about some potential problems that could occur, from participants withdrawing from your study to losing data (Knight, 162-163). This is why it is always important to back-up your computer, which is something I need to get in the habit of doing regularly!

Another point of interest which is related to my own research project was in the Heath et al article. I discovered that even though children may have been given a choice of whether to participate or not, the issue is that they may have said “yes” to the study because they are trying to please or are afraid of the consequences of not being seen as “cooperative.” (Heath et al, 414) As part of my research methodology involves interviewing children this was very relevant and something I had not considered before. Additionally the idea that children are “eager participants” is a faulty perception. Not only do we have to ensure the participants have a “voice,” but Heath et al. go further by suggesting that researchers should also be respectful of the rights of children to remain silent in discussions. (Heath et al, 415) All of these are major implications for anyone doing research with children.

Research Proposal

Hi everyone,
I was freaking out just a little bit over the research proposal assignment, so I googled sample research proposals and found a couple that seem to correspond to our guidelines in terms of length and sections. Feel free to forward these to other members of our class - I can't seem to post on blackboard...

This is a master's proposal specifically:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=sample+research+proposal+focus+groups&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

This is another sample:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17320747/Sample-Research-Proposal

Good luck!

Polina

Research Ethics

This week we looked at the ethics involved in doing research with human subjects. I personally have never done research with living subjects – every subject I’ve looked previously in school in a research project has been dead for 100 years. I found Knight’s list about building relationships coincided with the University of Toronto’s Guidelines and Practices Manual For Research Involving Human Research. I argue this because Chapter 2 in Manual outlines the Principles of Research Ethics, which includes: respect for human dignity, free and informed consent, respect for vulnerable persons, respect for privacy and confidentiality, respect for justice and inclusiveness, balancing harms and benefits, minimizing harms, and maximizing benefits. After reading Knight’s list, it is clear that to build a good relationship with the research subjects, research ethics can help do this. For example, free and informed consent in the manual is like the first point on Knight’s list “Getting potential participants’ informed consent by telling them clearly what the research is about” (p. 170). Thus, maybe there is not such a fine line between the guidelines for research ethics, and building a good relationship with the participants of the study.

Views of Cell Antennas - Urban and ICT Infrastructure Perspectives

As the potential of mobile technology begins to be realized, a frequently ignored factor of infrastructure are the broadcast antennas. The proliferation of these antennas in the urban environment has, in some municipalities, challenged our understanding and acceptance of visible infrastructure and aesthetics of the urban fabric. Standard cell antennas are tall, narrow, grey blocks (http://www.mbs.ie/images/antenna3.jpg). Owing to the corporate structure of the wireless industry means a duplication of the physical infrastructure as each competing company builds overlapping networks. This has lead to buildings bristling with antennas. (Seen next link). Such obvious infrastructure, in some municipalities, can, unaltered, fade into the background, while in others deliberate steps are taken camouflage the antennas. While looking for photos to illustrate this point, I found a popular article on this subject (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/07/dont-hide-cell-phone-towers-embrace-them/2437/). An interesting question is why this is necessary? Star’s model of infrastructure may provide important insights into understanding how things become infrastructure. And therefore, help explain why certain communities need and extra push to see this ICT infrastructure as also part of their urban infrastructure.

Twitter!

Michelle, Laura,  and I chose Twitter as a good subject for a case study because it encourages communication with the world at large concerning opinions, ideas, or even news updates. Twitter allows people to express themselves in “tweets” that are 140 characters or less. Users can mention each other in tweets or use hashtags to emphasize the subject matter of the tweet.

Hashtags make the collection and organization of data less complicated and often trending topics will give a researcher a good idea of what the “Twitterverse” finds particularly important. Twitter also allows for hyperlinking, retweeting, and replies to other Tweets. 

Many businesses/celebrities have Twitter accounts to increase or promote their brand. The number of followers a given user has will indicate their popularity, and who a user follows will indicate what their interests are. Followers/Following can be a useful resource in analyzing a person’s commercial interests.

Twitter poses a challenge because of its character limit. There is a danger that a tweet may be misconstrued because of its stipulated length. The fact that some Twitter accounts are set to private, and therefore inaccessible to the public, is also a challenge. 

Mini Online Research Assignment: Emotional Information Seeking, Tumblr, and Aesthetics

I've chosen tumblr as a potential emotional/affective space for study because of the ease with which tumblr users can customize their blogs to create a particular aesthetic/mood, and the way this aesthetic is often represented by commercial products.

What is it? Tumblr is a highly customizable microblogging platform and social networking site that allows users to blog (and reblog) photos, music, links, quotes, videos, and personal writing.

Who is it tailored to? Tumblr has 82.2 million blogs. It is popular for "curation," where users put together collections of images and other media that create a particular feel, mood, or aesthetic, or fit a particular theme or subject. Users often keep tumblr blogs that they treat much like other blogging platforms such as blogger or wordpress, writing personal text posts and including images from their own life - but the nature of tumblr as a microblogging platform makes it easy for users to quickly dump brief, immediate thoughts on their blog, much like twitter. Businesses and companies often have tumblrs, where they both promote their products and interact with the greater community. For example, the publishing house WW Norton & Company has a tumblr where they not only promote their books but discuss and share all kinds of interesting literary things. The clothing chain Anthropologie has a tumblr where they post media that fits in with their overall aesthetic (though they don't necessarily contain Anthropologie products). Independent of explicitly business-run tumblrs, individual users often seek, like, and reblog commercial products, use tumblr as a way of finding new items to purchase, or blog images of particular products in order to contribute to their blog's overall aesthetic. 

What emotional relations might exist? Users of tumblr often develop relationships based on shared interests (self-portrait photography, fashion, poetry, literature, etc), or similarities in personality - it can be a way of finding friends online who share your interests. But tumblr's focus on aesthetics, and its ability to easily create a particular aesthetic (because of its customizability and the ease with which things can be reblogged to a site) or embody a particular mood, means that people are often attracted to blogs that communicate a particular aesthetic, mood, or identity (which is often represented by commercial products, and other peoples' music/photography) that they share or can relate to.

Why would it make an ideal case study? The relationship visible on tumblr between aesthetic/mood/identity and commercial products is relevant to the project's focus on ICTs tailored towards "emotional communication, resources, and identities, as part of a larger trend in marketing and commercialization." Also tumblrs are often used as extentions of other social media platforms, like YouTube channels or more "professional" websites, making it possible to explore emotional information seeking across online spaces, and the relationship between tumblr and other parts of the web.

Potential methodological challenges. Narrowing the 82.2 million blogs on tumblr to a manageable and cohesive sample seems to be the most immediately forseeable methodological challenge. Operationalizing notions of aesthetic, mood, and identity in the context of tumblr blogging would also require a lot of thought and care. 

So I think that I need to share what I learnt from my peer review. I know, I am a little late with this, but I am sharing none the less. I did my peer review on President or Dictator? A Comparison of Cuban American Media Coverage of Cuban News. I think that my biggest problem with this article is that they did not tell the reader how they arrive at their percentages. They took for granted that the reader will just accept what they presented us with. As a result they severely compromised their validity and reliability - weakening their argument.

O. R. Holsti and R. P Weber were the two sources that I consulted vigorously while looking into Content Analysis. They were both very helpful resources and I totally recommend them (even if they are a little dated), especially since I have taken my notes from them and won't need to borrow them from the Inforum again. 

Hine & Ethnography

I found Hine's article to be quite interesting, and I actually really enjoyed reading it. I think of all the research approaches and methods discussed thus far, Hine's attitude sounds the most "realistic" to me. What I mean by this is that her description of ethnography as a reflective process (p. 7) is a fair assessment, and I agree that while ethnographers may have preliminary thoughts on the direction their research will take, these thoughts must be constantly re-evaluated in the face of field experiences. I find her thoughts realistic because I think, in a way, they hold true for other methods of research as well. Take interviews for example. No matter how much time and revision and planning a researcher puts into creating their questions, until the interview begins the interviewer really has no idea what kind of questions will be important to their study. Often an interviewee will take the interview in a direction that the interviewer could not have predicted, and this can have a great effect on the researcher's findings. A research cannot really plan every detail of their study, they are more often than not "along for the ride".
Luckily, most researchers are experienced enough to have a firm grasp on realistic expectations of their research and are not truly taken out of their element. For the less experienced, however, almost any study can possess Hine's element of "wait and see" research. I appreciate the fact that Hine acknowledges the unpredictability of research in an ethnography and her article has opened my eyes to the benefits of an open attitude concerning social science research in general.

Qualitative research and the Internet

I found the Hine reading to be particularly interesting. Hine points out that although the Internet could possibly expand the spatial structure of a research study, we are only able to engage a certain number of people (Hine, 2009, 18). She discusses the pragmatics of what a researcher could achieve which was helpful. Although I use the Internet on a daily basis, I struggle with how I would go about incorporating this into a potential research project method. One inevitable issue is the idea that some users can create an entirely “new” identity, which leaves us wondering if they are really being their true selves? Also, some feel safe when they “hide” behind these new “identities” and are more open in their comments, i.e. on forums, blogs, etc. On the positive, we could see this as creating greater diversity in the dialogue, it’s more representative. For example, those who are less likely to offer opinions in groups feel more comfortable in an online setting. One limitation though is a researcher is not able to physically see the participants and go beyond the written words. In this sense it is difficult to understand the context because we do not see the disposition and body language the same way as through face-to-face interviews for example. So the concern is how can researchers address these issues? Hopefully I’m not the only one thinking about this. Another interesting aspect that we touched on in class today is that the individuals you are researching may be apprehensive to give you information. As a result, the implication is that you really have to do a good job in proving you are doing authentic research and are able to maintain confidentiality.

Pinterest Ethnography

Our group chose to look into the first assignment option. For the sake of convenience, here's the original question:

You are an aspiring research assistant for a major social science project entitled “Emotional Information Seeking: ICTs and the commercialization of emotional and affective spaces online.” The project broadly investigates why ICTs are increasingly tailored towards emotional communication, resources, and identities, as part of a larger trend in marketing and commercialization.

At this stage it is too early to undertake in-depth qualitative interviews. Your supervisor has asked that you select a specific example of an online environment tailored towards emotional information seeking, which might serve as an ideal case study for the project.

Either individually or in small groups, pick any example, and prepare a 200 - 400 word explanation of the site/app. Include what it is, who it is tailor to, what emotional relations might exist, why it would make an ideal case study for the larger project, and (if applicable) the potential methodological challenges you will have to address. Post to blog.


Explanation:

Our group consisted of Chantel, Mike, Elison and me (Polina). We chose the "Pinterest" site as our case study. Pinterest is "an online pinboard" (taken from the site's description). It invites you to "share what you love". Basically, a user can create a profile where they post images that appeal to them, with the ability to add comments to the images. The profile can be linked to Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.
We considered the site to be a good case study for several reasons:
- There is the possibility of generating lots of rich data that's already somewhat organized by the user (through categories such as "to get in my closet" or "too cute for words").
- Since the project has to do with consumerism and commercialization, Pinterest is ideal as it demonstrates how stores infiltrate our social lives, and how our identities are shaped by the objects we single out. We even found an article advising stores on how to use Pinterest to generate sales!
- We liked the fact that there could be an interesting visual component to the research.
- Ethnographic sensibility is all about how people make meanings, and how these meanings are inscribed into their information environment. Pinterest is a perfect space for people to do just that.

Challenges:
- We have no access to what people didn't "love" - they only pin what they find agreeable.
- We don't have a complete profile of the user for the purposes of categorization (gender, age, socioeconomic status, etc.)
- It is very easy to impose the researcher's interpretation on the images - the users do not have the ability to give feedback (unless you contact them for more in depth interviews later on...)

*My own challenge would probably be tearing myself away from all the cute puppies photos... But that's just me. :)

Online/Offline Ethnography

Until I read Hine's article about ethnography and the internet, I only thought about ethnographic research online as happening online. I never really considered contextualizing internet ethnography offline as well. Hine, however, made it seem like perfect sense.

I really liked the example that Hine's used in regards to the research conducted by Max Forte (2005). I found it really interesting how he volunteered to develop websites in order to explain the cause of the resurgence of aboriginal identity in the Caribbean. I found it interesting that he not only helped to create the website as an outsider, most likely interpreting the needs of the community, and thus creating their online identity. Thus as Hine's article shows, many identities were brought together through this particular website.

I think that with the changing environment in regards to how we interact will change the way that ethnographic research works. This, for me, was a really interesting example that made me rethink how ethnographic research can be framed in terms of method.

Paradoxes of infrastructure

I've encountered Susan Star's work a number of times so far in this program, yet I still found it refreshing to revisit The Ethnography of Infrastructure again after having first seen it last year.

This time about, while looking at the "paradoxes of infrastructure" section I quite appreciated the idea of how apparently small barriers can become huge obstacles for people. I reflected on a recent experience where when starting the peer-review assignment for this class I decided to review some of the lecture slides. The Inforum computer I was at did not have flash enabled in Firefox (which is what I use by default), so I couldn't immediately view them. Rather than trying to find a work around I just reverted to my pen and paper class notes, and saved reviewing the slides for later that evening when I would have my own laptop that I knew could render the slides. The fix might have been simple, but stopping to figure it out would have been distracting from the task that I really had wanted to accomplish, which was thinking about the assignment.