‘Technological reflexivity’ in qualitative research design

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While reflexivity is a concept quite familiar to qualitative researchers, the idea of ‘technological reflexivity’ may be less so. Moving interviews to Zoom or using social media as a source of data is no longer unusual, but less attention is given to how these digital methods can impact qualitative methodologies and outcomes. Trena Paulus and Jessica Lester, authors of the Sage text, Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World, have recently published a framework to help guide scholars in doing exactly this.

In Digital qualitative research workflows: a reflexivity framework for technological consequences, published in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology, earlier this year, Paulus and Lester identify four categories in which digital tools and spaces have consequences for research design:  for the methods used, for the design of the technology, for the researchers and the participants, and for the types of knowledge outcomes produced.

Earlier this year, Lester and Paulus co-edited a special Qualitative Inquiry issue on the topic of digital workflows, available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10778004231163163. In the introduction to this issue, “Qualitative Inquiry in the 20/20s: Exploring the methodological consequences of digital research workflows” the co-editors noted that authors contributing this issue were asked to explore three questions: What theories should shape our engagement with the digital? How is the digital shifting how we conceptualize methodologies? How can researchers ethically work with/in inequities in technological access?

We are excited to share that Sage MethodSpace will be hosting a roundtable discussion with the authors of these papers in October. The video recording will be posted on Methodspace.

AI tools are the most recent iteration of technological innovation that will have enormous consequences for qualitative researchers. On October 31, The International Qualitative Research Network will be hosting Drs. Paulus and Lester in a webinar entitled, “Engaging in ‘technological reflexivity’ through ATLAS.ti”. Paulus and Lester will take this opportunity to work through their reflexivity framework in the context of the new Open AI integration with ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software. By attempting to consider both positive and negative, intended and possibly unintended consequences, researchers can prepare for the  impact and consequences of Open AI for their work.

For those who may desire a more in-depth look at these issues, Lester and Paulus are offering a half-day workshop on Creating Digital Qualitative Research Workflows seminars, via the InStats platform on October 20.

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