Because of the variety of ethnographic research nowadays, the need increases to locate the researcher’s own approach within this variety for the intersubjective comprehensibility of the research. The argument is that specific ethnographic research programs face different challenges when conducting fieldwork, especially in mediatized fields. This article proposes a differentiation of ethnographic research by theoretical paradigm, methodological stance, and scientific purpose. Following these categories, we specify life-world-analytical ethnography as originating from the (subject-centered) action theory with an emphasis on observational participation, an affirmative–descriptive attitude toward the research, as well as the implementation of data gathered by personal experience and its interactive verification within the field. Furthermore, we address the challenges ethnographers are facing when conducting their research in mediatized fields and illustrate the advantages of a life-world analytical approach on our case of online-livestreams and videogaming. We thereby introduce the concept of passing to methodologically expand this approach.
ZusammenfassungDer Text ist eine Replik auf den Diskussionsanstoß zu Gütekriterien Qualitativer Forschung von Jörg Strübing et al. (2018). Die kritische Auseinandersetzung wird entlang dreier Hauptpunkte entwickelt: a) der Rezeption des Forschungsstandes, aus dem sich Anforderungen an Gütekriterien ableiten, die in dem von Strübing et al. vorgelegten Vorschlag unberücksichtigt geblieben sind; b) der Problematik der heutigen Vielfalt qualitativer Ansätze, die im Text nicht eingeholt wird; c) der Anwendungsanforderungen an Gütekriterien, die im Text durch auslegungsbedürftige Überbegriffe problematisch werden. Mit Blick auf die Kritik und den Forschungsstand stellt sich die Frage, ob überhaupt und wenn wie adäquat ansatzübergreifende Gütekriterien für die Qualitative Forschung formuliert werden können. Wir schließen daher mit einer Überlegung zu Möglichkeiten ansatzübergreifender Kriterien und plädieren für ‚rhetorisch-performierende‘ anstelle ‚paradigmatisch-operationalisierender‘ Kriterien.
This article conceptualizes acting on media in terms of different interplays between focal actors, users, and user communities. It is argued that-in times of mediated visibility, the increasing entanglement of social and technological change, and accelerated feedback loops-arenas of negotiation emerge and therewith the complexities of relations between producers and users increases. Using insights from the fields of Wii hacking, Circuit Bending, and online poker tools, three variants of interplay are presented and discussed: integration, segregation, and permanent confrontation. Whilst a process-oriented perspective on reciprocal action is developed the paper contributes (a) to a balanced perspective on what is often a onesided discussion regarding the actions leading to media change, and (b) to the understanding of the relation between media change and reflexive modernity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.