AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

whether some participants did not bother to do this. Although messages can be prestored
on devices this can entail entering an extra level of programming. The other
consideration was that the scheduled class timetable slot was the usual one for
training to use the internet. The participants were keen to get online and speaking to
me (and then waiting for me) clearly tested their patience. Two of the four
participants lost interest and terminated the interviews.
3.6.2.5. Demonstrations
During the group meeting to build rapport and discuss strategies, two of the group
indicated they wanted to give me a demonstration of using the internet and online
social media. The demonstration data was unexpected and unplanned and I had to
adjust my thinking in relation to my previously outlined reservations about the ethical
nature of observation for internet related activities (section 3.3.3). In line with my
aspirations to follow feminist research principles (section 3.2.2.) which emphasise
sharing rather imposing meaning, I needed to negotiate this development with
subsequent participants and offer them this choice during their interviews. Five
participants, four of whom used integrated VOCAs and one who used an iPad, choose
to supplement their interview data by giving me demonstrations. I chose to restrain
the scope of how I recorded this data. I made field notes on the basis of the
explanation it offered about the participants’ use of social media, social ties and selfrepresentation
but did not record or read any information about the people I saw in
passing on the screen. I felt reading or recording details of social media content via a
process of ‘looking over the shoulder’ of someone who had permission to see that
information was not acceptable from a personal ethical stance.
3.6.2.6. Summary of data sources
The main data source was semi-structured interviews with additional data from field
notes including descriptions of participants’ demonstrations of using equipment, a
blog entry created specifically for the project and video recordings of the interviews
which illuminated non-verbal information missed in real time and policy documents
on social media. Table 5 illustrates the data sources and their quantity. The blog entry
was submitted by a participant whom it was not possible to meet up with. She was
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