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

2. Overview
Freewrite
Adkins’ Research Process
Small Groups
Wrap-up

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

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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?

7. 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?

8. 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

9. 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?