WRT 205: critical research Dr. Rusty Bartels Friday, March 1st, 2019 Week 7, Day 3

Overview Freewrite Adkins’ Research Process Small Groups Wrap-up

Freewrite What ethical concerns are present when researching social media and digital spaces? Why are these ethical concerns? How should they be addressed?

Adkins’ Research Process Page 60 Adkins discusses her research process. What do you find useful about that description? Are there practices that you would take up yourself?

Adkins’ Research Process Concepts: Coding: looking for themes in researcher’s notes & materials Consistent associations: require longevity, repeated participation from individuals, and an archive of discussion Remote associations: no long-term context to consider, no long-term event to study. These individuals may never interact online again. How & What she collects is informed by her ethical framework & research methodologies

Small Groups Pick a Social Media topic, answer McKee and Porter’s (2012) questions for Internet research (Table 3.1, p56-57) Are you studying texts or persons or both? Do you view the internet as a place or a space? What are “public” and “private” online? Is informed consent necessary? What is the degree of interaction of researcher with online participants? What is the sensitivity of the material being used? What is the vulnerability of the material being used?

Small Groups Discuss the following questions as a group after completing the table: What did you notice? Were the questions easy to answer, or more complicated? How did it make you think about the ethical considerations for that kind of research?

Wrap-up Today we: Ethics in social media research Primary research process Next time: Knowledge Production and the Politics of citation Reading: Ahmed Secondary research process

Wrap-up SHORT RESPONSE #3 PROMPT: How do you think about the constraints, affordances, similarities, and/or differences across the different genres you encounter in your secondary research? What are some examples and discussion of the choices you make in your research regarding sources you do and don’t pursue?