Comparer des méthodes

	Ethnographie numérique	Observation participante
Domaine	Qualitatif	Recherche qualitative
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	Late 1990s – 2000s	1922
Auteur d'origine	Christine Hine (virtual ethnography); Robert V. Kozinets (netnography)	Bronislaw Malinowski
Type	Qualitative research method	Method
Source fondatrice	Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Sage. ISBN: 978-1847875228	Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books. ISBN: 978-0465026432
Alias	online ethnography, virtual ethnography, internet ethnography, netnography	ethnographic observation, participatory observation, overt observation, immersive observation
Apparentées	6	4
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.	Participant observation is a qualitative research method in which the researcher embeds themselves within a community, organization, or social setting for an extended period, engaging in the activities and relationships of the group while systematically observing and documenting behavior, interactions, and cultural meaning. Pioneered by Malinowski in the 1920s and developed in anthropology, the method has been adopted across sociology, education, health sciences, and organizational research. The researcher functions as both insider (participating in group activities) and outsider (maintaining analytical distance), generating thick description—rich accounts of context, behavior, and meaning that reveal how people actually live and interact.