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Scoping the Emerging Field of Quantitative Ethnography: Opportunities, Challenges and Future Directions
Advances in Quantitative Ethnography
  • Rogers Kaliisa, University of Oslo
  • Kamila Misiejuk, University of Bergen
  • Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens, Clemson University
  • Morten Misfeldt, University of Copenhagen
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2021
Publisher
Springer
Disciplines
Abstract

Quantitative Ethnography (QE) is an emerging methodological approach that combines ethnographic and statistical tools to analyze both Big Data and smaller data to study human behavior and interactions. This paper presents a methodological scoping review of 60 studies employing QE approaches with an intention to characterize and establish where the boundaries of QE might and should be in order to establish the identity of the field. The key finding is that QE researchers have enough commonality in their approach to the analysis of human behavior with a strong focus on grounded analysis, the validity of codes and consistency between quantitative models and qualitative analysis. Nonetheless, in order to reach a larger audience, the QE community should attend to a number of conceptual and methodological issues (e.g. interpretability). We believe that the strength of work from individual researchers reported in this review and initiatives such as the recently established International Society for Quantitative Ethnography (ISQE) can present a powerful force to shape the identity of the QE community.

Comments

This paper is part of the proceedings for the International Conference on Quantitative Ethnography 2020.

Citation Information
Kaliisa, R.*, Misiejuk, K.*, Arastoopour Irgens, G., & Misfeldt, M. (2021). Scoping the Emerging Field of Quantitative Ethnography: Opportunities, Challenges & Future Directions. In A.R. Ruis and S.B. Lee (Eds.), Second International Conference, ICQE 2020, (pp. 3 - 17). Malibu, CA: International Society for Quantitative Ethnography.