Qualitative Research in the Digital Era: Obstacles and Opportunities

Abstract

Although the many sites and opportunities available to researchers through the development and proliferation of the Internet are well known, little attention has been paid to what digital technologies and the world's developing digital infrastructure can offer qualitative researchers for the actual process of doing research. This article discusses opportunities that now exist that we have experimented with and implemented in our own research, such as viral sampling strategies, wireless interviewing, and voice recognition transcription, as well as impediments we have encountered that stand in their way. Included in the latter are research ethics boards who often lack expertise in issues that arise in computer-assisted research, hardware/software costs and technological expertise for researchers, and university administrations who have not embraced infrastructure for qualitative research to the same extent they have supported quantitative research. The article closes with a look at the implications of emerging issues, such as the trend to cloud computing, the proliferation of mobile devices, and the maturation of voice recognition software.

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

“…Birth parents who do not acknowledge grief and loss in the child relinquishment experience, or those who have had very poor experiences or may have different views about what was helpful to their grief and loss resolution, may have chosen not to participate. However, consistent with Palys and Atchison's (2008) analysis of the implications of response bias in epidemiological studies as compared with exploratory studies geared more to tentative theory building, we are satisfi ed that our sample provided useful data. Ultimately, participants provided insight into their own experiences and we do not presume to represent all present-era birth mothers who relinquish a child for adoption.…”

Critically assessing digital documents: materiality and the interpretative role of software

“…These concerns extend the assessment of 'authenticity' and 'authority' to digital spaces (Hine, 2000), the ways in which internet-mediated communication might shape individual experience, communities and the structure of texts (Jones, 1999), and the opportunities for conducting traditional research methods in, for example, accessing previously overlooked groups and the facilitation of new 'viral' sampling techniques (Kazmer & Xie, 2008;Palys & Atchison, 2012;Seymour, 2001). Other scholars have looked at the changing nature of research methods, particularly in relation to social media as a source of rich meta-data heavy digital objects, such as tweets (Bruns, 2012).…”

Building Rapport Between International Graduate Students and Their Faculty Advisors: Cross-Cultural Mentoring Relationships at the University of Guelph

“…Descriptive research uses methods that aim at determining and describing the characteristics of particular individuals and / or groups in a particular social context (Palys & Atchison, 2008). Exploratory research involves direct interaction with a particular population to gain new insights into events, happenings, or phenomena, often to develop more precise research questions and serve as basis for further research (Palys & Atchison, 2008).…”

“…Purposive sampling is when "people and locations are intentionally sought because they meet some criterion for inclusion in the study" (Palys & Atchison, 2008). Prior to collecting data, ethics approval was received on February 19, 2014 from the University's Research Ethics Board.…”