[Air-L] Fw: Re: Missing Data in Qualitative and Online Research

Max Spotti M.Spotti at uvt.nl
Sun Aug 8 06:52:47 PDT 2010


Dear all,

I take it that we all know what is an interpretive ethnographic perspective. 

I wonder though when and whether one can say that there are missing data when engaged in fieldwork. Take the case of entering a primary school classroom, you might have access to the teacher's log, yet again the school's head may refuse you access to a school policy either because the document is outdated, or not in place. 
In this case the ethnographer should report what has happened, or base him/herself on what she can have access to.

As for online qualitative research, then again we should ask ourselves first whether the screen is a viable fieldwork and whether the screen either hinders or helps the ethnographer to reconstruct the cultural ecology of the space that s/he is engaged with. One thing is for sure, one has to go deep and, in so doing, I mean that it is worth looking beyond the boundaries of the socio-cultural space one is trying to reconstruct. 

Take the case of fan cultures. A fan may well be part of a fan group on Fb, s/he might flag off a certain identity, say certain things (appropriate himself of the genre that s/he thinks he should use in order to be part of this fan group). In my view though it is also worth looking beyond that fan group and see whether the fan in question has a blog or a webpage, and maybe through this webpage of his, one can have access to his writings and to how his inhabited identity of being a fan is constructed (beyond) the fan wall on Fb. That may lead to cater for those data that one has not been able to collect and it may also cater for triangulation. 

I hope this helps a little.

Best wishes,
Max Spotti

-----Original Message-----
From: "Mohammad H. Hasani" <mh_hasani at yahoo.com>
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 13:01:47 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Air-L] Fw: Re:  Missing Data in Qualitative and Online Research



--- On Sat, 8/7/10, Mohammad H. Hasani <mh_hasani at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Mohammad H. Hasani <mh_hasani at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Missing Data in Qualitative and Online Research
To: "William Dutton" <william.dutton at oii.ox.ac.uk>
Date: Saturday, August 7, 2010, 12:59 PM





Generally speaking,  

1. I think missing data in a Qual research is data could make
a significant contribution to the grounded concept or theory but researcher
neglects or fails to collect. Repeating some phases in data collection/analysis,
conducting parallel Qual research or reverse previewing of the research
phases seems to help.  

2. The same for CMR, but here, the researcher should also pay more
attention to the cases; inappropriate cases may cause collecting poor data could
be seen as missed.  

Triangulated
observations may help in this case. 

   

Mohammad
H. Hasani, 

Instructor
in Sociology

 Payame Noor 
 University 

    





--- On Fri, 8/6/10, William Dutton <william.dutton at oii.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

From: William Dutton <william.dutton at oii.ox.ac.uk>
Subject: [Air-L] Missing Data in Qualitative and Online Research
To: "air-l at listserv.aoir.org" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
Date: Friday, August 6, 2010, 8:17 AM

Dear List Members,

My colleagues and I would greatly appreciate your input to an exploratory project on missing data in qualitative and online research.* We would appreciate anything from your immediate reactions while reading this e-mail to detailed references to literature that has addressed our questions.

There are two very general but heuristically useful questions. Your views on either would be welcomed. Feel free to reply privately or to the list, as you
 wish.

1. What is ‘missing data’ in the context of qualitative research and how is it dealt with?

2. Likewise, in computer-mediated research, are researchers missing particular kinds of data, or believe that they are missing particular kinds of observations, and how are they compensating or otherwise addressing this gap?

Thoughts? Thank you,

Bill

*This is a collaborative project between the ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) ‘hub’ (Graham Crow, Rose Wiles), WISERD (Amanda Coffey), Oxford eSocial Science ‘node’ of NCeSS (Bill Dutton, Alison Powell), and Qualidata/Timescapes (Libby Bishop), based on our recognition of a shared but not well developed problem.

William Dutton, Director
Professor of Internet Studies
Oxford Internet Institute
1 St Giles', Oxford OX1 3JS  UK

e-mail: william.dutton at oii.ox.ac.uk
Web: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=1
Phone: +44 (0)1865 287 212
Cell: +44 (0)7768 823906

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Dr. Massimiliano Spotti
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5000LE - Tilburg
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Phone: *31-13-4662258
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