Fieldwork in the Era of Social Media: Opportunities and Challenges

doi:10.1017/S1049096513000565

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Fieldwork in the Era of Social Media: Opportunities and Challenges

Journal Article•DOI•

Fieldwork in the Era of Social Media: Opportunities and Challenges

Isabelle M. Côté¹•Institutions (1)

University of Toronto¹

01 Jul 2013-PS Political Science & Politics (Cambridge University Press)-Vol. 46, Iss: 03, pp 615-619

TL;DR: This paper highlighted the potential in social networking sites for recruiting participants and gathering data and looked at the impact sites such as Facebook have had on building and maintaining trust with research participants, and explored how social media may compromise one's ability to uphold the "do no harm" principle guiding all academic research by jeopardizing participants' confidentiality and anonymity.

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Abstract: Social networking sites have recently garnered academic attention for their role in fostering democracy and openness in both developed and developing regions. Unfortunately, in political science, this newfound interest has not yet translated into a greater interest in social media as a methodological tool for researchers conducting fieldwork. How has the era of social media influenced the way political scientists conduct their fieldwork? How can researchers make the most of the opportunities offered by social networking sites while abiding by the strict standards of their ethics board? This article highlights the potential in social networking sites for recruiting participants and gathering data and looks at the impact sites such as Facebook have had on building and maintaining trust with research participants. In contrast, it explores how social media may compromise one's ability to uphold the “do no harm” principle guiding all academic research by jeopardizing participants' confidentiality and anonymity, a risk deemed especially high for vulnerable populations or sensitive regions. Insight gleaned from the researcher's own fieldwork in two minority provinces of Indonesia in 2010–2011 is used as a case in point.

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Exploring Strategies Required for Small Business Sustainability in Competitive Environments

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Christian O. Akaeze

01 Jan 2016

TL;DR: Akaeze et al. as discussed by the authors explored strategies small auto dealership business owners use to sustain businesses in New York City and found that only 25% of startup small businesses stay afloat after 5 years.

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Abstract: Exploring Strategies Required for Small Business Sustainability in Competitive Environments by Christian Akaeze MBA, Devry University, 2010 BS, Ambrose Alli University, 1994 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University January 2016 Abstract Owners of small businesses contribute approximately 39% of the gross domestic product and create 2 out of every 3 new jobs, but only 25% of startup small businesses stay afloat after 5 years. Guided by the resource-based view theory of the firm, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small auto dealership business owners use to sustain businesses in New York City. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from 3 participants who owned small auto dealership businesses and succeeded beyond 5 years. Data analysis entailed using coding techniques and cluster analysis. Member checking was used to strengthen the credibility and trustworthiness of the interpretation of participants’ responses. The 3 themes that emerged in the final report related to small business owners’ strategies for success, influence of customer satisfaction on small business survival, and influence of prior industrial experience on small business owners’ success. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by indicating some strategies that business owners use to sustain business and mitigate harmful effects of job loss. Data from this study may contribute to the prosperity of small business owners, their employees, and local community. The beneficiaries of this research include small business owners, practitioners, and policy makers.Owners of small businesses contribute approximately 39% of the gross domestic product and create 2 out of every 3 new jobs, but only 25% of startup small businesses stay afloat after 5 years. Guided by the resource-based view theory of the firm, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small auto dealership business owners use to sustain businesses in New York City. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from 3 participants who owned small auto dealership businesses and succeeded beyond 5 years. Data analysis entailed using coding techniques and cluster analysis. Member checking was used to strengthen the credibility and trustworthiness of the interpretation of participants’ responses. The 3 themes that emerged in the final report related to small business owners’ strategies for success, influence of customer satisfaction on small business survival, and influence of prior industrial experience on small business owners’ success. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by indicating some strategies that business owners use to sustain business and mitigate harmful effects of job loss. Data from this study may contribute to the prosperity of small business owners, their employees, and local community. The beneficiaries of this research include small business owners, practitioners, and policy makers. Exploring Strategies Required for Small Business Sustainability in Competitive Environments by Christian Akaeze MBA, Devry University, 2010 BS, Ambrose Alli University, 1994 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University January 2016 Dedication I dedicate this study to my wonderful wife, Nana, for her boundless love and support throughout the doctoral journey. I also dedicate this study to my children, Chris Jr, Solomon, and Samuel, for all the sacrifices, prayers, and missed vacations during my stormy periods of this journey. This doctoral study is for my wife and children as a reminder that God is able to do all things. My hope is that this achievement will be a source of inspiration to future generations of my family and symbolize that success is a result of discipline, commitment, hard work, and perseverance. Acknowledgments I would like to thank God for the grace, strength, and resources to complete this doctoral study. I want to thank my research committee chairman, Dr. Charles Needham, personally, who graciously extended me a life raft after my earlier terrible experience in the early stage of my effort. Dr. Needham was always willing and ready to help, encourage, and advise me through the successful conclusion of this doctoral journey. I doff my hat in salute to you for your mentoring. I also wish to thank committee members Dr. Robert Miller, my second committee member, and Dr. Alexandra Larzo, university research reviewer (URR) for their guidance and support. My special acknowledgement goes to Dr. Gene Fusch, for his inputs and guidance through teleconference that contributed to the knowledge to complete this doctoral research study. The last acknowledgment is to Dr. Freda Turner, Director of the Doctor of Business Administration program, for her teachings, leadership, and encouragement.

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21 citations

Cites background from "Fieldwork in the Era of Social Medi..."

...A researcher’s engagement with participants on social networking sites can yield important benefits for the researcher in data collection, participants' recruitment, and gaining and maintaining participants' trust (Côté, 2013)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Snowball Sampling and Facebook: How Social Media Can Help Access Hard-to-Reach Populations

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Tomas Dosek

01 Oct 2021-PS Political Science & Politics

TL;DR: The snowball sampling method (SSM) is one of the most widely used methods to collect information about hard-to-reach populations and in low-information contexts as discussed by the authors, which can be enhanced by the use of Facebook in at least three ways.

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Abstract: The snowball sampling method (SSM) is one of the most widely used methods to collect information about hard-to-reach populations and in low-information contexts. This article argues that SSM can be enhanced by the use of Facebook in at least three ways. This social-networking site helps to address some of the inherent limitations of SSM by learning about local contexts and identifying principal political actors, by gathering background information about and establishing contact with them, and by triangulating information they provide and reaching out to additional key informants. Thus, this article shows how Facebook can provide leverage in overcoming the problem of biased samples and offers concrete empirical illustrations from research on local politics in Latin American countries.

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19 citations

Cites background from "Fieldwork in the Era of Social Medi..."

...Thus, in gathering basic information about daily life in a district, “researchers suddenly become insiders of some sort” (Côté 2013, 616)....
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...See Côté (2013) and Lennox Esselment and Marland (2019)....
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...For possible ethical dilemmas, see Côté (2013)....
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...See Côté (2013) for an exception....
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Book•

Strategies to Sustain Small Businesses Beyond 5 Years

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Kayaso Cosmas Wani

09 Jun 2020

TL;DR: Strategies to Sustain Small Businesses Beyond 5 Years by as mentioned in this paper, a strategy to sustain small businesses beyond 5 years by focusing on the long-term sustainability of small businesses.

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Abstract: Strategies to Sustain Small Businesses Beyond 5 Years by

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17 citations

Cites background from "Fieldwork in the Era of Social Medi..."

...significant benefits for the researcher in data collection, participants' recruitment, and gaining and maintaining participants' trust (Cote, 2013)....
[...]
...A researcher engaging participants on social networking sites may yield some significant benefits for the researcher in data collection, participants' recruitment, and gaining and maintaining participants' trust (Cote, 2013)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Leveraging digital and physical spaces to ‘de-risk’ and access Rio's favela communities

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Nicola Cade¹, Sally Everett², Michael B. Duignan³•Institutions (3)

Anglia Ruskin University¹, King's College London², Coventry University³

10 Feb 2021-Tourism Geographies

TL;DR: Building relationships of trust and mutual understanding between researcher(s), local stakeholder(s) and gatekeeper (s) is widely regarded as a critical factor in successful research.

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Abstract: Building relationships of trust and mutual understanding between researcher(s), local stakeholder(s) and gatekeeper(s) is widely regarded as a critical factor in successful research. Methodological...

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15 citations

Cites background from "Fieldwork in the Era of Social Medi..."

...Low and Everett (2014) found that access issues are not often explicated for new researchers and are instead presented as strategic issues rather than challenges. Emmel et al. (2007) found researchers apply strategic ways of accessing hard to reach communities but concluded that little research existed in understanding implications of building trust and maintaining relationships between researchers and their participants. Furthermore, they argued that attributes of credibility and trust can be built by the researcher’s commitment to understand (and immerse themselves) into the research setting. They base this idea on Kuebler and Hausser (1997), Elliott et al. (2002), and Sixsmith, Boneham, and Golding (2003), who fully immersed themselves within health-based research environments, employing multi-method ethnographic techniques as a strategy of discernibility to build credibility and rapport between them and the subjects of study that they claim would otherwise be invisible and problematic to access. Elliott et al. (2002) employed ‘peer interviewers’ (established mediators between the drug-users and community drug team), or ‘Privileged Access Interviewers’ (PAI) (Kuebler & Hausser, 1997), to access their participants (drug-users) that they would have otherwise found difficult to access such ‘hidden population’ groups. Similarly, Sixsmith et al. (2003) employed multi-ethnographic methods that helped build credibility and maintain trust between them and their research participants within a socially-deprived community....
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...…and direct message functions on Instagram and Twitter, have increased and improved interactions – reducing the time-space distance between people from different geographical areas, permitting digital access into the lives and spaces of others (Côt e, 2013; Liu, Ainsworth, & Baumeister, 2016)....
[...]
...Low and Everett (2014) found that access issues are not often explicated for new researchers and are instead presented as strategic issues rather than challenges. Emmel et al. (2007) found researchers apply strategic ways of accessing hard to reach communities but concluded that little research existed in understanding implications of building trust and maintaining relationships between researchers and their participants. Furthermore, they argued that attributes of credibility and trust can be built by the researcher’s commitment to understand (and immerse themselves) into the research setting. They base this idea on Kuebler and Hausser (1997), Elliott et al. (2002), and Sixsmith, Boneham, and Golding (2003), who fully immersed themselves within health-based research environments, employing multi-method ethnographic techniques as a strategy of discernibility to build credibility and rapport between them and the subjects of study that they claim would otherwise be invisible and problematic to access....
[...]
...However, social messaging platforms (SMPs) such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and direct message functions on Instagram and Twitter, have increased and improved interactions – reducing the time-space distance between people from different geographical areas, permitting digital access into the lives and spaces of others (Côt e, 2013; Liu, Ainsworth, & Baumeister, 2016)....
[...]
...Low and Everett (2014) found that access issues are not often explicated for new researchers and are instead presented as strategic issues rather than challenges....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Transparency and quality assessment of research data in post-Soviet area studies: The potential of an interactive online platform

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Andreas Heinrich¹, Felix Herrmann¹, Heiko Pleines¹•Institutions (1)

University of Bremen¹

07 Jun 2019-Journal of Eurasian Studies

TL;DR: An overview of more elaborated features that can easily be implemented to improve the visibility and quality assessment of data collections and ethical concerns about data transparency related to privacy protection and copyrights are discussed.

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8 citations

References

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Journal Article•DOI•

Opening Closed Regimes: What was the Role of Social Media during the Arab Spring?

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Philip N. Howard¹, Aiden Duffy², Deen Freelon³, Muzammil M. Hussain⁴, Will Mari², Marwa Maziad⁵ - Show less +2 more•Institutions (5)

University of Oxford¹, University of Washington², American University³, University of Michigan⁴, Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences⁵

01 Jan 2011-Social Science Research Network

TL;DR: This paper studied the role of social media in the Arab Spring and found that social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the Middle East and that a spike in online revolutionary conversations often preceded major events on the ground.

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Abstract: Social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the Arab Spring. A spike in online revolutionary conversations often preceded major events on the ground. Social media helped spread democratic ideas across international borders.No one could have predicted that Mohammed Bouazizi would play a role in unleashing a wave of protest for democracy in the Arab world. Yet, after the young vegetable merchant stepped in front of a municipal building in Tunisia and set himself on fire in protest of the government on December 17, 2010, democratic fervor spread across North Africa and the Middle East.Governments in Tunisia and Egypt soon fell, civil war broke out in Libya, and protestors took to the streets in Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. The Arab Spring had many causes. One of these sources was social media and its power to put a human face on political oppression. Bouazizi’s self-immolation was one of several stories told and retold on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in ways that inspired dissidents to organize protests, criticize their governments, and spread ideas about democracy. Until now, most of what we have known about the role of social media in the Arab Spring has been anecdotal.Focused mainly on Tunisia and Egypt, this research included creating a unique database of information collected from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The research also included creating maps of important Egyptian political websites, examining political conversations in the Tunisian blogosphere, analyzing more than 3 million Tweets based on keywords used, and tracking which countries thousands of individuals tweeted from during the revolutions. The result is that for the first time we have evidence confirming social media’s critical role in the Arab Spring.

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659 citations

"Fieldwork in the Era of Social Medi..." refers background in this paper

...For a University of Washington study quantifying the use of social media during the Arab spring, see Howard et al. (2011)....
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Book•

Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia

[...]

Jacques Bertrand¹•Institutions (1)

University of Toronto¹

08 Jan 2004

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of figures and tables from the history of East Timor, including critical junctures, nationalism and ethnic violence, including exclusion, marginality and the nation.

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Abstract: List of figures and tables Preface Maps 1. Introduction 2. Critical junctures, nationalism and ethnic violence 3. The national model and its institutional history 4. Exclusion, marginality and the nation 5. Islam and nation: the Muslim-Christian dimension 6. The escalation of religious conflict 7. Conflict in Maluku 8. Late integration into the nation: East Timor 9. Aceh's ethnonationalist conflict 10. Autonomy as a solution to ethnic conflict 11. Unity in diversity Notes Glossary Bibliography Index.

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350 citations

Additional excerpts

...See Bertrand (2004) and Upton (2009)....
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Book•

Transmigration in Indonesia

[...]

J. M. Hardjono

01 Jan 1977

59 citations

Posted Content•

Mobility and Human Development in Indonesia

[...]

Riwanto Tirtosudarmo

01 Jun 2009-Research Papers in Economics

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the connection between migration and its wider social and economic contexts, looking at how politics shape migration policy and in turn, how migration affects policy making, and discuss at length recent issues of overseas labor migration, particularly on the apparently embedded inertia within the policy making processes.

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Abstract: This paper addresses population movement in Indonesia within the broader contexts of human development. Human movement, voluntary and involuntary, is a reflection of the people initiatives and responses to the changing nature of society and economy. As a large archipelagic state, movement of people across the country, historically, has always an important dimension of social formation in Indonesia. The paper however focuses on movement of people in the last four decades. It aims to examine the connection between migration and its wider social and economic contexts, looking at how politics shape migration policy and in turn, how migration affects policy making. The paper discusses at length recent issues of overseas labor migration, particularly on the apparently embedded inertia within the policy making processes. The continuing incidences of irregular migration, forced migration and human trafficking obviously mirror the incapacity of the state in properly managing the movement of people. The insufficient data and information generally hampered any conclusive linkages of migration and human development. With or without state’s proper policies people will continuously on the move enriching human development in Indonesia.

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47 citations

"Fieldwork in the Era of Social Medi..." refers background in this paper

...The program—an overhaul of the Dutch kolonisasie program—was officially terminated in 2000 after having moved more than 1.15 million families (Tirtosudarmo 2001, 212)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Effects of untreated syphilis in the negro male, 1932 to 1972: A closure comes to the Tuskegee study, 2004

[...]

Shamim M. Baker, Otis W. Brawley¹, Leonard S. Marks²•Institutions (2)

Emory University¹, University of California, Los Angeles²

01 Jun 2005-Urology

TL;DR: The last survivor of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis (TSUS) made the above remark shortly before his death, describing why he participated in a research project that nowadays, just a few decades later, is not even conceivable as mentioned in this paper.

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29 citations