Digital Methods for Social Science: An Interdisciplinary Guide to Research Innovation

by Steven Roberts (Editor), Helene Snee (Editor), Christine Hine (Editor), Yvette Morey (Editor), Hayley Watson (Editor)

Overview

This timely book inspires researchers to deploy relevant, effective, innovative digital methods. It explores the relationship of such methods to 'mainstream' social science; interdisciplinarity; innovations in digital research tools; the opportunities (and challenges) of digital methods in researching social life; and digital research ethics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137453655
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/14/2014
Edition description:	1st ed. 2016
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jonathon Adams, English Language Institute, Ministry of Education, Singapore Stuart Agnew, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Arts Business and Applied Social Science, University Campus Suffolk (UCS), UK Julie Barnett, Professor of Health Psychology, University of Bath, UK Ibrar Bhatt, Senior Research Associate, Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK Emma Bond, Associate Professor, University Campus Suffolk, and Director of iSEED (The Institute for Social, Educational and Enterprise Development, UK Phillip Brooker, Research Associate, University of Bath, UK Axel Bruns, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, and Professor, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Jean Burgess, Associate Professor of Digital Media, and Director of the Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of Technology, Australia Timothy Cribbin, Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London, UK Roberto de Roock, Center for Games and Impact, Arizona State University, USA Adolfo Estalella, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Manchester, UK Jorge Fábrega is Assistant Professor, Adolfo Ibañez University, Chile Claire Hewson, Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University, UK Christine Hine, Reader in Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, UK Jo Hope, University of Surrey, UK Emma Hutchinson, University of Warwick, UK Jeremy Knox, Lecturer in Digital Education,University of Edinburgh, UK Noortje Marres, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Yvette Morey, Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Behaviour Change and Influence, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Steven Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Monash University, USA Javier Sajuria, Research Associate, School of Government in Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, UK Sanjay Sharma, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences, Media and Communications, Brunel University London, UK Helene Snee, Lecturer in Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK Eve Stirling, Senior Lecturer in Design, Sheffield Institute of Art, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Victoria Tedder, University of Kent, UK Hayley Watson, Senior Research Analyst, Trilateral Research & Consulting, London, UK

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Foreword; Noortje Marres
Acknowledgements
Notes on the Contributors
1.Digital Methods as Mainstream Methodology: An Introduction; Helene Snee, Christine Hine, Yvette Morey, Steven Roberts, Hayley Watson
PART I: BIG DATA, THICJ DATA: SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS
2.Methodological innovation in precarious spaces: the case of Twitter; Axel Bruns and Jean Burgess
3. Have we even solved the first 'big data challenge?' Practical issues concerning data collection and visual representation for social media analytics; Phillip Brooker, Julie Barnett, Timothy Cribbin and Sanjay Sharma
4. I'm always on Facebook!' Exploring Facebook as a mainstream research tool and ethnographic site; Eve Stirling
PART II: COMBINING AND COMPARING METHODS
5. Mixing modes to widen research participation; Jo Hope
6. Do we need polls? Why Twitter will not replace opinion surveys, but can complement them; Javier Sajuria and Jorge Fábrega
7. Video analysis in digital literacy studies: Exploring innovative methods; Roberto de Roock, Ibrar Bhatt, and Jonathan Adams
PART III: DEVELOPING INNOVATIONS IN DIGITAL METHODS
8. Prototyping social sciences: Emplacing digital methods; Adolfo Estalella
9. Digital methods and perpetual reinvention? Asynchronous interviewing and photo elicitation; Emma Hutchinson
10. Digital stories and handmade skills: Explorations in how digital methods can be used to study transmissions of skill; Victoria Tedder
PART IV: DIGITAL RESEARCH: CHALLENGES AND CONTENTIONS
11. What's the matter with MOOCs? Sociomaterial methodologies for educational research; Jeremy Knox
12. Towards an innovative inclusion: Using digital methods with young people; Emma Bond and Stuart Agnew
13. Ethics Issues in Digital Methods Research; Claire Hewson
14. Digital Methods as Mainstream Methodology: Conclusions
Helene Snee, Christine Hine, Yvette Morey, Steven Roberts, Hayley Watson
Index

Editorial Reviews

'Digital methods offer important opportunities and challenges for researchers across the social sciences. This exciting text brings a welcome critical edge to discussions of digital methods, showcasing the work of new and more established researchers, and making important connections between academic disciplines.' Christine Griffin, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Bath, UK

'This exciting volume brings together a diverse group of scholars who have both experimented with and reflected deeply about the opportunities and challenges facing social scientists wanting to make use of digital data and methods. The contributions will be of great value to students wanting to learn about the full range of methods now available to them as well as more established colleagues who are unsure about how to integrate digital methods into their existing research repertoires.' Sally Wyatt, Professor of Digital Cultures, Maastricht University, and Programme Leader of the eHumanities Group, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

'This is an extremely important and informative text because it is one of the first to situate digital methods within social science methodology. It identifies the issues of using digital methods within a broad range of social science methods and in so doing shows how digital methods can contribute to the research questions that social scientists ask.' Bridgette Wessels, Reader in Digital Sociology, University of Sheffield, UK

From the Publisher