Reviewing E-Research with the E-Interview Research Framework

Janet Salmons, PhDVision2Lead, Inc. and Capella UniversityVirtual & VisualHolding Focus Groups Online

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Researching the Internet vs. Researching on the InternetInternet: Subject of inquiry?Internet: means of inquiry?Use the Internet to study online behaviors, trends, attitudes, styles of usage, etc.

Use the Internet to communicate with research participants about any aspect of lived experience.2Tools for Online Focus Groups

3Visual Research: Unique PotentialDo all questions have to be made in words? - Michael Pryke, 2003

The world told is a different world to the world shown. - Gnter Kress, 2003

Id like to focus and demonstrate today, some visual approaches that are uniquely well-served in the multi-channel meeting space. These approaches inter-relate with structure and questioning issues, so we will circle back to those in a few minutes.

4Visual Research Typology:How could you use visual methods in online interviews?Visual elicitation refers specifically to the process of using visual stimulus to draw out a verbal or a visual response.Visual communication describes the use of images to communicate abstract concepts, relationships between concepts or data, or examples of research phenomena.Visual collaboration to either stimulate new thinking or create responses in relation to visual representations of the research phenomena.(Salmons, 2010, pp. 172)

5Goal for recent focus groupsRefine and add to list of key questions reviewers should ask when considering a proposal or finished study that uses online interviews for data collection.

What would YOU want to know?6E-Interview Research Framework

Eight Areas to ExploreAligning Purpose and DesignChoosing E-Interviews for the StudyHandling Sampling & RecruitingPositioning the ResearcherDetermining E-Interview Style(s) Selecting ICT & MilieuConducting the InterviewAddressing Ethical IssuesWhile methodological, disciplinary and other considerations need to be considered as in any study, I am primarily interested here in the online interview aspects of the design or study.8I. Aligning Purpose and Design

9I. Aligning Purpose and DesignAre research purpose, theories and epistemologies, methodologies and methods clearly aligned?

How will the data collected from e-interviews relate to theories? Does the researcher want to explore, prove or generate theory?

Does the researcher offer a compelling rationale for using e-interviews to achieve the research purpose?

I. Aligning Purpose and DesignIV. Positioning the ResearcherIs the researcher positioned as an insider, as one of the actors in the case? Is the researcher looking at emic issues, revealed by actors in the case (Stake, 1995)?

Is the researcher positioned as an outsider who brings questions in from outside the case, looking at etic issues, (Stake, 1995)?

12What else would you want to know?

Online Interviews: 1-1 or Groupc. 2010 Vision2Lead, Inc. All rights reserved.In press:

Cases in Online Interview Research14Next steps

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