Field-Based Digital Ethnography

Field-based digital ethnography is a qualitative research design that combines traditional in-person fieldwork with systematic collection and analysis of digital data. Rather than studying online communities in isolation, it traces how social life moves between physical settings and digital spaces, treating both as equally real sites of cultural practice. Rooted in Christine Hine's virtual ethnography and Sarah Pink's digital ethnography principles, it is particularly suited to studying communities whose practices span offline and online worlds.