Resumen de Revisar la propia metodología para repensar el lugar de las fuentes digitales: un camino de apertura ante la cerrazón del campo

Violeta Ventura

• español

  Este artículo presenta una revisión de la metodología de mi investigación doctoral, en la cual las interacciones generadas en tres grupos de Facebook (FB) fueron recursos estructurantes. Perseguimos con ello dos objetivos. El primero, reponer el lugar de estas fuentes en la re-formulación del problema de investigación (y los consecuentes hallazgos) así como las dificultades que tuve para emplazarlas y jerarquizarlas como las principales herramientas de producción de datos. Buscamos además reponer los desafíos y las ventajas que impuso la fuente a lo largo de la investigación. El segundo objetivo es analizar la sinergia que se dio entre las fuentes digitales de información, las perspectivas analíticas y metodológicas adoptadas en la tesis. Para ello el trabajo se estructura en cincoapartados. En el primero recorro las coordenadas teóricas y analíticas de las que parte el artículo. En el segundo analizo el rol de las fuentes digitales en la estructuración de mi investigación doctoral. En el tercero expongo el modo en que trabajé con los grupos de FB prestando atención a la gestión operativa de los datos y el camino recorrido (intuitivamente) hasta llegar al enfoque metodológico empleado: la etnografía virtual (Hine, 2000; Airoldi, 2020; Pink, 2019; Hine, 2015). En el cuarto apartado se realiza un balance sobre la fuente centrándonos en los desafíos y virtudes que presentó durante la investigación. Por último analizo la sinergia que se dio entre las fuentes digitales de información, el enfoque etnográfico y la sociología pragmática-pragmatista. Sostendré al respecto que, aun en campos del conocimiento intrínsecamente territoriales como son los estudios urbanos, las fuentes digitales de información se vuelven recursos productivos. Con todo, el artículo no persigue la realización de reflexiones novedosas en el marco de discusiones ya avanzadas, sino poner en juego la propia experiencia en el trabajo de campo online a fin de aportar al acervo de meta-reflexiones sobre el trabajo con fuentes que hoy día —ante la abrupta cerrazón de nuestros campos— se presentan como una posibilidad de apertura.

  This article presents a review of the methodology of my doctoral thesis research, in which the interactions generated in three Facebook (FB) groups were structuring resources. We pursue two objectives. The first one, to reconstruct the place of these sources in the re-formulation of the research problem (and the consequent findings) as well as the difficulties I had to place and prioritize them as the main tools for data production. We also seek to reinstate the challenges and advantages imposed by the source throughout the research. The second objective is to analyze the synergy between the digital sources of information and the analytical and methodological perspectives adopted in the thesis. For this purpose, the work is structured in five sections. In the first, I review the theoretical and analytical coordinates from which the article starts. In the second, I analyze the role of digital sources in the structuring of my doctoral research. In the third, I explain how I worked with the FB groups, paying attention to the operational management of the data and the path I followed (intuitively) to arrive at the methodological approach used: virtual ethnography (Hine, 2000; Airoldi, 2020; Pink, 2019; Hine, 2015). The fourth section takes stock of the source by focusing on the challenges and virtues it presented during the research. Finally, I analyze the synergy that occurred between digital sources of information, the ethnographic approach and pragmatic-pragmatist sociology. I will argue that, even in intrinsically territorial fields of knowledge such as urban studies, digital information sources become productive resources. However, the article does not seek to make new reflections in the framework of already advanced discussions, but to bring into play my own experience in online fieldwork in order to contribute to the pool of meta-reflections on working with sources that today —in the face of the abrupt closure of our fields— are presented as a possibility of openness.

• English

  This article presents a review of the methodology of my doctoral thesis research, in which the interactions generated in three Facebook (FB) groups were structuring resources. We pursue two objectives. The first one, to reconstruct the place of these sources in the re-formulation of the research problem (and the consequent findings) as well as the difficulties I had to place and prioritize them as the main tools for data production. We also seek to reinstate the challenges and advantages imposed by the source throughout the research. The second objective is to analyze the synergy between the digital sources of information and the analytical and methodological perspectives adopted in the thesis. For this purpose, the work is structured in five sections. In the first, I review the theoretical and analytical coordinates from which the article starts. In the second, I analyze the role of digital sources in the structuring of my doctoral research. In the third, I explain how I worked with the FB groups, paying attention to the operational management of the data and the path I followed (intuitively) to arrive at the methodological approach used: virtual ethnography (Hine, 2000; Airoldi, 2020; Pink, 2019; Hine, 2015). The fourth section takes stock of the source by focusing on the challenges and virtues it presented during the research. Finally, I analyze the synergy that occurred between digital sources of information, the ethnographic approach and pragmatic-pragmatist sociology. I will argue that, even in intrinsically territorial fields of knowledge such as urban studies, digital information sources become productive resources. However, the article does not seek to make new reflections in the framework of already advanced discussions, but to bring into play my own experience in online fieldwork in order to contribute to the pool of meta-reflections on working with sources that today - in the face of the abrupt closure of our fields - are presented as a possibility of openness.