Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

6. Methodology
Introduction
This chapter aims to outline the overall methodological framework that I build for the study of the
collaborative design processes in VWs, and the empirical procedures that I used to produce,
categorize, and interpret the qualitative data from the three case studies in SL. In this chapter I also
outline and discuss my methodological reasoning for using a multiple case study approach, the
strategies for sampling the three collaborative design cases, and the relevance of the analytical
matrix to the previously outlined theoretical and analytical frameworks.
First, the chapter presents an account of the overall methodological background in reference to the
qualitative research framework, and sets out the operational research questions in reference to the
aforementioned epistemological convergence of socio-semiotic and designerly ways of
understanding virtual places. I draw insights from the empirical perspectives of material semiotics
and grounded theory methods (GTM) as methodological bridges to the aforementioned analytical
framework, which combines multimodal analysis of virtual places with the analysis of the nexus of
actors, places and practices of place-making. I will argue the use of GTM in relation to the
Abductive method of inference, which allows the researcher to develop a more reflexive mode of
scientific reasoning. Secondly, the chapter turns to a discussion of the research design. Here, I will
elaborate on the methods that I have used to observe co-designer interactions in the three case
studies, and the strategies that I have developed for sampling and production of the data. In this
section, I will discuss issues on execution, analysis and presentation of observations from virtual
ethnography, participant observation, and co-designer interviews. Finally, the chapter ends with
discussions on reflexivity, limitations, ethical considerations and intended methodological
contributions. Here I aim to justify my methodological discussions and the relevant issues about
validity and reliability of generalizations in relation to ‘double hermeneutic’ inference logic. Finally,
the chapter lays out my intentions for the central methodological contributions to the fields of
communication and media studies in VWs.
6.1. Relevant methodological perspectives to the social semiotic framework
The overall methodological framework of this PhD study is set within the interpretative systemicfunctional
approach to qualitative research. In the analytical framework, I have presented
discussions n the use of multimodal analysis (i.e. Kress and van Leeuwen 2001, van Leeuwen and
Jewitt 2001, van Leeuwen 2005, Jewitt 2009, Kress 2010) in combination with mediated discourse
analysis (MDA) (i.e. Norris and Jones 2005) in order to take the contexts and the products of
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