A Review of Cyber Ethnographic Research: A Research Technique to Analyze Virtual Consumer Communities

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the cyber ethnography-also called netnography-as a research tool in understanding and developing insights about virtual consumer communities. First of all, the "community," "virtual community," and the "virtual consumer communities" concepts are described. Following them, cyber ethnographic research is examined and the process of a cyber ethnographic research is discussed in details. In this section several research articles using cyber ethnographic method are presented in order to illustrate the research process and to develop a common point of view. In the conclusion, the pros and cons of cyber ethnographic research are discussed.

Beauty Pageants, Controverted Decisions and Emotional Outpour: An Analysis of Social Media Posts on GHANA'S MOST BEAUTIFUL

“…Cyber ethnographic approach was used in order to get a deeper interpretation of the data collected from the posts and our immersion in the narratives to understand the interpretations and meanings the audiences brought to bear on the posts beyond the semantic content. Cyber ethnography was also chosen for this study because the data collected were retrieved from the virtual world and cyber ethnography presents itself as an appropriate strategy because within this space audience are able to interact freely with each other, share information, emotions and experiences (Akturan, 2009). Qualitative content analysis was also used to elicit themes for the analysis and for easy interpretation (Hseih & Shannon, 2005;Schreier, 2012).…”

Blogger Dan Digital Word of Mouth: Getok Tular Digital Ala Blogger Dalam Komunikasi Pemasaran Di Media Sosial

“…Hine (2000Hine ( , 2015 menyatakan bahwa etnografi virtual merupakan metode yang digunakan untuk menyelidiki internet dan melakukan eksplorasi terhadap entitas (users) saat menggunakan internet tersebut. Melalui pengalaman etnografis virtual ini juga kita dapat merefleksikan implikasiimplikasi dari komunikasi termediasi di internet (lihat Skågeby dalam Daniel, 2011:410;Ward: 1999;Akturan, 2009). Namun, ada realitas yang terhubung antara online dan offline yang tidak bisa dipisahkan menjadi realitas yang berbeda.…”

Lessons from #GamerGate: Complicating virtual harm and reassessing frameworks for virtual harm assessment

“…As I will explore in section 4.1.2, some scholars argue that this prolonged, immersive engagement can only be achieved by actively disclosing oneself as a researcher and eliciting data from research participants, ethnography. However, as I and as other scholars (see, for instance, Akturan, 2009;Nguyen et al, 2006) acknowledge, ethnography can be either obtrusive (active) or unobtrusive (passive, where community or culture members are not aware that a researcher is conducting observations and/or a researcher does not interact with participants). Ethnographies are flexible, hybrid, exploratory methodologies with a common perspective that engagement with subjects is a key aspect of understanding particular cultural, social or community settings.…”

“…Indeed, a range of scholars have validated virtual ethnography as the methodological framework of various research strategies that rely upon unobtrusively obtained trace data. Akturan (2009) explicitly highlights that virtual ethnographic research can be carried out obtrusively or unobtrusively, describing that virtual ethnographers can conduct both participant and "non-participant" observation, where "non-participants" are not informed that a researcher is conducting observations and where researchers do not necessarily actively elicit data at all, often relying instead (as in this study) upon archived trace communications. Many scholars additionally self-identify as conducting ethnographic research when employing these unobtrusive methods: relevant examples to the current study where virtual ethnographers rely upon trace data yet still stake claim to a deep, ethnographic cultural reading include Hewer and Brownlie (2007), Nguyen et al (2006), Langer and Beckman (2005) and Nelson and Otnes (2005).…”

“…Many scholars additionally self-identify as conducting ethnographic research when employing these unobtrusive methods: relevant examples to the current study where virtual ethnographers rely upon trace data yet still stake claim to a deep, ethnographic cultural reading include Hewer and Brownlie (2007), Nguyen et al (2006), Langer and Beckman (2005) and Nelson and Otnes (2005). Less commonly discussed or even acknowledged at all, however, as Akturan (2009) highlights, are the ethical implications of unobtrusive virtual ethnography: this is a trend that I strive to overcome in section 4.3.3.…”