Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;23(3):809-824.
doi: 10.1177/14687941211052275. Epub 2021 Oct 21.

Digitally shaped ethnographic relationships during a global pandemic and beyond

Jaymelee J Kim  1 , Sierra Williams  1 , Erin R Eldridge  2 , Amanda J Reinke  3
Affiliations

Digitally shaped ethnographic relationships during a global pandemic and beyond

Jaymelee J Kim et al. Qual Res. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Social distancing and public safety measures enacted in response to COVID-19 created a surge in methodological "advice" for researchers facing disruption to fieldwork. Resources and publications frequently encouraged changes vis-a-vis digitally enhanced methods or employment of digital ethnography. For ethnographers, the establishment and maintenance of ethnographic relationships in pandemic contexts restricted to virtual interactions has not been thoroughly explored, leaving those trained in recruitment, rapport-building, and field engagement with fewer resources to navigate this integral topic. Here, we provide insights into how ethnographic relationships may be developed when there is limited access to the field and traditional relationship building is not possible. We argue that as ethnographic methods change and adapt, so too must perspectives on ethnographic relationship development. By closely examining ethnographic relationships confined to digital spaces in the context of the Tennessee tornado recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this project sheds light on how to overcome this challenge.

Keywords: collaborative research; digital space; disaster; ethnographic relationships; ethnography; rapport.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Boccagni P. (2011) From rapport to collaboration . . . and beyond? Revisiting field relationships in an ethnography of Ecuadorian migrants. Qualitative Research 11(6): 736–754.
    1. Boellstorff T. (2008) Method. In: Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    1. Boellstorff T. (2020) Notes from the great quarantine: reflections on ethnography after COVID-19. Wenner-Gren. Available at blog: wennergren.org/2020/06/the-future-of-anthropological-research-ethics-que...
    1. Bonilla Y, Rosa J. (2015) #Ferguson: digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist 42(10): 4–17.
    1. Cavanagh T. (2005) Constructing ethnographic relationships: reflections on key issues and struggles in the field. Waikato Journal of Education 11(1).

LinkOut - more resources