Do you want to study influencers? Opinions and comments on a set of
posts? Look at collections of photos or videos on Instagram?
Qualitative Research Using Social Media guides the reader in what
different kinds of qualitative research can be applied to social media
data. It introduces students, as well as those who are new to the field,
to developing and carrying out concrete research projects. The book
takes the reader through the stages of choosing data, formulating a
research question, and choosing and applying method(s).
Written in a clear and accessible manner with current social media
examples throughout, the book provides a step-by-step overview of a
range of qualitative methods. These are presented in clear ways to show
how to analyze many different types of social media content, including
language and visual content such as memes, gifs, photographs, and film
clips. Methods examined include critical discourse analysis, content
analysis, multimodal analysis, ethnography, and focus groups. Most
importantly, the chapters and examples show how to ask the kinds of
questions that are relevant for us at this present point in our
societies, where social media is highly integrated into how we live.
Social media is used for political communication, social activism, as
well as commercial activities and mundane everyday things, and it can
transform how all these are accomplished and even what they mean.
Drawing on examples from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook,
Snapchat, Reddit, Weibo, and others, this book will be suitable for
undergraduate students studying social media research courses in media
and communications, as well as other humanities such as linguistics and
social science-based degrees.
