Digital methods in a post-API environment

ABSTRACT

Qualitative and mixed methods digital social research often relies on gathering and storing social media data through the use of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). In past years this has been relatively simple, with academic developers and researchers using APIs to access data and produce visualisations and analysis of social networks and issues. In recent years, API access has become increasingly restricted and regulated by corporations at the helm of social media networks. Facebook (the corporation) has restricted academic research access to Facebook (the social media platform) along with Instagram (a Facebook-owned social media platform). Instead, they have allowed access to sources where monetisation can easily occur, in particular, marketers and advertisers. This leaves academic researchers of digital social life in a difficult situation where API related research has been curtailed. In this paper we describe some rationales and methodologies for using APIs in social research. We then introduce some of the major events in academic API use that have led to the prohibitive situation researchers now find themselves in. Finally, we discuss the methodological and ethical issues this produces for researchers and, suggest some possible steps forward for API related research.     

Exploring types of interference between work and non-work: using a diary study approach

Studies of work and family issues have used predominately between-subject cross-sectional designs. While some researchers have called for more longitudinal studies, others have suggested that a more strategic way forward for the field is the use of daily diary studies (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992). This study explores different types of interference between work and non-work domains, using a diary study methodology. This study consisted of a two-week diary study among 12 Irish employees. Analysis involved a two-step procedure involving both content analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results indicated that while individuals reported strain-based and time-based interference, evidence was also found of interference concerning persistent and intrusive thoughts. Despite some limitations to the study, this paper demonstrates that diary studies represent an opportunity for researchers to explore work and non-work experiences in a sensitive and ecologically valid way.     

Negotiating with Gatekeepers in Research with Disadvantaged Children: A Case Study of Children of Mothers with Intellectual Disability

Child‐oriented researchers have long recognised children's right to be heard in research about their lives and, as experts about childhood, their perspectives should inform social policy and research. While it is encouraging that more children are consulted about matters of importance to them, some children's voices remain silenced. When researchers have to liaise with adults, such as parents and social workers, to recruit children, these adults make decisions about who participates. An account of recruiting children of mothers with intellectual disability, a potentially disadvantaged group, is presented. The reasons for gatekeeping and the implications of this are explored.     

Reactive oxygen species and aging: evolving questions

Over the past 50 years, reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been investigated as putative mediators of the process of aging. As specific genes and pathways that are involved with ROS homeostasis have been linked to aging in lower organisms, such as Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila, the questions of how ROS regulate aging in higher organisms, and whether they do so to the same extent as in lower organisms, have emerged.     

The Use of Mother Tongue in Second Language Teaching

From the beginning of the 1980 s, more and more attention on the use of mother tongue in second language teaching have been conducted which has been once neglected for a long time. The role of the first language in second language classrooms is always a controversial issue in applied linguistics. Some researchers have believed that teachers should fully use the target language in the classroom. However, many researchers have realized that the mother tongue plays a unique role in second language teaching practice. Based on the previous studies, this thesis aims to explore the influence of using mother tongue in second language teaching, so that the author will provide some helpful implications to assist in Chinese practical teaching.     

Multilevel models for social networks: Hierarchical Bayesian approaches to exponential random graph modeling

In many applications, researchers may be interested in studying patterns of dyadic relationships that involve multiple groups, with a focus on modeling the systematic patterns within groups and how these structural patterns differ across groups. A number of different models – many of them potentially quite powerful – have been developed that allow for researchers to study these differences. However, as with any set of models, these are limited in ways that constrain the types of questions researchers may ask, such as those involving the variance in group-wise structural features. In this paper, we demonstrate some of the ways in which multilevel models based on a hierarchical Bayesian approach might be used to further develop and extend existing exponential random graph models to address such constraints. These include random coefficient extensions to the standard ERGM for sets of multiple unconnected or connected networks and examples of multilevel models that allow for the estimation of structural entrainment among connected groups. We demonstrate the application of these models to real-world and simulated data sets.     

Epistemological inclusiveness in researching the African American community

Abstract

African American communities have experienced negative effects from a history of medical abuse, lack of proper research procedures, and misinterpretations of study findings because of racism. These past injustices have led to a mistrust of research and researchers. This paper focuses on how some methodological challenges, in a study funded by a National Institutes of Health grant on two low-income African American communities in Kentucky, were mediated through the collaboration of a multi-racial/ethnic team of researchers engaged in cross-disciplinary research. The information for this paper is based on the reflections of key members of the research team. The reflections show that having researchers with different epistemologies resulted in a culturally aware and sensitive study in which emic and etic research approaches were adopted. The inclusion of race-based epistemologies and close community ties were found to be particularly useful in building trust and getting the support of the two communities. However, these outcomes were only possible because research team members provided each other latitude for intellectual freedom and leadership.     

On the Outside Looking In? The Experience of Being a Straight,Cisgender Qualitative Researcher

Research with disenfranchised and marginalized populations is often completed by those traditionally considered outsiders who are not part of the studied population. The history of outsider research has been somewhat tumultuous, and some outsider researchers have manipulated participants or carried out unethical studies. However, the insider/outsider dichotomy is overly simplistic and does not always accurately reflect the researcher position. Using lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals as an example, this article will review the literature on insider/outsider researchers, suggest a more fluid concept of researcher positionality, and identify several recommendations for qualitative researchers.     

Working at a marginal 'career': the case of UK social science contract researchers

Contract researchers constitute a significant occupational group within the UK higher education system, and the products of their labour are crucial to the research profile of the institutions in which they work and to the sector as a whole. Given the ‘marginality’ of the contract researcher role, with its attendant insecurities and inferior employment conditions in comparison with ‘permanent’ faculty, it is perhaps not surprising that relatively few individuals manage to sustain any continuity of employment resembling a career path. The fact that some researchers do succeed in achieving this is therefore worthy of investigation. This paper examines and charts some of the ways in which contract researchers manage their everyday work routines and construct a presentation of self in order to maximise opportunities for ‘staying in the game’.     

Participant engagement in environmentally focused social network research

Environmentally focused social network analysis (Env. SNA) has increasingly benefited from engagement, which refers to the process of incorporating the individuals, organizations, actors, stakeholders or other study participants into the research process. Research about engagement in the wider field of environmental management shows that successful engagement often requires significant planning and exchange among researchers and stakeholders. While there is no one size fits all approach, several important guiding principles have been established. To date, this engagement literature has not focused specifically on SNA, even though several examples of engaged SNA exist in the literature and point to some specific challenges to engagement when working with relational data. Drawing upon data from a survey of researchers who have incorporated engagement into Env. SNA, we focus specifically on the goals, scope, effectiveness, benefits and challenges of doing engaged Env. SNA research. We additionally highlight four case studies and demonstrate that researchers and participants find engagement to be a valuable experience with benefits in the researchers’ understanding of the context and meaning of their findings. Finally, we provide recommendations to scholars looking to embark on engaged Env. SNA research.     

Normalisation, Emancipatory Research and Inclusive Research in Learning Disability

In this article I set out to trace the influence of two major sets of ideas: normalisation/srv, and the social model of disability on inclusive research in learning disability. The argument is that normalisation set the agenda for learning disability research for two or more decades. Inclusive researchers continue to apply normalisation thinking to work with people with learning difficulties, particularly in assuming the role of advocate - offering people the opportunity to take on valued social roles and assuming responsibility for promoting positive images. Latterly, a number of researchers have tried to rise to the challenges posed by emancipatory research, particularly in attempting to find ways to put people with learning difficulties in control. This illustrates the influence of thinking emanating from disability studies. However, the paper shows that whilst some ideas from emancipatory research have been applied in learning disability, there are debates in the disability literature that have not been addressed in learning disability research to date. The result is that inclusive research in learning disability is in danger of being marginalised, both in the context of disability studies and in the context of the broad sweep of learning disability research.     

An empirical analysis of alleged misunderstandings of coefficient alpha

Cronbach’s alpha is the most frequently used measure to investigate the reliability of measurement instruments. Despite its frequent use, many warn for misinterpretations of alpha. These claims about regular misunderstandings, however, are not based on empirical data. To understand how common such beliefs are, we conducted a survey study to test researchers’ knowledge of and beliefs about alpha. For this survey, we selected authors from recent papers, in which alpha was used. The results provide empirical evidence for the claims that researchers have difficulty interpreting alpha in a proper way. At the same time, we expounded the claims, by showing that whereas some beliefs are fairly typical, others are not so often seen. This non-technical paper, aimed at both statisticians and substantive researchers, is concluded by providing a few suggestions that could be helpful to get us out of the current stalemate regarding the usability of alpha and its alternatives.     

Risky Sexual Behavior Among Young Adult Latinas: Are Acculturation and Religiosity Protective?

A sexual health disparity exists among U.S. Latinas, who have rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that are more than double their peers. Previous research has identified acculturation and religiosity as key social determinants of sexual health, but such findings have been inconsistent, with some researchers identifying protective benefits and other researchers noting increased risk. The purpose of this study was to explain how intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity as well as acculturation predict risky sexual behavior using Structural Equation Modeling of a nationally representative sample of self-identified Latinas (N = 1,168) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. Results indicated that intrinsic religiosity and acculturation assert protective effects while extrinsic religiosity increases risk. Recommendations for policy, intervention, and future research are offered.     

Algebraic Representations of Beliefs and Attitudes Ii: Microbelief Models For Dichotomous Belief Data

It may often be the case that the beliefs about which survey researchers query respondents are composed of discrete components, such that holding all of the components isnecessary to give a "yes" response. Simple logical relations, which some researchers have proposed may structure belief data, may obtain between these components, and not between the beliefs that are actually measured. This paper demonstrates that an algebraic inversion of a data matrix, first used in test theory by Haertel and Wiley (1993), can be seen as a unique and interpretable decomposition that can recover information regarding the compositional formulas of the measured beliefs as well as the logical relations between the unobserved components. The inversion is illustrated with a set of data from the GSS. Finally, the conditions under which related techniques are then helpful or not helpful for analyzing survey data are discussed.     

The impact of involuntary job loss on those disabled by society: a pilot study to encourage effective participation

Over half of the people who become disabled whilst employed are thought to be pressured into leaving their job. This study investigates the experience of involuntary retirement/redundancy due to disability. Three researchers who had all experienced such involuntary job loss were trained to conduct the research. Semi-structured interviews were designed and conducted by disabled researchers. The training of the researchers enabled them to successfully conduct a research project. The results of the project show the impact of involuntary job loss due to disability to be considerable. This study would suggest that government reforms to create new opportunities for disabled people of a working age are well overdue. Although there were some problems experienced with the amount of training required and the lack of objectivity, training disabled researchers to conduct research proved to be a valuable experience for both the researchers and the facilitators.     

Turning sexual science into news: sex research and the media.

In this article we report on the findings of a two-part project investigating contemporary issues in sexuality researchers' interaction with journalists. The goal of the project was to explore best practices and suggest curricular and training initiatives for sexuality researchers and journalists that would enhance the accurate dissemination of sexuality research results in the media. We present the results of a survey of a convenience sample of 94 sexuality researchers about their experiences and concerns regarding media coverage and a summary of the main themes that emerged from an invitational conference of sexuality researchers and journalists. In addition, we present some preliminary recommendations for training and best practices. Topics assessed include reporting accuracy; sex researchers' comfort with various topics, media, and journalists; researchers' perceptions of the purpose and content of articles; concern about the impact of media coverage; and training for sexuality researchers.     

Qualitative research and the computer

This paper explores some of the possibilities of using computers in qualitative research. The common association of computing with quantitative procedures in social science is a very narrow and restricted way of thinking about them. In fact, the predominant use of computers in social science is in text-processing and record-managing tasks, many of which are very similar to the kinds of clerical work which qualitative researchers have traditionally performed for themselves. Recent developments in computing technology have aroused interest in the possibility of using computing as a means to support qualitative research (e.g., Werner, 1982; Drass, 1980; Becker and Gordon, 1984). This paper is not concerned with the details of developing the necessary programs. Rather, it outlines what such a system might do for researchers, and why. The first section makes some general points about qualitative research and introduces the metaphor of the computer as a clerk for organizing, indexing, and retrieving notes. The second section presents a series of specific features which a working computer system might have. The third section discusses current prospects for the development of such systems.The author is grateful to Howard Becker, Nan Chico, Arnold Goldfein, and Anselm Strauss for their encouragement, advice, and suggestions.     

Research note The study of sensitive subjects

This note examines some research issues raised by studies of sensitive topics and the disclosure of highly personal and confidential information. The first part focuses on the research method of in-depth interviewing and covers some theoretical and methodological problems associated with the method, together with a discussion of some strategies adopted by researchers and respondents in the interview setting. The second part discusses some of the hazards of this type of research and argues for the need to protect respondents and researchers alike. These issues are discussed with reference to the author's own fieldwork experiences of three research projects.