Abstract
This chapter discusses a research project which explored the everyday use of the social network site (SNS) Facebook by first-year undergraduate students in their transition to university. It not only explores the opportunities and challenges of using Facebook as a research site and how this digital approach may differ from a ‘mainstream’ ethnography, but also argues for this approach to be viewed as ‘mainstream’ due to the mediated nature of contemporary social life.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Bailey, C. (2007) A Guide to Qualitative Field Research. California: Pine Forge Press.
Beer, D. and Burrows, R. (2007) ‘Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: some initial considerations’, Sociological Research Online, 12(5), http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/5/17/html, date accessed 20 March 2009.
Boellstorff, T. (2008) Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Boellstorff, T., Nardi, B., Pearce, C. and Taylor, T.L. (2012) Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
boyd, d. (2008) ‘How an qualitative Internet researchers define the boundaries of their projects: A response to Christine Hine’, in A. Markham and N. Baym (eds.) Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method. London: Sage, pp.26–32.
Buchanan, E.A. (2011) ‘Internet research ethics: Past, present, and future’, The Handbook of Internet Studies, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp.83–108.
CLEX (2009). Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World. Report of an Independent Committee of Inquiry into the Impact on Higher Education of Students’ Widespread use of Web 2.0 Technologies, http://www.clex.org.uk, date accessed 12 May 2009.
Crooks, R.N. (2013) ‘The Rainbow Flag and the Green Carnation: Grindr in The Gay Village’, First Monday, 18(11), http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4958/3790.
Davies, J. (2012) ‘Facework on Facebook as a new literacy practice’, Computers and Education, 59(1), 19–29.
Delamont, S. (2004) ‘Ethnography and participant observation’, in C. Seale, G. Gobo and J. Gubrium (eds.) Qualitative Research Practices, London: Sage, pp.217–29.
Ellison, N. B. and boyd, d. (2013) ‘Sociality through Social Network Sites’, in W. H. Dutton (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.151–72.
Facebook (2013) Asset and Logo Guidelines March 2013 (Lightweight version), http://3835642c2693476aa717d4b78efce91b9730bcca725cf9bb0b37.r51.cf1.rackcdn.com/FB_MarketGuide_Light.pdf, date accessed 25 October 2013.
Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1983) Ethnography: Principles in Practice, London: Tavistock.
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (2007) Ethnography. Principles in Practice (3rd edition). Abingdon: Routledge.
Ipsos MORI (2008) ‘Great expectations of ICT’, JISC, http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/greatexpectations.aspx, date accessed 15 May 2009.
Hine, C. (2000) Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage.
Hine, C. (ed.) (2005) Virtual Methods. London: Berg Publishers.
Hine, C. (2007) ‘Connective ethnography for the exploration of e-Science’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(2), 618–34.
Kirschner, P.A. and Karpinski, A.C. (2010) ‘Facebook®and academic performance’, Computers in Human Behaviour, 26(6), 1237–45.
Kozinets, R. (2010) Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. London: Sage.
Leander, K.M. and McKim, K.K. (2003) ‘Tracing the everyday “sitings” of adolescents on the Internet: A strategic adaptation of ethnography across online and offline spaces’, Education, Communication and Information, 3(2), 211–40.
Madden, R. (2010) Being Ethnographic. A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Ethnography. London: Sage.
Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J. and Hooley, T. (2009) ‘Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: “It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work”’, Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 141–55.
Markham, A. (2005) ‘The methods, politics, and ethics of online ethnography’, in N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd edition). London: Sage, pp.247–84.
Murthy, D. (2008) ‘Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research’, Sociology, 42(5), 837–55.
Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010) ‘Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook’, First Monday, 15(1), http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432.
Robinson, L. and Schulz, J. (2009) ‘New avenues for sociological inquiry: Evolving forms of ethnographic practice’, Sociology, 43(4), 685–98.
Sade-Beck, L. (2004) ‘Internet ethnography: Online and offline’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(2), 45–51.
Sanjek, R. (1990) Fieldnotes: The Makings of Anthropology. London: Cornell University.
Selwyn, N. (2009) ‘Faceworking: exploring students’ education-related use of Facebook’, Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 157–74.
Selwyn, N. and Grant, L. (2009) ‘Researching the realities of social software use — an introduction’, Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 1–9.
Stirling, E. (2009) We all communicate on Facebook. A case of undergraduates’ use and non-use of the Facebook group, MA Dissertation, University of Sheffield.
Stirling, E. (2014) Why waste your time on Facebook?: A temporal analysis of first-year undergraduate students and transition in UK Higher Education, PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield.
Taylor, T.L. (2006) ‘Does WoW change everything? How a PvP server, multinational player base, and surveillance mod scene caused me pause’, Games and Culture, 1(4), 318–37.
Vie, S. (2008) ‘Digital Divide 2.0: “Generation M” and online social networking sites in the composition classroom’, Computers and Composition, 25(1), 9–23.
Vitak, J., Lampe, C., Gray, R. and Ellison, N.B. (2012) ‘Why won’t you be my Facebook friend?: Strategies for managing context collapse in the workplace’, in Proceedings of the 2012 iConference, ACM, pp.555–7.
Wolf, M. (1992) A Thrice-Told Tale: Feminism, Postmodernism and Ethnographic Responsibility. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 Eve Stirling
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stirling, E. (2016). ‘I’m Always on Facebook!’: Exploring Facebook as a Mainstream Research Tool and Ethnographic Site. In: Snee, H., Hine, C., Morey, Y., Roberts, S., Watson, H. (eds) Digital Methods for Social Science. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137453662_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137453662_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-55862-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-45366-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)