Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T21:32:50.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Archives of Everyday Life

Using Blogs in Qualitative Research

from Part II - Media Data Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2017

By
Nicholas Hookway
Edited by
Virginia Braun ,
Victoria Clarke  and
Debra Gray
Virginia Braun
Affiliation:
University of Auckland
Victoria Clarke
Affiliation:
University of the West of England, Bristol
Debra Gray
Affiliation:
University of Winchester
Get access

Summary

A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Chapter
Information
Collecting Qualitative Data
A Practical Guide to Textual, Media and Virtual Techniques
 , pp. 144 - 165
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Resources: Online

The Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) has a useful website where researchers can subscribe to a free, open-access mailing list, download papers from the association’s annual conference, and access the AoIR Guide on Ethical Online Research: http://aoir.org

The Blog Analysis Toolkit is the University of Pittsburgh’s Qualitative Data Analysis Program – a free online system for researchers to capture, archive and share blog posts: www.ibridgenetwork.org/university-of-pittsburgh/blog-analysis-toolkit

The web resource ReStore provides online training resources for researchers. The section ‘resources for learners’ (www.restore.ac.uk/orm/learnerresources/) is particularly valuable, providing overviews of key journals and texts in the field of online research, a glossary, links, FAQs and bibliographies on online research methods, including blogs (see Bibliography section ‘online methodological futures’: www.restore.ac.uk/orm/learnerresources/bibliography.htm): Madge, C., O’Connor, H. and Shaw, R. (2006). Exploring online research methods in a virtual training environment: www.restore.ac.uk/orm/

Further Resources: Readings

For an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of using blogs in social scientific research, particularly as a strategy to access accounts of everyday life, see Hookway, N. (2008). ‘Entering the blogosphere’: Some strategies for using blogs in social research. Qualitative Research, 8(1), 91–103.Google Scholar
For an excellent overview of the opportunities and challenges blogs offer researchers in the context of a sociological study on young people’s gap year narratives, see Snee, H. (2012). Youth research in Web 2.0: A case study in blog analysis. In Heath, S. and Walker, C. (eds.), Innovations in youth research (pp. 178–194). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar
The following two articles are from my everyday moralities project, and provide insight into how blog data can be used and presented within a qualitative research project: Hookway, N. (2014). Tasting the ethical: Vegetarianism as modern re-enchantment. M/C: Journal of Media and Culture, 17(1). Retrieved from: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/759.Google Scholar
Hookway, N. (2015). Living authentic: ‘Being true to yourself’ as a contemporary moral ideal. M/C: Journal of Media and Culture, 18(1). Retrieved from: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/759.Google Scholar
For an overview of how researchers might use blogs as a reflexive writing tool in the research process, see Wakeford, N. and Cohen, K. (2005). Fieldnotes in public: Using blogs for research. In Fielding, N., Lee, R. M. and Blank, G. (eds.), The SAGE handbook of online research methods (pp. 307–326). London: Sage Publications. (NB The chapter does not consider blogs as a source of data, but does offer an accessible introduction to blogs, relevant literatures and their social and cultural context.)Google Scholar

References

Atkinson, P. and Silverman, D. (1997). Kundera’s immortality: The interview society and the invention of the self. Qualitative Inquiry, 3(3), 304–325.Google Scholar
Australian Copyright Act (1968). SECT 195AR. Retrieved from: www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s195ar.htmlGoogle Scholar
Australian Copyright Council (2005). Information sheet: Moral rights. Retrieved from: www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets/G043.pdfGoogle Scholar
Badger, M. (2004). Visual blogs. In Gurak, L. J., Antonijevic, S., Johnson, L., Ratliff, C. and Reyman, J. (eds.), Into the blogosphere: Rhetoric, community, and culture of weblogs.Google Scholar
Bakker, J. K. and Paris, J. (2013). Bereavement and religion online: Stillbirth, neonatal loss and parental religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 52(4), 657–674.Google Scholar
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Beer, D. and Burrows, R. (2007). Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some initial considerations. Sociological Research Online, 12(5). Retrieved from: www.socresonline.org.uk/12/5/17.htmlCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blood, R. (2002a). Weblogs: A history and perspective. In Rodzvilla, J. (ed.), We’ve got blog: How weblogs are changing our culture (pp. 7–16). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.Google Scholar
Blood, R. (2002b). Introduction. In Rodzvilla, J. (ed.), We’ve got blog: How weblogs are changing our culture (pp. ix–xiii). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.Google Scholar
British Psychological Society (2013). Ethics guidelines for internet-mediated research. Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society.Google Scholar
Bruckman, A. (2002). Studying the amateur artist: A perspective on disguising data collected in human subjects research on the Internet. Ethics and Information Technology, 4(3), 217–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, J. and van Amerom, G. (2008). A comparison of blogs by depressed men and women. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 29(3), 243–264.Google Scholar
Dart, J. J. (2009). Blogging the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. Sociology of Sport Journal, 26(1), 107–126.Google Scholar
Elgesem, D. (2002). What is special about the ethical issues in online research? Ethics and Information Technology, 4(3), 95–203.Google Scholar
Elliot, H. (1997). The use of diaries in sociological research on health experience. Sociological Research Online, 2(2). Retrieved from: www.socresonline.org.yk/socresonline/2/2/7.htmlGoogle Scholar
Enoch, Y. and Grossman, R. (2010). Blogs of Israeli and Danish backpackers to India. Annals of Tourism Research, 37(2), 520–536.Google Scholar
Ezzy, D. (2000). Qualitative research methods: A health focus. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fielding, N., Lee, R. M. and Blank, G. (2008). The SAGE handbook of online research methods. London: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Henning, J. (2003). The blogging iceberg: Of 4.12 million hosted weblogs, most little seen, quickly abandoned. Perseus Development Corp.Google Scholar
Hessler, R. M., Downing, J., Beltz, C., Pelliccio, A., Powell, M. and Vale, W. (2003). Qualitative research on adolescent risk using e-mail: A methodological assessment. Qualitative Sociology, 26(1), 111–124.Google Scholar
Hodkinson, P. (2007). Interactive online journals and individualization. New Media Society, 9(4), 625–650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hookway, N. (2008). ‘Entering the blogosphere’: Some strategies for using blogs in social research, Qualitative Research, 8(1), 91–103.Google Scholar
Hookway, N. (2014). Tasting the ethical: Vegetarianism as modern re-enchantment. M/C: Journal of Media and Culture, 17(1). Retrieved from: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/759Google Scholar
Hookway, N. (2015). Living authentic: ‘Being true to yourself’ as a contemporary moral ideal. M/C: Journal of Media and Culture, 18(1). Retrieved from: http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/759Google Scholar
Hutchinson, R. (2001). Dangerous liaisons? Ethical considerations in conducting online sociological research. In Browne, C., Edwards, K., Watson, V. and van Krieken, R. (eds.), TASA 2001 Conference Proceedings, The Australian Sociological Association.Google Scholar
King, S. (1996). Researching Internet communities: Proposed ethical guidelines for the reporting of results. The Information Society, 12(2), 119–127.Google Scholar
Leggatt-Cook, C. and Chamberlain, K. (2012). Blogging for weight loss: Personal accountability, writing selves and the weight-loss blogosphere. Sociology of Health & Illness, 34(7), 963–977.Google Scholar
Lenhart, A. and Fox, S. (2006). Bloggers: A portrait of the Internet’s new storytellers. Pew Internet and American Life Project.Google Scholar
Liamputtong, P. and Ezzy, D. (2005). Qualitative research methods. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lopez, L. K. (2009). The radical act of ‘mommy blogging’: Redefining motherhood through the blogosphere. New Media & Society, 11(5), 729–747.Google Scholar
Markham, A. and Buchanan, E. (2012). Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the AoIR Ethical Working Committee (Version 2.0). Chicago: Association of Internet Researchers. Retrieved from: http://aoir.org/reports/ethics2.pdfGoogle Scholar
Marwick, A. (2008). LiveJournal users: Passionate, prolific, and private. LiveJournal research report.Google Scholar
Phillips, D. and Harding, S. (1985). The structure of moral values. In Abrams, M., Gerard, D. and Timms, N. (eds.), Values and social change in Britain (pp. 93–108). London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Plummer, K. (2001). Documents of life. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Sanford, A. (2010). ‘I can air my feelings instead of eating them’: Blogging as social support for the morbidly obese. Communication Studies, 61(5), 567–584.Google Scholar
Savage, M. and Burrows, R. (2007). The coming crisis of empirical sociology. Sociology, 41(5), 885–900.Google Scholar
Scheidt, L. and Wright, E. (2004). Common visual design elements of weblogs. In Gurak, L. J., Antonijevic, S., Johnson, L., Ratliff, C. and Reyman, J. (eds.), Into the blogosphere: Rhetoric, community, and culture of weblogs.Google Scholar
Serfarty, V. (2004). Online diaries: Towards a structural approach. Journal of American Studies, 38(3), 457–471.Google Scholar
Sharman, A. (2014). Mapping the climate sceptical blogosphere. Global Environmental Change, 26, 159–170.Google Scholar
Silverman, D. (2001). Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analysing talk, text, and interaction. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Snee, H. (2012). Youth research in Web 2.0: A case study in blog analysis. In Heath, S. and Walker, C. (eds.), Innovations in youth research (pp. 178–194). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Snee, H. (2013). Doing something ‘worthwhile’: Intersubjectivity and morality in gap year narratives. The Sociological Review, 62(4), 843–861.Google Scholar
Thomas, W. I. and Znaniecki, F. (1958[1918]). The polish peasant in Europe and America. New York: Dover Publications.Google Scholar
Toms, E. G. and Duff, W. (2002). ‘I spent 1½ hours sifting through one large box …’: Diaries as information behaviour of the archives user: Lessons learned. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(4), 1232–1238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Turnbull, G. (2002). The state of the blog part two: Blogger present. In Rodzvilla, J. (ed.), We’ve got blog: How weblogs are changing our culture (pp. 81–85). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.Google Scholar
Tussyadiah, I. P. and Fesenmaier, D. R. (2008). Marketing place through first-person stories – an analysis of Pennsylvania Roadtripper blog. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 25(3), 299–311.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L. M. (1980). Health diaries. Medical Care, 18(1), 73–95.Google Scholar
Walther, J. B. (2002). Research ethics in Internet-enabled research: Human subjects issues and methodological myopia. Ethics and Information Technology, 4(3), 205–216.Google Scholar
Waskul, D. and Douglas, M. (1996). Considering the electronic participant: Some polemical observations on the ethics of on-line research. The Information Society, 12(2), 129–139.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×