presentation on a method for conducting a qualitative research that examines bonds and discourse of activists online communities

1. Researching Online Communities
and Cyberactivism
Methodology
Shadi Abu-Ayyash

2. Research Questions
Examining:
Online Collective Unified Discourse
Identity
Bonds & Ties

3. Study Case: pro-Palestine Activists and Solidarity
Groups
1. Geographical basis: Ireland, Scotland & England

4. 2. Groups in Major Cities
• Example: Groups in Ireland

5. 3.On & Off-Campus Groups

6. 4. Online Activity
websites, blogs, email lists & social media

7. Interviews
-Semi-Structured-
• First Stage:
Pilot Interviews- September 2012: 8 Irish, Scottish
and English Activists
• Second Stage:
Large Scale Interviews-October 2012-Feb.2013

8. Questions Focus
- Offline Activism Element
- Online Activism Involvement
- Nature of Online Content
- Relation Among Cyber Activists
- Expressing Self-Identity and Collective
Identity Online

9. Online Surveys
• Participants:
Targeting university groups and activists who
are much more active online.
• Selection of participants will be based on:
- Internet Activity
- Gender
- Ethnic Background
- Level of University Education
* Using SurveyMonkey

10. Survey Questions
• Constancy of Online Activism
• Time & Effort Contributed to the Cause
Online
• Type of Online Content Posted:
- Organising offline/on ground activities?
- Exchange of Information?

11. Online Content Analysis
• Analysing content of:
- Groups Official Websites
- Content of Newsletter/Press Releases
- Social Media network Groups
- Activists Blogs

12. Online Content Analysis
• Selected Content posted in 2011, 2012 and
2013
• Considering:
- Major Political Events
- Level of Online and Offline Activities

13. Analysing Text, Image and Video
• Terms Used
• Source of Contents: Original, Shared or
Copied from Other Sources
• Does it express all members’ position(s)?
• Comments/replies:
- Positive
- Negative
- Neutral

14. Nvivo
• For organising qualitative data collected
from interviews (text & audio content)
online, and questionnaires
• Nvivo 10 would analyse social media and
webpages content

15. Visualising Data
• Mapping Major Groups in Ireland and Britain
• Online Connectivity Among Transnational Activist
• Online Relation Among Activists in Social Media
Networks
• Groups/Activists Level of Online Involvement

16. NodeXL
* Examining information exchange among activists who are
twittering /tweeting trending topics on Twitter
*Example of connection among users tweeting the phrase welcome2palestine

17. Gephi to visualise ties among FB group
members using Netvizz application
Example of Connectivity among Westminster University-Palestine solidarity
group members on Facebook

18. Expected Outcomes
• Emergence of Cyber Groups Collective
Identity
• Effect of Online Involvement on
Offline/Ground Activism
• What Decides the Strength of Ties Among
Online Activists: Topic, Geography,
Political Position, Level of Participation?

19. In short
RQs Bonds, Identity & Discourse
Data Interviews, Online Surveys & Online Content Analysis
Focus Groups Offline and Online Activity & Geography
Software Nvivo, SurveyMonkey, Gephi, Netvizz & NodeXl
Results 2014/2015

20. Useful Links
• Gephi: https://gephi.org/
• Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/
• Nvivo:http://www.nuigalway.ie/cs/staff/software/n
vivo.html
• Netvizz: http://apps.facebook.com/netvizz/
• NodeXl : http://nodexl.codeplex.com/

21. Thank You

Shadi Abu-Ayyash
Huston School of F & Digital M
ilm edia,
NUIG
shadi.abu-ayyash@nuigalway.ie
http://actdigital.wordpress.com/
@shadi3000