What are my options?

There are many different ways that digital media can be used as methods for gathering research data. For example:

• Online surveys using tools such as SurveyMonkey and Wufoo.
• Online ethnography in which data is gathered by researchers spending time in pre-existing online spaces.
• Observational methods such as the use of video in psychological and ethnographic studies.
• Interviews and focus groups in which digital media are used as a focus for discussion, and/or to record interactions or outputs (text, photos, audio, video).
• Mobile methods using portable devices and GPS to gather data as people move around particular places, sites or landscapes.
• Participatory methods in which participants take photographs, make blog posts, videos, sound diaries, animations and other kinds of media.
• Digital story telling in which participants use audio and visual media to share their ideas, experiences and life stories.
• Secondary analysis of the vast quantities of digital data that already exist.

Annotated bibliography: using digital media