Qualitative Digital Research>>>
The richness of qualitative research is what makes it different than quantitative projects, in my opinion. Utilizing qualitative methodologies allows for in-depth discussion; thus, its usage in digital research can help navigate how the waves discussed by Markham (2020) foreground âthe meditation of the internet on communication practice in specific contextsâ (p. 9). The reading of Markham (2020) seems necessary for all emerging scholars as we decide what field of research and skills will be marketable. The scholar distinctively acknowledges how digital research is more so the impact of the digital in interactions and relationships than using digital tools to collect data. Focusing on digitalâs impact also leads to further discussions of sensemaking, well-being, identity performance, or sense of community (Markham, 2020).
Additionally, Markham (2020) seems like a necessary article for emerging scholars because of the digital wave breakdown. Using different periods and advancement of digital spheres, the scholar acknowledges five waves that ultimately âreturns to the issue of identity that marked the first wave of internet studiesâ (p.8). While reading, I instantly thought of my gender & women studies courses that deconstructed the different waves of feminism. Ironically, Markham (2020) also stated how the wave was actually influenced by feminist technoscience, posthumanism, and new materialism. Thus, this current wave of algorithms and more human relations distinctly brings more qualitative questioning and answering to the surface. Accounting for identities and impact outside of physical matters is finally important to research and shifts how we view digital research and culture.
This weekâs articles can fuel the scholars in the classroom who enjoyed media-related research but in a qualitative approach. Specifically, Nelson (2020) helps better situate how inductive grounded theory could explore text, interpret the engagement with certain data in a qualitative reading, and further confirm what patterns are used for computational and natural language techniques. Having this knowledge and skills helps guide qualitative researchers from computer-driven approaches to conduct a content analysis efficiently. Often, we see content analysis in the form of quantitative, which limits what narrative is being told and focuses more on frequency. I hope that with my research, Iâm able to expand on this field by using digital research from a place of studying language and actions.












