Critical Digital Ethnography — Studying Digital Life Through a Critical Lens

Critical digital ethnography is a qualitative research design that combines the immersive, participatory observation of digital ethnography with the power-conscious, emancipatory orientation of critical theory. Researchers embed themselves in online communities, platforms, or digital practices and examine not only what people do online but also how digital spaces reproduce, challenge, or transform structures of power, inequality, and identity. It is widely used in education, communication studies, and social science.