Online Research Methods Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Psychology, Qualitative Methods, Storytelling, Qualitative Research

A few tricks that not everyone knows.

This paper examines the accounts of individuals who problematically pick their skin and explores their subjective experiences. One hundred problem disclosure statements were taken from posts made to a publicly accessible online skin picking support forum. These posts were systematically analysed using thematic analysis. Themes of disgust, shame and psychosocial avoidance dominated the analysis and appeared central to the experience of skin picking. Skin picking was shown to be a heterogeneous experience with a complex emotional profile. We argue that disgust, shame and related avoidance behaviour should be considered when conceptualising skin picking and considering treatment interventions.

- by Victoria Clarke
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- Qualitative Research, Psychosocial Research, Shame, Thematic Analysis

In recent years communication systems have developed rapidly and innovatively, and the trend seems inexorable. Internet is a typical example. As a consequence of the information concerning the market that has been gathered, marketing and management strategies will certainly benefit from this major trend. However, for this to come about it is necessary first to identify the most suitable method and tools among those under experimentation. In our research we used an online quantitative survey and the Delphi online method to identify future development trends in alpine skiing in the Dolomites. The results obtained confirm the validity of both, although the Delphi method yielded more complete results. The possession of high quality information facilitates the taking of corporate decisions and makes their implementation less risky. The Delphi method seems to be the best one if a company has to take decisions about future trends and the requisite information either does not exist in structured form or is difficult to obtain at low cost and with relative rapidity.

- by Luisa Mich and +1
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- Decision Making, Online Research Methods, Online Surveys, Marketing Online
- by Piotr Siuda
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- Survey Research, Online Research Methods, Web Surveys, Online Surveys

Internet research methods in nursing science are less developed than in other sciences. We choose to present an approach to conducting nursing research on an internet-based forum. This paper presents LiLEDDA, a sixstep
forum-based netnographic research method for nursing science. The steps consist of: 1. Literature review and identification of the research question(s); 2. Locating the field(s) online; 3. Ethical considerations; 4. Data gathering; 5. Data analysis and interpretation; and 6. Abstractions and trustworthiness. Traditional research
approaches are limiting when studying non-normative and non-mainstream life-worlds and their cultures. We argue that it is timely to develop more up-to-date research methods and study designs applicable to nursing science that reflect social developments and human living conditions that tend to be increasingly online based.

Per chi vuole compiere uno studio sulla società in cui siamo immersi, detta anche società delle piattaforme, vi sono due presupposti.
Il primo è quello di avere dei modelli concettuali di riferimento delle nostre vite datificate: degli ordinatori teorici, che orientino l’osservazione di alcuni importanti fenomeni e delle possibili conseguenze
del nostro quotidiano rapporto con piattaforme e algoritmi.
Il secondo è quello di conoscere alcuni modelli metodologici utili a
mettere in atto dei progetti di ricerca sui contenuti digitali e sul ruolo
di prosumer (algoritmici) che ciascuno di noi ha, non sempre consapevolmente.
Nella prima parte del volume si propone quindi una rilettura delle
questioni principali relative agli utilizzi del flusso di dati che ininterrottamente rilasciamo attraverso le nostre pratiche d’uso delle piattaforme digitali, tanto come utenti e fruitori dei loro servizi quanto come produttori di contenuti. Ma di raccogliere dati si occupa anche il
ricercatore: nella seconda parte del volume si offre dunque al lettore
una riflessione sui metodi digitali e sugli approcci che possono essere
utilizzati per analizzare tali contenuti, attraverso alcuni esempi di ricerche empiriche condotte.
Il libro esorta ad avere uno sguardo critico sulla realtà sociale, che
non vuol dire giudicare, bensì porsi delle domande, osservare, non dare per scontati certi fenomeni e cercare di comprendere proprio pratiche e processi che fanno parte del nostro quotidiano modo di vivere.

- by Elisabetta Risi
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- Online Research Methods, Platform Society

The key to success with Adsense is the placing of ads on pages that are receiving high traffic for high demand keywords. The higher the cost-per-click to the advertiser, the more you will receive per click from your site. Obviously, it does not pay to target low cost-per-click keywords and place them on pages that do not receive hits.
With all the people getting online and clicking away everyday, it is no wonder why Google Adsense has become an instant hit.

- by Maicol Garcia
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- Marketing, Social Media, Marketing Research, Money

Many advocates of deliberative democracy see in the Internet a new opportunity for the development of public spaces, public spheres, and places where deliberation can take place. An important element of the notion of the public sphere in general and of deliberation specifically, is the quality of the debate. In the past decade, many studies have been conducted to evaluate online discussions in light of the ideal notion of the public sphere. However, a wide gap exists between theoretical approaches and the actual operationalization of such theories for empirical research. In an attempt to bridge this gap we develop a method for examining the extent to which Internet forums meet the normative requirements of rational-critical debate, reciprocity, and reflexivity. The methodological approach consists of a textual analysis of the contributions made to an online forum. The coding scheme presented in this article is based on a case study (UK Online) and guided by the theoretical notions of deliberative democracy.

- by Todd Graham
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- Communication, Media Studies, New Media, Political Participation
- by Paula Batista
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- Gender and Sexuality, Virtual Ethnography, Sex Work, Online social networks

Drawing on an affective framework, this qualitative content analysis of the immediate public responses on Twitter in the hours following Jian Ghomeshi’s not guilty verdict (n = 3943 tweets) reveals two key discourses of public opinion. Twitter users depicted the criminal justice system (CJS) as having worked and/or failed, and these intensifying divisions were highly gendered. Members of the public pitted notions of the “rational male” against the “emotional female”, and these debates heavily supported or opposed a patriarchal legal rationality. This study sheds light on the ways in which adversarial justice systems reproduce adversarial discourses on crime, and overlook the problems entangled in misleading applications of rationality to sexual consent. The wide circulation of blame to all parties involved in this case leads us to the conclusion that the CJS, in its current punitive form, does not instil a sense of confidence in the public. With a shifted focus on the healing and dignity of everyone involved in sexual assault cases, we recommend Restorative and Transformative approaches to justice as alternative measures to respond to sexual assault.

- by Matthew S Johnston
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- Sociology, Gender Studies, Courts, Sexual Violence

This article highlights an experience of "failing" within a qualitative research study. Specifically, the authors speak to the failure of recruiting participants in conducting synchronous video and telephone interviews. Drawing from literature in business and examples from research method texts to demonstrate the cross-disciplinary concerns and insights of failure within one's work, the authors discuss how failure can be reframed as opportunity through the lens of "rigid flexibility" and the innovative steps they implemented. Providing additional insight into the process of framing and reframing failure in research, the authors integrate poetic inquiry as a tool for reflection to highlight their process and suggested steps for new researchers. The authors argue that researchers can approach studies with the idea that failures in the planning and/or execution can lead to opportunities and new insights.

- by Anna S . CohenMiller and +1
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- Interdisciplinarity, Higher Education, Qualitative methodology, Facebook

Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke, Hannah Frith, Nikki Hayfield, Helen Malson, Naomi Moller, and Iduna Shah-Beckley came together at the University of the West of England (UWE) in July 2017 to discuss and share their enthusiasm for the story completion method. Virginia nominally “led” the discussion to keep us on track. This is a transcript of the discussion, edited by the Special Issue editors, principally Hannah Frith, which we have all read and commented on. The discussion begins with the contributors introducing themselves and their experience of the story completion method. It then identifies a series of “knotty issues” about story completion which we explored: 1) what can stories tell us?; 2) research practicalities, comparative design, and sample size; 3) what happens when story completion doesn’t go to plan?; and 4) getting published. The conversation ends by considering “future possibilities for story completion research.” Our aim was not to reach consensus of definitive “answers” but to debate and gain perspective on an open issue. Hence, we reach no “conclusion” for any of these issues.

- by Victoria Clarke and +2
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- Storytelling, Gender, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Methods

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to teaching and research in universities. This has prompted the publication of a considerable number of studies, frameworks, and guidelines on teaching adaptations. Less has been written on adaptations to empirical research projects, partly because such projects have been put on hold or redesigned entirely. This paper reflects on adaptations made, challenges encountered, and lessons learned while persisting with a qualitative study involving parents, teachers, tutors, and university academics during the second and third waves of the pandemic in Hong Kong in 2020. Specifically, we reflect on the reconsideration of research design and instruments, negotiation of different kinds of access to research sites and participants, optimization of existing data sources, streamlining of data collection approaches, and consideration of the mental well-being of both researchers and respondents. The paper includes lessons learned from the use of Zoom, WhatsApp Messenger, and phone calls as technological tools, and hashtag search on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Special consideration is given to the unexpected benefits of doing research during the pandemic and the convenience of using technology and adaptability approach.

- by M. Nutsa Kobakhidze and +1
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- Gender Studies, Education, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods
- by Tomáš Kykal and +1
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- First World War, Online Research Methods, Digitisation, Austro-Hungarian History

This article draws on 3,500 responses from fans and professionals involved in association football (soccer) to an anonymous online survey posted from June 2010 to October 2010 regarding their views towards gay footballers. The overall findings are that, contrary to assumptions of homophobia, there is evidence of rapidly decreasing homophobia within the culture of football fandom.The results advance inclusive masculinity theory with 93 per cent of fans of all ages stating that there is no place for homophobia within football. Fans blame agents and clubs for the lack of openness and challenge football’s governing organizations to oppose the culture of secrecy surrounding gay players and to provide a more inclusive environment to support players who want to come out.

- by Jamie Cleland
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- Sociology, Cultural Studies, Social Change, Sociology of Sport

This qualitative content analysis of 503 anonymous online reviews of 52 Canadian call centres posted on RateMyEmployer.ca explores how forms of resistance, alienation, and emotional labour are expressed outside of the workplace. Our study finds that digital publics are producing emotive insurgencies and networks of support within marginalized communities that undermine employers' attempts at creating a docile and maleable workforce. The reviews exemplify worker awareness of exploitation as some connect these issues to broader socioeconomic factors that are beyond their control. While many offer tactics to challenge and destabilize their working conditions and culture as well as heartfelt and sarcastic warnings of what one might expect if they pursue call centre employment, others use the online space as a means of venting frustrations, eliciting empathies, and expressing sentiments of hope(lessness).

- by Matthew S Johnston and +2
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- Sociology, Work and Labour, Online Research Methods, Sociology of Work & Labour

Ethnography online as an ethnographic division is often critically treated because it allows researchers to investigate a culture without having face to face contact (Hine 2008:259). It is moreover sometimes seen as inferior to traditional ethnography because much of the data collection occurs passively. But even though some researchers argue that online and offline world should be regarded as separated, ethnography online is not condemned to be conducted totally on the Internet, but rather almost naturally expands to related offline contexts. Accordingly, it offers many possibilities to understand a culture’s beliefs, values, norms, social practices, and behavior in online and offline correlations. There are “complex connections between online and offline social spaces [and a] key challenge for the future is to develop forms of ethnography that take seriously the social reality of online settings, whilst also exploring their embedding within everyday life” (Hine 2008: 258). In this respect, in the following, I will discuss why ethnography in and on online environments is a meaningful approach. I want to critically reflect on advantages and disadvantages of ethnography online and in particular consider how useful and appropriate a pure online observation is, compared to other ethnographic methods which might also be extended to the offline world. For this discussion I will take the example of my brief study of two female German YouTubers who are publishing videos concerning their everyday activities about beauty, fashion and ‘do it yourself’ on the online video community YouTube. One of the women I merely observed online via watching her videos, the other one agreed to additionally answer some questions in a personal interview via video call. Because consequently, I obtained information from both informants via different research methods, I want to critically discuss whether my research findings are anyway comparable. For reasons of simplification and for the flow of reading, I will use the male form of a word when actually gendering would be necessary.

- by Ariane Petschow
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- Media Studies, Ethnography, Internet research, Ethnography of Communication

This edited volume sheds light on the experiences of immigrants in different parts of the world and offers insightful reflections on the art of carrying out fieldwork in the present day, when the task of locating the ‘field’ seems to present a particular challenge for researchers. Thanks to its fresh approach and its detailed descriptions of methods, this book is of interest not only to both apprentice and more experienced ethnographers working in the discipline of migration studies but also to scholars conducting ethnographic research in other fields.

This is a draft of a forthcoming paper in an collection edited by Patricia Leavy entitled The Field of Qualitative Research. Forthcoming in late 2020. This is a general overview, but highlighting topics, issues, and challenges for doing qualitative research in online, or digitally saturated social contexts. Focus is both practical and philosophical.

This study focuses on listener perceptions of African American English (AAE) on Twitter, examining both grammatical and ungrammatical usages, as well as how these perceptions may be affected by the race of the speaker and rater. We conducted an experimental survey designed to address the following questions: 1. Does avatar race affect perception of the grammaticality of AAE? 2. Are differences between grammatical and ungrammatical AAE discernible to naive raters of different races? 3. How are various social attributes evaluated for avatars of different races and different linguistic varieties? Results indicate that participants generally do not downgrade avatars who use grammatical AAE on ratings of grammaticality or personal characteristics. However, participants of all races disprefer ungrammatical uses of AAE, with black raters being especially sensitive to ungrammatical AAE. These findings have implications for sociolinguistics in that they demonstrate that participants across racial backgrounds may differentiate grammatical versus ungrammatical AAE online, and that contrary to expectations based on previous literature, AAE is not universally downgraded in these contexts. However, results also indicate that the use of AAE still negatively impacts listeners' perceptions of speakers as educated, demonstrating that some widespread biases against AAE-speakers persist in an online context.

- by Marie Tano
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- Perception, Languages and Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Social Media

This article analyses 2500 responses from association football (soccer) fans to an anonymous online survey conducted from November 2011 to February 2012 that examined the extent of
racism in British football. Eighty-three per cent of the participants stated that racism remains culturally embedded and when exploring the reasons behind its continuation from the 1970s and 1980s, Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus proved useful for understanding why some white fans continue to express racist thoughts and behaviours at football. Central to this were explanations concerning class and education and how historical notions of whiteness remain culturally embedded for some supporters.

- by Jamie Cleland
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- Sociology, Cultural Studies, Sociology of Sport, Social Policy
- by Piotr Siuda
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- The Internet, Online Research Methods, Metody Badań, Badania Jakościowe

The number of black and minority ethnic (BME) managers in English professional association football, or soccer, has been stable for nearly ten years: there are usually between two and four (out of a possible ninety two). Yet black players regularly make up more than a quarter of professional club squads. The reasons for this apparent under-representation are explored among 1,000 football fans, including players and explayers, both white and BME. Opinions were solicited via an online research platform www.topfan.co.uk, designed and executed by the authors. The findings indicate 56 per cent of respondents believe racism operates at the executive levels of football, i.e. the boardroom.While some accuse club owners and directors of deliberate discrimination, most suspect a form of unwitting or institutional racism in which assumptions about black people’s capacities are not analysed and challenged and so continue to circulate. Among the possible remedies to this is the American
National Football League’s Rooney Rule, which mandates BME candidates’ inclusion on shortlists for senior coaching positions. A third of participants in the research approved of this type of initiative.While black managers are scarce when compared to the number of black players in professional football, their presence is actually an accurate reflection of their number in the total British population. So is the dearth of black managers an under-representation?

- by Jamie Cleland
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- Sociology, Cultural Studies, Sociology of Sport, Cultural Sociology

Le thème soumis à notre étude dans le cadre du projet de fin d’études pour l’obtention d’une licence technologique en Informatique et Réseau, option Concepteur Développeur
Réseaux Internet s’intitule : « Conception et Réalisation d’un Système de Vote Electronique ».
L’application ainsi réalisée prend en compte deux aspects : sécurité et gestion. L’aspect sécurité qui donne la possibilité à chaque usager votant de s’inscrire à une
élection (le succès de son inscription marqué par la réception de son mot de passe par message), à l’administrateur d’enregistrer les partis politiques et de les affecter à l’élection de leur choix; de paramétrer une élection. L’aspect gestion donne la possibilité de lister les candidats à une
élection, d’avoir le nombre d’électeurs pour une élection, d’avoir le nombre d’électeurs ayant participés ou non à une élection, de donner le pourcentage de vote obtenu pour chaque candidat, le nombre d’électeur inscrit dans chaque ville, de visualiser la profession de foi de tous les candidats à l’élection. La possibilité d’avoir le pourcentage général des votes pour une élection, et la liste des candidats ayant déjà participé à une élection. Pour parvenir aux résultats, plusieurs outils ont été mis à profit.

This paper goes to the heart of this special issue by exploring the case of the web site, Jihadology, which the author founded and has managed for the past ten-plus years. It explores various issues including why such a site is necessary and/or useful, questions about dissemination and open access, lessons learned about responsibility and interaction with jihadis online, the evolution of the website that has the largest repository of jihadi content, interactions with governments and technology companies and how they viewed and dealt with the website. The paper also explores how the experience gained might help other researchers interested in creating primary source-first websites to assist in their research as well as to the benefit of others in the field. Therefore, this paper aims to shed light not only on this unique case, but also on the moral and ethical questions that have arisen through maintaining the Jihadology website for more than a decade in a time of changing online environments and more recent calls for censorship.

- by Aaron Y Zelin
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- Social Media, Free Speech, Archiving, Online Research Methods
- by Victoria Clarke
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- Psychology, Qualitative methodology, Heterosexuality, Storytelling

Daraz.com.bd is an online retailer market who is currently operating in Bangladesh but due the consumers’ lack of faith and intangibility of service in online market resulting them in low adaptation of this online brand. In this paper we emphasized on detecting the problem of online market through pinpointing the symptoms. Moreover we discussed some findings from literatures available on the same context. For going deep into the research we conducted survey on 100 respondents and analyzed the responses through MS Excel. The paper contributes to the online industry of Bangladesh, which is becoming an emerging market for E-commerce based businesses or startups in future.

Background: Living with alopecia areata (AA) totalis and universalis (collectively referred to here as AA) involves unpredictable, sometimes rapid hair loss. There is currently no effective treatment and patients describe feelings of shock, loss, trauma and disrupted identity. Cultural meanings attached to hair and hair loss, including associations between hair and femininity, and hair loss and cancer may exacerbate distress. Consequently, wigs and make-up are frequently used as camouflage, but this can produce feelings of inauthenticity, shame and anxiety. Objectives: This article explores how meanings associated with hair and hair loss influence experiences of living with AA. We also aim to identify how this understanding might inform practice by healthcare professionals to best support patients to cope with the condition. Methods: A total of 95 participants with AA completed an online qualitative survey about their experiences of living with the condition. Data were subjected to thematic analysis within a critical realist theoretical framework. Results: The following four themes were identified: (i) It's (not) only hair; (ii) A restricted life; (iii) Abandon hope all ye who lose their hair and (iv) Seeking support in ‘a highly personal journey’. Conclusions: Findings suggest that negative cultural meanings of hair and hair loss are pervasive and may drive social avoidance and camouflage behaviours in people with AA. Normalizing social interactions with healthcare practitioners, significant others and peers were cited as pivotal to positive adjustment. Support groups and online forums were highly valued particularly as few had been offered specialist psychological support. Future research should develop and evaluate psychological support in order to address the specific challenges of living with AA.

- by Victoria Clarke
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- Gender, Qualitative Research, Body Image, Qualitative Research Methods

This article draws on the responses of 1,500 fans from across the United Kingdom to an online survey posted from August 2013 to November 2013 regarding their experience of football violence. Reflecting the 2013 Home Office report that indicated a continued long-term decline of football fan violence in England and Wales, 89% of fans illustrate a decrease in violent behavior from the 1980s with 56% indicating this is due to better policing, 56% attributing it to improvements in stadia, 50% highlighting the deterrence provided by CCTV, and 49% ascribing it to a civilized supporter base. Overall, fans reflect on a more sanitized and gentrified culture emerging out of measures introduced since the 1990s (including changing police strategies, banning orders, alcohol bans, higher ticket prices, and CCTV).

- by Jamie Cleland
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- Sociology, Cultural Studies, Sociology of Sport, Social Sciences

In this chapter, I develop the critical framework of moments of political gameplay using an approach informed by radical relationism, microethnography, and performativity, in order to produce detailed readings of how video games and their players reproduce (far-right) political action. I form this concept through two qualitative case studies from two seemingly different games: Angry Goy II (AG2), a game developed with politics at its forefront; and Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2), a game that allows the players to “do whatever they want”. This concept does not consider video games as technologies that produce new violence on its players. Rather, this framework argues that in order to map the stages of gameplay that affect players, we must see political gameplay as made up of the coming together of multiple ingredients: the human, the technological, and the political. Each ingredient is fundamental in creating a final output: a racist, misogynist, or anti-progressive moment of gameplay. Hence, the object of study here is the processes by which players reproduce a political worldview from their involvement in gameplay. In doing so, I outline how spotting moments of political gameplay allows us to trace the processes which produce political features of play, mobilize the player to digitally enact and perform far-right play, concretize the political identities of its player, and outline the breadcrumbs that lead the player towards far-right recruitment.

- by Noel Brett
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- Game studies, Race and Racism, Game Design, Video Games
- by Nagib C Callaos
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- Computer And Society, Education, Science Education, Engineering Education

Is there more to qualitative data collection than face-to-face interviews? Answering with a resounding 'yes', this book introduces the reader to a wide array of exciting and novel techniques for collecting qualitative data in the social and health sciences. Collecting Qualitative Data offers a practical and accessible guide to textual, media and virtual methods currently under-utilised within qualitative research. Contributors from a range of disciplines share their experiences of implementing a particular technique, provide step-by-step guidance to using that approach, and highlight both the potential and pitfalls. From gathering blog data to the story completion method to conducting focus groups online, the methods and data types featured in this book are ideally suited to student projects and other time- and resource-limited research. In presenting several innovative ways that data can be collected, new modes of scholarship and new research orientations are opened up to student researchers and established scholars alike.

- by Victoria Clarke
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- Discourse Analysis, Blogs, Research Ethics, Qualitative Research

Purpose: Crowdfunding is a global phenomenon of rising significance and impact on different areas of business and social life, investigated across many academic disciplines. The goal of the article is to present the variety of methods applied in crowdfunding research, assess their strengths and weaknesses, offer the typology of methodological approaches, and suggest the most promising direction for further studies. Design/methodology: The paper is based on the review of the most recent academic and industry lite rature on crowdfunding and own analysis of data presented by crowdfunding platforms' operators. Findings: The article incorporates interrelations of methods, goals of inquiries, and types of results to propose a typology of methodological approaches that researchers currently apply to crowdfund ing: from platformcentred to multisited. The authors discuss the advantages and limitations of the identified approaches with the use of multiple examples of recent and most influential studies from the field and propose the most urgent direction of future inquiries. Research limitations/implications: The overview renders crowdfunding studies more accessible for potential newcomers to the field and strengthens transdisciplinary discussion on crowdfunding. Despite the broad variety of the analyzed articles that reflect the newest trends, the sample is not representative in the statistical meanings of the term. Originality/value: The article offers the first review of methodologies applied in the transdisciplinary area of crowdfunding studies and connects it to broader methodological discussions about trans disciplinary research on the digital phenomena. The review strengthens the transdisciplinary dialog on crowdfunding.

- by Agata Stasik and +1
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- Research Methodology, Online Research Methods, Crowdfunding, Online research

Despite the growing role of digital media in mobilizing protest and even changing its logic, the reflection on online methods in social movement studies has been quite limited until now. While such methods are generally employed in empirical research, there has been little reflection on the limits and opportunities they entail, and in general their relationship with offline techniques has been poorly discussed and problematized. This chapter thus aims to fill this gap in the literature. Building on recent discussion of online methods in the social sciences, this chapter: (a) discusses methodological problems related to collecting and archiving online data; (b) addresses sampling problems in researching the online dimension of social movements; and (c) examines the pros and cons of specific techniques to analyze online movements.

- by Lorenzo Mosca
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- Social Movements, Digital Media, Online Research Methods
- by Piotr Siuda
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- Internet research methods, Internet research, The Internet, Online Research Methods

The rise of digital technologies has the potential to open new directions in ethnography. Despite the ubiquity of these technologies, their infiltration into popular sociological research methods is still limited compared to the insatiable uptake of online scholarly research portals. This article argues that social researchers cannot afford to continue this trend. Building upon pioneering work in `digital ethnography', I critically examine the possibilities and problems of four new technologies — online questionnaires, digital video, social networking websites, and blogs — and their potential impacts on the research relationship. The article concludes that a balanced combination of physical and digital ethnography not only gives researchers a larger and more exciting array of methods, but also enables them to demarginalize the voice of respondents. However, access to these technologies remains stratified by class, race, and gender of both researchers and respondents.

- by Dhiraj Murthy
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- Web 2.0, Social Networking, Internet research, Virtual Ethnography

Why and how do marginalized consumers mobilize to seek greater inclusion in and more choice from mainstream markets? We develop answers to these questions drawing on institutional theory and a qualitative investigation of Fatshionistas, plus-sized consumers who want more options from mainstream fashion marketers. Three triggers for mobilization are posited: development of a collective identity, identification of inspiring institutional entrepreneurs, and access to mobilizing institutional logics from adjacent fields. Several change strategies that reinforce institutional logics while unsettling specific institutionalized practices are identified. Our discussion highlights diverse market change dynamics that are likely when consumers are more versus less legitimate in the eyes of mainstream marketers and in instances where the changes consumers seek are more versus less consistent with prevailing institutions and logics.

- by Daiane Scaraboto
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- Marketing, Media Studies, Fashion Theory, Blogs
- by Guillaume Latzko-Toth and +1
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- Ethics, Research Ethics, Internet Research Ethics, Online Research Methods

People who are voluntarily childless, or “childfree,” face considerable stigma. Researchers have begun to explore how these individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’ responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our analysis draws attention to “identity work” in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of “choice” rhetoric allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants drew on a “childfree-by-choice script,” which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational, and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a “disavowal of choice script” that allowed a person who is unable to ...

- by Catriona Macleod
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- Psychology, Stigma, Discursive Psychology, Online Research Methods

People who are voluntarily childless, or ‘‘childfree,’’ face considerable stigma. Researchers have begun to explore how these
individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’
responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive
psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our
analysis draws attention to ‘‘identity work’’ in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of ‘‘choice’’ rhetoric
allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants
drew on a ‘‘childfree-by-choice script,’’ which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational,
and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a ‘‘disavowal of choice script’’ that allowed a person who
is unable to choose childlessness (for various reasons) to hold a blameless identity regarding deviation from the norm of
parenthood. We demonstrate how choice rhetoric allowed participants to resist stigma and challenge pronatalism to some
extent; we discuss the political potential of these scripts for reproductive freedom.

- by Catriona Macleod and +3
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- Stigma, Discursive Psychology, Online Research Methods, Sexual and reproductive health and rights
- by Anna Piela
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- Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Communication, Communication