Comparer des méthodes

	Ethnographie numérique	Netnographie
Domaine	Qualitatif	Qualitatif
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	Late 1990s – 2000s	1997 (coined); 2010 (first comprehensive methodology book)
Auteur d'origine	Christine Hine (virtual ethnography); Robert V. Kozinets (netnography)	Robert V. Kozinets
Type	Qualitative research method	Qualitative research method
Source fondatrice	Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Sage. ISBN: 978-1847875228	Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Sage. ISBN: 978-1847875907
Alias	online ethnography, virtual ethnography, internet ethnography, netnography	online ethnography, virtual ethnography, cyber-ethnography, digital ethnography
Apparentées	6	6
Résumé	Digital ethnography is a qualitative research method that adapts traditional ethnographic fieldwork to online and digitally mediated settings. Drawing on sustained participant observation, document collection, and sometimes interviews, the researcher immerses themselves in one or more digital communities — social media platforms, forums, gaming spaces, or messaging groups — to understand how culture, identity, and social practice are constructed through digital interaction. The approach recognises that online spaces are not merely reflections of offline life but distinctive sites of cultural production in their own right.	Netnography is a qualitative research method that adapts the principles of cultural ethnography to the study of online communities and social media environments. Coined by Robert Kozinets in 1997 and systematised in his 2010 handbook, netnography treats digital spaces — forums, social networks, blogs, review sites — as naturally occurring field sites where communities gather, share meanings, and construct identities. The method combines unobtrusive observation of digital traces with active participation and, where appropriate, direct member interaction.