FAM4043S- Digital Methods for Social Media Research

FAM4043S

DIGITAL METHODS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH

24 NQF credits at NQF level 8

Convener: A/Prof Marion Walton

Course entry requirements: Acceptance for an honours programme.

Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences increasingly relies on the analysis of visual media, often published and shared on social platforms. Computational and analytical skills in digital research methodologies are developed via a set project and scaffolded exercises which will equip students to approach certain “large qualitative” research questions, and help them to hone research questions focused on the role of visual social media content in user, company and branding practices, and in the interaction between platforms and publics. Exercises will guide students through (i) data collection using APIs, scrapers, still images and post metadata, (ii) sample construction and case study selection (iii) data cleaning and basic descriptive analysis and visualisation, (iv) documenting and motivating specific methodological decisions, (v) ethical decision-making throughout the project (vi) coding and query design for content analysis and/or qualitative visual analysis using NVivo and (vii) analysis and visualisation of the data using a range of computational and qualitative methods.