Virtual & Visual: Performing the Online Interview
You can view a recording of the presentation I made at The Qualitative Report 2012 conference, and download a Handout for Visual and Virtual Interviews with references.

Please use the comment area to post questions or to share links to other resources relevant visual e-interviews.

What: Introduction to E-Interview Research. A webinar with Janet Salmons and contributors to Cases in Online Interview Research, with a focus on research design and the E-Interview Research Framework.

When: Tuesday, February 21, 12pm Pacific (see your time zone)

Where: SCoPE Blackboard Collaborate room

This is an open invitation so please spread the word!

Log in and introduce yourself for the  SCoPE Professional Reading Seminar!

Join Cases in Online Interview Research contributors and me for a 2-week Professional Reading seminar on SCoPE, February 20 – March 3, 2012.  The seminar will include synchronous events (recorded for later viewing) to launch and to close the asynchronous discussion.

No event registration required. SCoPE  seminars are free and open to the public. Since the seminar will focus on Cases in Online Interview Research you will want to have a copy– so order it in advance of the seminar. It is available from Sage Publications and your favorite booksellers.

The seminar will be shaped by the active participants, so we may spend more time on cases or your areas of interest. This lively event will be of interest to researchers or those who teach and guide others’ research, faculty as well as students.

SCoPE accounts  (free)  are needed if participants want to customize their visits/profile and contribute to forum discussions.

Here is an outline of the Professional Reading Seminar:

Opening Webinar: “Introduction to E-Interview Research”
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 12pm Pacific/GMT -8 hours. (see your time zone)

February 20-25

• Part 1. Framework for E-Interview Research: We will explore the 8 inter-related categories of key questions about online interview research that serves as is the organizational principle for the book. We’ll explore the implications for planning to conduct research interviews online, or teaching/guiding student researchers. We’ll discuss Chapter 1.
• Part 2. Interviews and Postings: Conducting Research with Social Media
  Q & A and discussion about Chapters 2 and 3.
• Part 3. Interviews and Observations: Conducting Research in Immersive Virtual Worlds
  Q & A and discussion about Chapters 4 – 7.

February 27-March 3

• Part 4: Visual and Verbal Interviews: Conducting Research in Meeting or Videoconference Spaces
  Q & A and discussion about Chapters 8-11.
• Part 5: Online Interviews in Your Research:  We’ll discuss Chapter 12.

Cases in Online Interview Research is available from Sage Publications and your favorite bookseller

 Ethical theory explained by academics in the field:

• Ethics: http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/
• Ethical Theories Compared:  http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/intro/ethical_theories.html

Online Journals and Resources:

• Business Ethics Links Library http://libnet.colorado.edu/Bell/Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies (also free online): http://ejbo.jyu.fi/index.html
• Ethics Video Series from the Academy of Management: http://strategicplan.aomonline.org/announcements/ethics-video-series
• Institute of Business Ethics “Establishing a Code of Ethics – Practical Guidance” http://www.ibe.org.uk/index.asp?upid=57&msid=11. You can select from the companies listed on this page: http://www.ibe.org.uk/index.asp?upid=64&msid=11
• Markkula Center for Applied Ethics http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business
• Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE) http://www.corporatecompliance.org/about/about.htm

“Studying the (Virtual) World of (Virtual) Work”  will be the topic of discussion at the Applied Research in Virtual Environments for Learning with Jonathon Richter (Wainbrave Bernal) and Janet Salmons (Soleil Lemondrop) on Wed, March 21, 1pm  SLT.

Jonathan Richter will discuss his case study, “Learning to Work In-World: Conducting Qualitative Research in Virtual Worlds Using In-Depth Interviews,” and Janet Salmons will explain how she critiqued this case using the E-Interview Research Framework. They will answer questions about designing, conducting and reviewing research that uses interview data collected in virtual worlds.

The discussion will draw from the new book: Cases in Online Interview Research. Also, see the related article on e-interviews in virtual worlds in the recent ARVEL newsletter.

Get in your avatar and join us! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/CAVE/34/197/35

Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference

Photo credit: MarbleStreetStudio.com

QRM  will be welcoming participants from the US, UK, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Sweden, Finland and Norway, and from disciplines including communication, management, information systems, accounting, family sciences, entrepreneurship, psychology and consulting. As with pastQRM conferences, your presentations will cover a wide range of methods, challenges and issues in qualitative research.

Online Interviews in Real Time and Cases in Online Interview research are now available as a discounted bundle.

These companion books offer the what, how-to and why of online interview research.

Online Interviews in Real Time offers the theoretical foundations, practical steps and examples researchers need to use visually-rich multi-media communications for scholarly interviews.

Cases in Online Interview Research  offers examples of studies that used online interview data, with an analytic Framework and analyses of each case.

These  Cases in Online Interview Research Assignment Ideas and assignments draw on Cases in Online Interview Research. Use them in a course on research methods, or a course where students complete a research project.

An Online Interviews and Cases Syllabus shows how you can use both of these books in a course. You can adapt the whole syllabus or use several units in another research methods course.

“Qualitative E-Interview Tips” includes handouts on practical issues for e-interview researchers.

I am conducting a  study about women entrepreneurs and communications technologies. In what ways does online communication and collaboration influence the options women see for themselves and their businesses? I am interested in how women entrepreneurs use which technology, as well as the kinds of collaborative practices that emerge.

I am interested in businesses where online communication is used to promote, develop or sell “real world” goods and services (like real estate, landscaping/gardening or health care) as well as businesses where online communication is used to promote, develop or sell “cyberspace” goods and services (online teaching, facilitating, consulting, designing avatars or Facebook games, etc.)

I am interested in communications technologies, not writing, accounting or productivity software. I am interested in use of synchronous (online meeting platforms, video calls or videoconferencing, chatting/texting, etc.) or asynchronous tools (Facebook, email, websites, forums, blogs/micoblogs, wikis, etc.). Since this is a qualitative study I am interested in experiences, thoughts, perceptions, ideas and feelings about what works and what is important in regard to communications technology and the business.

Interested in participating? Read the info posted here and use the comment form, or write me at jsalmons(at)vision2lead.com.

Interested in the project? Come back for ongoing reports….just click the Women E-Entrepreneurs category or find #einterview on Twitter.

Icon credit: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Special Interest Group in Applied Research in Virtual Environments for Learning (ARVEL) has a new newsletter, “SuperNews.” See my article in the current issue: ARVEL SuperNews Fall 2011.

The Digital Scholar: How Technology Is Transforming Scholarly Practice , by Martin Weller, is published by Bloomsbury Academic. It is available from Amazon or you can read it online.

While industries such as music, newspapers, film and publishing have seen radical changes in their business models and practices as a direct result of new technologies, higher education has so far resisted the wholesale changes we have seen elsewhere. However, a gradual and fundamental shift in the practice of academics is taking place. Every aspect of scholarly practice is seeing changes effected by the adoption and possibilities of new technologies. This book will explore these changes, their implications for higher education, the possibilities for new forms of scholarly practice and what lessons can be drawn from other sectors.

A webcast of the book launch is online here.

This book explores the broader context and poses important questions about scholarly work in the information age– including researching, writing, disseminating new knowledge. Author Martin Weller also points out a number of areas where these new forms of scholarly work clash with the status quo of academia and publishing.

I particularly enjoyed these two chapters:

• The Nature of Scholarship
• Researchers and New Technology

However (naturally!) I think more attention can be given to the potential for online data collection– beyond the use of data sets, articles for the literature review, or results of online surveys. Certainly “digital scholars” who use online interviews, focus groups, or observation/participant observation are as well re-defining the nature of scholarship in a digital world.