Generating data with enacted methods Chapter 9 Generating data with enacted methods Janet Salmons, PhD

Objectives Distinguish between types of enacted data collection. After reading and reflecting on Chapter 9, you will be able to: Distinguish between types of enacted data collection. Analyze ways in which each type might be employed to achieve the study purpose. Understand the role of the position and role of the researcher in planning and conducting research with consenting participants. Consider how decisions made about the type of data collection relate to other design decisions for the online study.

What are ‘enacted’ Methods? In ‘enacted’ methods, researchers construct a situation that allows for data to emerge or be generated in response to various kinds of verbal, written or visually communicated prompts or tasks. Such situations are here referred to as research events. An online environment, community, forum, virtual world or game is selected or designed as the event setting. This kind of research is highly collaborative, and participants may take roles as co-researchers who co-construct new knowledge.

Researcher’s observations How is data collected? Data may be captured or collected within the research settings, or external to the setting in journals or forums established for this purpose. Visual, verbal, written, and/or multimedia data can be collected from: Audio or video, logs or archives of events; posts or chats captured by the software used for the research setting. Recorded events Participants’ reflections in the form of narratives, drawings or links to online materials which they selected during the research event. Journals or Diaries Field notes, images or screenshots; collection of digital artifacts. Researcher’s observations Interviews or questionnaires conducted during or after the research event. Post-event questions

Typology of Online Visual Methods Researchers can do the following. . . Transmit images View images Navigate visual environments Generate images … to achieve these kinds of research purposes Visual communication Visual elicitation Visual collaboration Use diverse visual approaches to communicate, elicit responses and/or collaborate with participants. My answer is yes! This is the premise of my visual interview methods typology. Tweet; Link to typology Transmit: way to use visual elements in a text-based interview, or to bring in images on the fly during an interview. View: In a multi-channel meeting space like this one we can view almost anything together. Navigate: We could navigate together in an immersive environment. In a multi-channel meeting space we can navigate websites, online communities or software applications. Generate: This one, not impossible in other ICTs but well-integrated into the multi-channel meeting space. You can use any of these approaches in a multi-channel meeting space. How would you fit them into your research design and align them with a recognizable research methodology?

Navigate visual environments Generate images Researchers can do the following … Transmit images View images Navigate visual environments Generate images Using interactive, mobile technologies Send pictures, maps, media or links in text message, email or post. Use live webcam. In web conference or videoconferences. Post in private forums or social media. Immerse in virtual worlds or games. Draw or diagram using shared whiteboards or applications.

Typology of Online Visual Interview Methods … to achieve these kinds of research purposes Visual communication Visual elicitation Visual collaboration Communicate complex concepts or relationships. Show examples. Prompt comparisons with participants’ experiences. Catalyze discussion of alternatives. Annotate existing graphics or images. Create drawings or maps representing participants’ experiences. My answer is yes! This is the premise of my visual interview methods typology. Tweet; Link to typology Transmit: way to use visual elements in a text-based interview, or to bring in images on the fly during an interview. View: In a multi-channel meeting space like this one we can view almost anything together. Navigate: We could navigate together in an immersive environment. In a multi-channel meeting space we can navigate websites, online communities or software applications. Generate: This one, not impossible in other ICTs but well-integrated into the multi-channel meeting space. You can use any of these approaches in a multi-channel meeting space. How would you fit them into your research design and align them with a recognizable research methodology?

Participatory Online Research For example: Researchers and participants work on a project together (creating an online site, webinar, newsletter, discussion on social media) and study their own process as well as the results. Participants use photovoice techniques to document their experiences of a common issue, then reflect on, share and discuss the pictures in a web conference. Participants explore a topic online, by saving and sharing links, screen shots or visuals that represent diverse perspectives. Your ideas? Participants take an active role in some or all stages of the process. Participants may be involved with research because they want to understand critical issues and problems and apply findings in order to improve personal, organizational or community circumstances.

New kinds of experiments In the late 1990s, researchers began to imagine ways to do field experiments online. They called the electronic settings ‘Microworlds’: Microworlds refer to dynamic computer- generated environments … that simulate conditions encountered in the field … MWs simulate an environment, and not the behavioral phenomenon that occurs within that environment, and are therefore distinct from computer simulations that seek to discover accurate mathematical models of behavior. (DiFonzo et al., 1998, p. 278). How would they use today’s technologies? What kinds of research could be conducted using qualitative online experiments? What online environments could you use for experiments? How would you organize the environment? What data could you collect, how? DiFonzo, N., Hantula, D. A. & Bordia, P. (1998) Microworlds for experimental research: Having your (control and collection) cake, and realism too. Behavior Research Methods, 30(2), 278–86.

vignettes and role plays online When thinking about doing role plays to explore problem vignettes, how would the study be different depending on your choices about the use of information and communications technologies as the medium, setting or phenomenon? Medium: ICT allows researcher and participant to communicate, taking roles within the vignette. Setting: ICT is chosen because the features allow the researcher and participant to see each other, or to exchange digital artifacts in the role play. Phenomenon: Researcher asks participant to demonstrate the use of an ICT given the situation discussed in the vignette.

The final word in preparation for data collection: Practice! Practice using different technologies as the setting for collaborative interactions. Can you record the event? Do participants need to create avatars or learn new tools to interact? How can you make it easy to participate? Take a research question (from your own study or an article) and devise a way to create an enacted event to answer it. Once you have decided on an approach, practice until you are confident.

Collecting Data Online & the Qualitative eResearch framework While the researcher may be deeply engaged with the activities associated with data collection, it is important to remember how this phase fits into the overall inquiry.