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Monday 7 – Friday 11 August 2023
Minimum 2 hours of live teaching per day
15:00 – 17:00 CEST
This course offers an interactive online learning environment using advanced pedagogical tools, and is specifically designed for advanced students, researchers, and professional analysts. The course is limited to a maximum of 12 participants, ensuring that the teaching team can address the unique needs of each individual.
This course focuses on the use of digital technologies for qualitative data collection, from a conceptual and an applied perspective, including logistical, technical and ethical issues.
It provides hands-on training in online qualitative data collection methods, covering methodological and practical aspects of online focus groups, online interviewing, and virtual ethnography (online fieldwork).
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
4 credits - Engage fully in class activities and complete a post-class assignment
Bojana Lobe is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, where she teaches various methods courses, including Social Science Data Collection and Digital Technologies.
Her research interests include online qualitative research methods, integration of qualitative and quantitative methods online, qualitative comparative analysis, and researching children’s experiences online with mixed methods.
She is the author of the book Integration of Online Research Methods and of several chapters and articles on conducting online focus groups and interviews. She is a member of the research programme Social Science Methodology, Statistics and Informatics at the University of Ljubljana.
Since 2006, Bojana has been actively involved in researching the experiences of children and young people with internet and digital technologies through various projects:
Starting with looking at digital technologies as a social science data collection tool and as a space for online social formations. You will be introduced to online qualitative research methods while looking into various temporal dimensions (synchronous, asynchronous), platform- or app-specific formats (text-based, audio, video-based). You will explore the pros and cons of online data collection in general.
There will be discussions on the fundamentals of focus groups as a group-dynamic based method. You will learn how to design an online focus group, from selection and recruitment to participant numbers. You will tackle challenges in research design and moderation, and look at how to prepare question guidelines. There will be the opportunity to compare various online focus group formats (eg, text-based, video-based) and do a hands-on exercise: conducting online focus groups.
You will learn about the fundamentals of qualitative interviewing, followed by how to design online interviews and prepare questions for them. You will tackle critical issues for successful online interviewing: absence of social-context cues, building rapport online, how to build and sustain interaction and how to address trust issues online. Various formats of online interviewing (text-based, video-based, one-on-one, and dyadic, informal, in-depth, expert) will be covered and you will take part in a hands-on exercise: conducting online qualitative interviews.
There will be discussions on the fundamentals of fieldwork method. You will learn how to design a study with online fieldwork, discuss various online fields (venues), how to choose sites, temporal dimensions of online fieldwork and participant observation, documenting online, asking questions online, issues of covert / overt online fieldwork. There will be a hands-on exercise: conducting online fieldwork.
You will explore Flexible Online Mixed Methods, a combination of online qualitative methods with web surveys, etc. You will review various technological platforms and engage in a critical discussion, tackling key ethical concepts in online research, such as privacy, anonymity, confidentiality, data security, withdrawal, debriefing, and informed consent.
The course has two main stages, pre-course work followed by five days of two-hour live teaching sessions, in Zoom.
Independent, pre-course stage starting two weeks prior to the course start date
Five live days
Prior knowledge of qualitative methods is beneficial, but by no means a requirement.
Independent, pre-course work will begin two weeks prior to the course, including the following: