A qualitative analysis of Twitter activity among teacher activist groups: Questions, challenges, opportunities, and findings
Location
1049
Format Type
Event
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
January 2019
End Date
January 2019
Abstract
Qualitative researchers are increasingly recognizing social media as both context and artifact of everyday practice and meaning making. The challenges and opportunities of qualitative inquiry into social media are relatively different from those of traditional fieldwork. In this paper, I discuss methodological issues related to conducting a qualitative analysis of the Twitter activity of five teacher activist groups. In the first half of the presentation, I describe the questions, challenges, and opportunities I had to consider in conducting a qualitative analysis of Twitter data. This discussion addresses the range of approaches to analyzing social media data, the challenges of tools and technology, and some ethical dilemmas I encountered (among other topics). In the second half of the presentation, I discuss how my decisions related to these varied challenges and opportunities played out in my data analysis and findings. As I describe the findings of my study, I reflect on the strengths and limitations of my approach, as well as alternative approaches I plan to take in a follow-up study. A contribution of this presentation is its potential to help other researchers anticipate the questions, challenges, and opportunities they may face in embarking on a qualitative analysis of social media data.
Keywords
social media, qualitative analysis of Twitter data, teacher activism
A qualitative analysis of Twitter activity among teacher activist groups: Questions, challenges, opportunities, and findings
1049
Qualitative researchers are increasingly recognizing social media as both context and artifact of everyday practice and meaning making. The challenges and opportunities of qualitative inquiry into social media are relatively different from those of traditional fieldwork. In this paper, I discuss methodological issues related to conducting a qualitative analysis of the Twitter activity of five teacher activist groups. In the first half of the presentation, I describe the questions, challenges, and opportunities I had to consider in conducting a qualitative analysis of Twitter data. This discussion addresses the range of approaches to analyzing social media data, the challenges of tools and technology, and some ethical dilemmas I encountered (among other topics). In the second half of the presentation, I discuss how my decisions related to these varied challenges and opportunities played out in my data analysis and findings. As I describe the findings of my study, I reflect on the strengths and limitations of my approach, as well as alternative approaches I plan to take in a follow-up study. A contribution of this presentation is its potential to help other researchers anticipate the questions, challenges, and opportunities they may face in embarking on a qualitative analysis of social media data.
Comments
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