Process / pipelineData collection

Online Field Notes — Digital and Virtual Observational Records

Online field notes are structured, researcher-authored records of observations made within digital environments — social media platforms, online communities, virtual worlds, forums, and video-mediated spaces. Adapted from the classical ethnographic field note tradition, they capture not only what is observed but how the researcher interprets and situates those observations in real time, forming a primary data source for virtual ethnography and netnography.

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Sources

  1. Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978-0226206837
  2. Kozinets, R. V. (2020). Netnography: The Essential Guide to Qualitative Social Media Research (3rd ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1526454423

Related methods

ScholarGateOnline Field Notes (Online Field Notes in Digital and Virtual Research). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/survey-methodology/online-field-notes