This course will begin by introducing students to the different kinds of online research methods. These methods will include content analysis, online interviews,
cyber-ethnography, and social media analytics. The course will discuss the significance of the “digital space” and how this space is becoming a crucial juncture of research methods. In this workshop series, students will be taught to use these different digital research methods for data collection. Subsequently, they will be taught how to transcribe, analyse, and interpret this data. Finally, this course will also engage with the question of ethics and how to navigate researchers’ bias in different digital spaces.

This course is meant to provide a hands-on experience to teach students how to use digital spaces as mediums of data. Students will be given assignments in class and receive direct feedback on their assignments. These assignments will particularly train students in digital methodologies and interpretation, and how to convert this data and analysis into a publication.

Assignment 1: Students write a Methodology section stating how they will do data collection and analysis in digital spaces (500 words)

Assignment 2: Students will be asked to do some form of data collection through online sources and write an analysis section (500 words)