Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiForeword, by George Marcus xiii
Chapter 1. Why This Handbook? 11.1 Beginnings 11.2 Why ethnographic methods and why virtual worlds? 61.3 Why a handbook? 81.4 An orientation to the virtual worlds we studied 9
Chapter 2. Three Brief Histories 132.1 A brief history of ethnographic methods 132.2 A brief history of virtual worlds 222.3 A brief history of research on virtual world cultures 252.4 The uses of history 27
Chapter 3. Ten Myths about Ethnography 293.1 Ethnography is unscientific 303.2 Ethnography is less valid than quantitative research 363.3 Ethnography is simply anecdotal 403.4 Ethnography is undermined by subjectivity 413.5 Ethnography is merely intuitive 423.6 Ethnography is writing about your personal experience 433.7 Ethnographers contaminate fieldsites by their very presence 443.8 Ethnography is the same as grounded theory 453.9 Ethnography is the same as ethnomethodology 463.10 Ethnography will become obsolete 48
Chapter 4. Research Design and Preparation 524.1 Research questions: emergence, relevance, and personal interest 524.2 Selecting a group or activity to study 574.3 Scope of the fieldsite 594.4 Attending to offline contexts 61
Chapter 5. Participant Observation in Virtual Worlds 655.1 Participant observation in context 655.2 Participant observation in practice 695.3 Preparing the researching self 725.4 Taking care in initiating relationships with informants 765.5 Making mistakes 795.6 Taking extensive fieldnotes 825.7 Keeping data organized 855.8 Participant observation and ethnographic knowledge 875.9 The timing and duration of participant observation 885.10 The experimenting attitude 90
Chapter 6. Interviews and Virtual Worlds Research 926.1 The value of interviews in ethnographic research 926.2 Effective interviewing 946.3 The value of group interviews in ethnographic research 1046.4 Size, structure, and location for group interviews 1066.5 Transcription 110
Chapter 7. Other Data Collection Methods for Virtual Worlds Research 1137.1 Capturing chatlogs 1137.2 Capturing screenshots 1147.3 Capturing video 1167.4 Capturing audio 1177.5 Data collection in other online contexts 1187.6 Historical and archival research 1207.7 Virtual artifacts 1217.8 Offline interviews and participant observation 1247.9 Using quantitative data 126
Chapter 8. Ethics 1298.1 The principle of care 1298.2 Informed consent 1318.3 Mitigating institutional and legal risk 1358.4 Anonymity 1368.5 Deception 1428.6 Sex and intimacy 1448.7 Doing good and compensation 1468.8 Taking leave 1488.9 Accurate portrayal 149
Chapter 9. Human Subjects Clearance and Institutional Review Boards 1519.1 Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) 1519.2 Preparing a protocol for IRB review 1539.3 Working with IRBs 1559.4 Informed consent and anonymity 156
Chapter 10. Data Analysis 15910.1 Ethnographic data analysis: flexibility and emergence 15910.2 Preliminary reflections while in the field 16010.3 The role of theory in data analysis 16210.4 Beginning data analysis: systematize and thematize 16410.5 Working with participant observation data 16810.6 Working with individual and group interview data 17010.7 Working with images, video, and textual data 17210.8 The end of the data analysis phase: from themes to narratives and arguments 17410.9 Generalization and comparison 176
Chapter 11. Writing Up, Presenting, and Publishing Ethnographic Research 18211.1 The early stages of writing up: conferences, drafts, blogs 18211.2 Written genres 18511.3 Dissemination 18611.4 The writing process 19011.5 A quick trip back to the field? 19211.6 Tone, style, and audience 193
Chapter 12. Conclusion: Arrivals and New Departures 196
References 201Index 223