Decolonizing research methods means rethinking how we look at participants and problems. In the digital world there are even more ways the European West exerts cultural, economic, and political control. At the same time, the digital world allows researchers to conduct studies across the distances.

Storytelling has been a part of our shared life since the beginning of time. Story-based research approaches are especially valuable when studying sensitive issues or collecting data with vulnerable participants. In today’s digital world we have new ways to share and collect stories in a research context.

Hashtags offer online researchers ways to identify popular topics, trace viral messages, and locate influential thought leaders. Learn more about how researchers use hashtags with this multidisciplinary collection of open access articles.

From the moment social media platforms began to welcome user-generated content, researchers have looked for ways to study it. Learn more with open-access articles about social media platforms.

Do you think about research questions as an insider, outsider, or somewhere in between? Why is positionality important in online research?

Qualitative researchers often collect very personal data, whether in interviews or in narratives, diaries, or other records that depict their experiences. One way to protect their identities is by changing their names, and anonymizing the data.

How can you use data science in social science research? Find an interview with the Oxford Internet Institute’s Dr. Bernie Hogan and lots of useful resources in this post.

Learn about connecting the unit of analysis with the qualitative methodology.

These difficult times present challenges for researchers. Find five original posts by Robert Kozinets about using Netnography to study sensitive topics.

Jessica Lester and Trena Paulus co-edited a December 2023 special issue for the Sage journal, Qualitative Inquiry, “Qualitative inquiry in the 20/20s: Exploring methodological consequences of digital research workflows.” Read the articles and watch a roundtable with contributors. This is the second of two discussions of the special issue.

Jessica Lester and Trena Paulus co-edited a December 2023 special issue for the Sage journal, Qualitative Inquiry, “Qualitative inquiry in the 20/20s: Exploring methodological consequences of digital research workflows.” Read the articles and watch a roundtable with contributors. This is the first of two discussions of the special issue.

How can you study digital culture and activism? Watch this interview with Dr. Lyndon Wray.

Learn about research with online Experiments from Dr. Giuseppe Veltri.

What ethical issues face researchers who study online comments? Paul J. Reilly offers explanations and an open-access research case.

Hear Dr. Kozinets discuss the origins and development of Netnography in this interview. See the whole series of posts from Kozinets about collecting data for studies using netnography.

View a recorded webinar with Dr. Janet Salmons, Research Community Manager for Methodspace and author of Doing Qualitative Research Online, Dr. Stacy Penna, Customer Engagement and Enablement Director for Lumivero (previously NVivo, and Leon Bourner, Director of Sales and Client Development for itracks.

Online researchers face design challenges because they must also consider the implications of the technologies used in the study. By using an iterative, holistic approach, you can look inter-related dimensions of the design.

Listen to this conversation with Dr. Stu Shulman for discussion of implications of current developments for academics.

Listen to a conversation about online methods with Dr. Suzanne Albray, host of the DoBetterResearch podcast series, and Dr. Janet Salmons, Research Community Manager for Methodspace.

How can you conduct online research with children and youth? Here are some open-access examples.