Chapter

Studying social actors: Some thoughts on ethics.

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

We live in a country, in which ethical review boards have stringent expectations of what they believe ethical research is. While we certainly have a critical stance towards review boards’ notions of ethics, as researchers, we are firmly grounded in research ethics. Applying for, and receiving, ethical approval for research projects can be a challenging and drawn out process in any instance. Yet, this can be multiplied many times when researchers aim to study and video tape naturally occurring interactions, and/or want to work with children, youth, and populations that ethics boards consider vulnerable. Some of these considerations we agree with, such as young children; and some of these we disagree with, such as pregnant women. Notions of vulnerability and informed consent are discussed throughout this chapter. In the worst-case scenario, researchers are put off from conducting research that involves applying for ethics approval. But, in the best-case scenario, the process of applying for ethics approval helps the researchers design a better research project, by considering issues from a participant perspectives. Since we cannot evade ethical approval for our studies in New Zealand, we tend to take this time to work through true ethical dilemmas that could arise in the study that we are proposing. This article outlines some of our thinking regarding a new project that we are embarking on, where we will investigate video conferencing between family members. For the families, we are looking at a young family with at least one Baby or very young child and their interaction with other family members via video conferencing.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.

... In order to enact these principles participants were treated as co-researchers. Pirini, Norris, Geenen & Matelau (2014) explain the benefits of treating participants in this way. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
This thesis examines the construction of hybrid and fluid ethnic identity elements as produced by Māori and Pacific female artists. Ethnic identity studies within New Zealand reveal different types of ethnic identities, and although there is research being conducted into hybrid and fluid Māori and Pacific identity elements, no studies have been done examining the construction of these identities through mediated action. This thesis attempts to fill this gap. Using video ethnography and socio-linguistic interviews, data were collected and analysed utilising multimodal (inter)action analysis (MIA) as the theoretical and methodological framework. Vertical identity production and site of engagement are analytical tools within MIA that allow for the study of the intersection between discourses and mediated actions performed by social actors. These analytical tools were applied to interview and video transcripts selected from the data, following a systematic process of data cataloguing. Analysis of the data is presented in three chapters which show the ethnic and creative identity production of the participants as constructed through the central, intermediary and outer layers of discourse. The first analysis chapter demonstrates the way the participants create art by blending traditional and contemporary features and diverse knowledge, in turn constructing their immediate ethnic and creative identity elements. This analysis is compared to the way the participants verbalise these identity elements within their interviews. The second analysis chapter examines the way experiences of exclusion and inclusion from within their networks shape their continuous ethnic and creative identity elements. The third analysis chapter explores moments of exclusion and inclusion but within larger communities such as mainstream New Zealand, and their ethnic communities. It also illustrates the way in which the participants’ art creates inclusion and shapes the general ethnic and creative identity development of other social actors. Following this, wider discourses and practices are examined using the site of engagement as the analytical tool. This chapter demonstrates the way in which wider discourses such as colonial, superiority/inferiority and racism discourse intersect with practices such as superiority/inferiority, gratitude, and marginalisation and with the mediated actions performed by the participants. This analysis highlights the negative impact these discourses and practices can have on ethnic identity construction for Māori and Pacific social actors. To this end, numerous recommendations are made within the conclusion with the intention of changing these wider discourses and practices. This thesis contributes to knowledge in the area of Māori and Pacific identity studies by utilising multimodal (inter)action analysis to study identity production. It also contributes to the theoretical and methodological framework of multimodal (inter)action analysis.
... Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis (Matelau, 2014;Norris, 2004Norris, , 2011Norris, , 2013Norris & Pirini, 2017;Pirini, 2014aPirini, , 2014bPirini, , 2016Pirini, , 2017Pirini, Norris, Geenen, & Matelau, 2014) is a holistic approach to the analysis of multimodal action and interaction. With its strongest theoretical origins in Mediated Discourse Analysis (Scollon, 1998(Scollon, , 2001, the framework embraces the mediated action, defined as a social actor acting with/through mediational means (Scollon, 1998(Scollon, , 2001Wertsch, 1998) as a unit of analysis. ...
Chapter
This chapter introduces the five most prominent approaches to multimodal data analysis: Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis, Mediated Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Social Semiotics, and Multimodal Conversation Analysis. The chapter begins by discussing the origin of each approach, methods of data collection and analysis, and embedded theoretical foundations. The theoretical differences between the approaches are then examined with a focus on the way each approach treats the individual, the artefact, and the notion of mode during analysis. With the variety of available approaches to multimodal data analysis, it is important that researchers link data collection and analysis to coherent theoretical underpinnings.
Article
Full-text available
The construction of Samoan identity in New Zealand is shaped by complex historical and contemporary social, economic, cultural and political factors. In addition, New Zealand-born Samoans are negotiating an ethnic and identity that incorporates their experience with the intergenerational stories and cultural knowledge of their ancestors. Such cultural and identity negotiations are occurring through the practice of Siva Samoa, Samoan dance. Using Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis we conduct a micro analysis of two excerpts of video data involving female Samoan dancers rehearsing for a dance showcase. Vertical identity production (Norris, S. (2011). Identity in (inter)action: introducing multimodal (inter)action analysis. Berlin and Boston: Mouton: 179, 2020:85) is used as a framework to analyze the multiple layers of discourse within each site of engagement that shape the construction of Samoan Identity for the participants involved.
Article
This exploratory study investigates the influence of teachers’ perception of students’ socio economic position (SEP) on the disciplinary practices they adopt in classrooms. Qualitative data were collected using classroom observations and interviews with students, their parents and teachers. Findings highlight differentiated disciplinary practices based on students perceived SEPs. Significant differences were evident in classroom observations and students’ description of their disciplinary experiences. Differences were also manifested in parents’ description of teachers’ interactions with both students and parents. Findings also indicate that teachers’ social class has no bearing on parents’ perceptions of teachers’ attitudes towards them. However, from the parents’ viewpoint, their SEP may explain teachers’ varied interactions towards parents and students from diverse backgrounds. Findings further indicate the implicit play of hierarchy and power within classroom settings was not lost on students who in turn engaged in the same manner during peer interactions.
Article
This article develops a new methodological tool, called scales of action, which allows the empirical investigation of ubiquitous actions such as driving on the one hand, and the highly complex relationships between (for example) drives and other actions in everyday life on the other hand. Through empirical analysis of ethnographic data of drives performed by a German artist and an American IT specialist, the article illustrates how talk and driving are embedded differently in different cultural contexts. Examining the actions of the two drivers before, during, and after a drive further demonstrates that chronologically performed actions are not necessarily sequential in nature. Using a mediated discourse theoretical approach and building upon multimodal (inter)action analysis, the article provides analysts with a tool that captures the inherent complexities of everyday actions. Through the notion of scales of action and their composition, this article sheds new light upon the complexity and cultural differences of drives and car talk in middle class Germany and North America.
Article
In this paper, we argue that information researchers should use images as a source of data. The information systems field is overwhelmingly visual in nature. Not only is the Internet crammed with images, but also almost every detail observed during fieldwork in different research settings can be captured in the form of digital images. Yet, we rarely engage with those images. Except for sporadic video recordings in analyzing human-computer interaction and, more recently, neurophysiological imaging, using images in information systems research has been sparse and non-systematic. Where images are used, the purpose of using them has been largely restricted to visually representing the context of the research setting. This approach underuses the knowledge embedded in visual material, which needs to be unpacked in a systematic fashion. We discuss the theoretical underpinnings of visual research and illustrate via a three-step framework how images in information systems research can be collected, analyzed, and presented. We conclude with four considerations for researchers that can help them develop a visual research capacity in information systems and encourage researchers to engage with the images that are now a major feature of the information systems environment. © 2015 Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved.
Conference Paper
In this paper we make the case of using photographs as a source of data for interpretive research in the information systems field, especially for ethnographic accounts. We treat photographs as knowledge objects and examine the richness of content and context they offer. Based on experiences from anthropology and sociology, we contend that photographs should be used along with other sources of data, not only during the analysis stage but also be included in the conventional written report. We analyze the researcher's role along three moments of research: during the fieldwork as an image maker, during the analysis stage as an image analyzer and during the writing up as an image presenter. A study on the transmission of information and use of computers in rural communities in Peru is used to explain the use of photographs along these moments of research.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.