Balancing the potential and problems of digital methods through action research: methodological reflections

Abstract

This paper reports on an action research project with public sector organisations in the UK which experimented with a range of digital methods (social media data mining, social network and issue network mapping, data visualisation), in order to explore their potential usefulness for the public engagement activities of these organisations. We argue that there is a need for small-scale, qualitative studies of cultures of large-scale, quantitative data like ours, to open up spaces in which to reflect critically on the methods with which such data is produced. However, in the paper we highlight the difficulties we had enacting through action research a commitment to both the potential (which might be seen as the action part of action research) and the problems (which might be seen as the research part of action research) of digital methods. Following Hammersley (2002), we suggest that an equal balance between action and research may always be difficult to sustain, in both action research and the use of digital methods. Despite this, we argue that critical discussion of digital methods needs to extend beyond academic spacesthrough this move, we suggest, we might open up a space in which to reflect on how these methods might be used for the public good.

Literacy and training in digital research: Researchers’ views in five social science and humanities disciplines

“…In particular, scholars' scepticism concerning skills barriers goes hand in hand with their claims about expertise-related barriers to the use of digital, social or big data by individuals and organisations (Bassett, 2015;Kennedy et al, 2014. For instance, in their study of public sector organisations' use of digital data analysis tools, Kennedy et al (2014 found a skills and expertise divide in data generation and collection, use of datacollection tools and data analysis. However, do skills and expertise divides of this nature comprise the core of the literacy challenges that researchers encounter in digital research?…”

“…Such barriers include the narrow scope of datasets; limited access; poor data quality, veracity and fidelity; ill-defined lineage; poor interoperability; suspect analytics and ecological fallacies; and a weakly developed skills base and organisational receptiveness (Kitchin, 2014b). In particular, scholars' scepticism concerning skills barriers goes hand in hand with their claims about expertise-related barriers to the use of digital, social or big data by individuals and organisations (Bassett, 2015;Kennedy et al, 2014. For instance, in their study of public sector organisations' use of digital data analysis tools, Kennedy et al (2014 found a skills and expertise divide in data generation and collection, use of datacollection tools and data analysis.…”

“…Some question the innumerable volumes of big data available and the difficulty of digging into their qualitative aspects. Scholars have also problematised the ephemerality of digital data, their limited accessibility and the commercial interests that prevent the public and organisations from using them (Baym, 2013;boyd and Crawford, 2012;Karpf, 2012;Kennedy et al, 2014. Accordingly, others have pointed out the need for 'democratisation of [digital data] analytics' so as to end the exploitation of the public's data (Kennedy et al, 2014).…”

“…Specifically, the few existing accounts of the role of digital literacy in the conduct of scientific research focus on digital skills and expertise and examine these parameters in relation to specific research activities, such as data retrieval and analysis (e.g., Kennedy et al, 2014Kitchin, 2014b). her colleagues (2014, 2015), for instance, found that the use of digital data analysis tools is more complex than what celebratory discourses suggest, as such tools require expertise and it is not always clear how they work.…”

Visual cross-platform analysis: digital methods to research social media images

“…Developments in digital methods have provided researchers with approaches and tools with which to study social media sociologically (Baym, 2013;Bennett & Segerberg, 2012;Burgess & Bruns, 2012;Gerrard, 2018;Halfpenny & Procter, 2015;Kennedy, Moss, Birchall, & Moshonas, 2015;Lupton, 2014;Marres, 2017;Rieder, 2013Rieder, , 2015aRieder, , 2015bRoberts, Snee, Hine, Morey, & Watson, 2016;Zimmer & Proferes, 2014). These digital methods have in some ways benefitted from the 'platformisation' of the web, in which web applications, including social media, are increasingly integrated with each other and the wider web, facilitating increased flows of data and information (Helmond, 2015).…”