Online Observation Studies: Online Qualitative Research Methods

The following handbooks are available at Fondren Library. Click on the titles for direct access. 

• Tip 1 Gather high quality data
• Tip 2 Form an appropriate research question
• Tip 3 Back your question with your research
• Tip 4 Explain your methods
• Tip 5 Tell a meaningful story with your data
• Tip 6 Answer your research question

• observational study
• qualitative research
• interviews
• focus groups
• anecdotes
• video recording
• tape recording
• diaries
• personal narratives

Skype Online Observation

• Hanna, Paul. (2012) Using internet technologies (such as Skype) as a research medium: a research note. Qualitative Research, vol. 12, 2: pp. 239-242.
• Hannah Deakin, Kelly Wakefield. Skype interviewing: reflections of two PhD researchers. Qualitative Research. Volume: 14 issue: 5, page(s): 603-616
• Iacono, V. L., Symonds, P., & Brown, D. H. K. (2016). Skype as a tool for qualitative research interviews. Sociological Research Online,21, 1–15.
• Janghorban, R., Roudsari, R. L., & Taghipour, A. (2014). Skype interviewing: The new generation of online synchronous interview in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 9, 1–3.
• Johnson, D. R., Scheitle, C. P., & Ecklund, E. H. (2019). Beyond the In-Person Interview? How Interview Quality Varies Across In-person, Telephone, and Skype Interviews. Social Science Computer Review, 0894439319893612.
• Sipes, J. B., Roberts, L. D., & Mullan, B. (2019). Voice-only Skype for use in researching sensitive topics: a research note. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1-17.
• Sullivan, Jessica R. (2012) Skype: An Appropriate Method of Data Collection for Qualitative Interviews? The Hilltop Review: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 10.
• Paulus, T., Jackson, K., Davidson, J., Paulus, T., Jackson, K., & Davidson, J. (2017). Digital Tools for Qualitative Research: Disruptions and Entanglements. Qualitative Inquiry, 23 (10), 751–756. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417731080

Telephone Interview Observation

• Aquilino, W.S. (1992) Telephone Versus Face-to-Face Interviewing for Household Drug Use Surveys. International Journal of the Addictions 27(1): 71–91 .
• Cachia, M., & Millward, L. (2011). The telephone medium and semi-structured interviews: A complementary fit. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management,6 (3), 265–277. DOI:10.1108/17465641111188420. 
• Carr, ECJ, Worth, A (2001) The use of the telephone interview for research. Nursing Times Research 6: 511–524.
• Chang, Linchiat. (2001) A Comparison of Samples and Response Quality Obtained from RDD Telephone Survey Methodology and Internet Survey Methodology. The Ohio State University / OhioLINK.
• Drabble, L., Trocki, K. F., Salcedo, B., Walker, P. C., & Korcha, R. A. (2016). Conducting qualitative interviews by telephone: Lessons learned from a study of alcohol use among sexual minority and heterosexual women. Qualitative Social Work, 15(1), 118-133.
• Fenig, S. and Levav, I. (1993) Telephone vs Face-to-Face Interviewing in a Community Psychiatric Survey. American Journal of Public Health. 83 (6), 896.
• Greenfield, T.K., Midanik, L.T. and Rogers, J.D. (2000). Effects of Telephone versus Face-to-Face Interview Modes on Reports of Alcohol Consumption. Addiction 95(20): 277–284. 
• Harvey, C.D. (1988) Telephone Survey Techniques. Canadian Home Economics Journal 38(1): 30–35
• Holt, A. (2010). Using the telephone for narrative interviewing: A research note. Qualitative Research,10,113–121.
• Irvine, A. (2011). Duration, dominance and depth in telephone and face-to-face interviews: A comparative exploration. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10(3), 202-220.
• Irvine, A., Drew, P., & Sainsbury, R. (2013). “Am I not answering your questions properly?” Clarification, adequacy and responsiveness in semi-structured telephone and face-to-face interviews. QualitativeResearch,13, 87–106.
• Jordan, L.A., Marcus, A.C. and Reeder, L.G. (1980) Response Styles in Telephone and Household Interviewing: A Field Experiment. Public Opinion Quarterly 44(2): 210–222 
• Khurshid, A., & Sahai, H. (1995). Miscellanea, A bibliography on telephone survey methodology. Journal of Official Statistics, 11(3), 325.
• Laurie Drabble, Karen Trocki, Brenda Salcedo, Patricia Walker, and Rachael Korcha. Conducting qualitative interviews by telephone: Lessons learned from a study of alcohol use among sexual minority and heterosexual women. Qualitative Social Work (2016): 118-133. doi:10.1177/1473325015585613
• Lepkowski, James M. et al. Advances in Telephone Survey Methodology. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS) 1.129 (2010): 172–178.
• Midanik, L.T., Hines, A.M., Greenfield, T.K. and Rogers, J.D. (1999) Face-to-Face Versus Telephone Interviews: Using Cognitive Methods to Assess Alcohol Survey Questions. Contemporary Drug Problems 26: 673–693
• Miller, C. (1995) In-depth Interviewing by Telephone: Some Practical Considerations. Evaluation and Research in Education 9(1): 29–38. DOI: 10.1080/09500799509533370 
• Sobin, C., Weissman, M.M., Goldstein, R.B., Adams, P., Wickramaratne P., Warner V. and Lish J.D. (1993) Diagnostic Interviewing for Family Studies: Comparing Telephone and Face-to-Face Methods for the Diagnosis of Lifetime Psychiatric Disorders. Psychiatric Genetics 3(4): 227–333. 
• Sturgis, J. E., & Hanrahan, K. J. (2004). Comparing telephone and face-to-face qualitative interviewing: A research note. Qualitative Research,4, 107–118. 
• Vogl, S. (2013). Telephone versus face-to-face interviews: Mode effect on semi structured interviews with children. Sociological Methodology, 43, 133–177. In JSTOR.

Zoom 

• Archibald, A. (2019). Using Zoom Videoconferencing for Qualitative Data Collection: Perceptions and Experiences of Researchers and Participants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 160940691987459–. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919874596
• Couceiro, L. (2021). Facilitating Group Discussions With Participants on Zoom. Retrieved 26 January 2021, from https://www.methodspace.com/facilitating-group-discussions-with-participants-on-zoom/

Facebook 

• Dunn, Gross. “Food-Sharing Practices Online in the Facebook Group Cambridge Bay News.” Etudes Inuit 40.2 (2016): 225–243. Web.
• Lijadi,  v. (2015). Online Facebook Focus Group Research of Hard-to-Reach Participants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14(5), 160940691562138–. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915621383
• Willis, R. (2019). Observations online: Finding the ethical boundaries of Facebook research. Research Ethics, 15(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016117740176

Social Media

• Amâncio, M. (2017). “Put it in your Story”: Digital Storytelling in Instagram and Snapchat Stories.
• Caliandro, A. (2018). Digital Methods for Ethnography: Analytical Concepts for Ethnographers Exploring Social Media Environments. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 47(5), 551–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241617702960
• Lüders, M. (2015). Researching social media: Confidentiality, anonymity and reconstructing online practices. Internet research ethics, 77, 97.
• Nyblade, B., O’Mahony, A., & Sinpeng, A. (2015). Social media data and the dynamics of Thai protests. Asian Journal of Social Science, 43(5), 545-566.
• Serafinelli. (2017). Analysis of photo sharing and visual social relationships: Instagram as a case study. Photographies., 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17540763.2016.1258657
• Townsend, L., & Wallace, C. (2016). Social media research: A guide to ethics. University of Aberdeen, 1, 16.

Websites

• Addeo. (2019). Doing Social Research on Online Communities: The Benefits of Netnography. Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.30958/ajss.7-1-1
• Beneito-Montagut. (2015). Encounters on the social web: Everyday life and emotions online. Sociological Perspectives., 58(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121415569284
• Brotsky. (2007). Inside the “pro-ana” community: A covert online participant observation. International Journal of Eating Disorders., 15(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/10640260701190600
• Llouquet, O. (2017). Blind and Online: An Ethnographic Perspective on Everyday Participation Within Blind and Visually Impaired Online Communities. In Digital Environments (p. 117–). transcript Verlag.
• Kim, W. (2014). Do Social Casino Gamers Migrate to Online Gambling? An Assessment of Migration Rate and Potential Predictors. Journal of Gambling Studies, 31(4), 1819–1831. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-014-9511-0
• Morrow, O., Hawkins, R., & Kern, L. (2015). Feminist research in online spaces. Gender, Place & Culture, 22(4), 526-543.
• Reed, S. (2016). Thumbs up for privacy?: Differences in online self-disclosure behavior across national cultures. Social Science Research, 59, 155–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.04.022
• Shank, D. (2015). Using Crowdsourcing Websites for Sociological Research: The Case of Amazon Mechanical Turk. The American Sociologist, 47(1), 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-015-9266-9
• Sleigh, J. (2017). Google A Religion: Expanding Notions of Religion Online. In Frömming U., Köhn S., Fox S., & Terry M. (Eds.), Digital Environments: Ethnographic Perspectives Across Global Online and Offline Spaces (pp. 251-262). Bielefeld: Transcript Ve
• Tan, J. E. (2010, June). The leap of faith from online to offline: An exploratory study of Couchsurfing. org. In International Conference on Trust and Trustworthy Computing (pp. 367-380). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.