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

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Jan 18th, 11:00 AM Jan 18th, 11:20 AM

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.