Throughout my research this semester, the paradigmatic and theoretical framework I will be using are mostly social media and its users. More specifically, I intend to post and analyse on Reddit and Twitter and analysing on Instagram and YouTube. The reason for this being that I find Reddit and Twitter to be platforms where engagement is extremely high and so through this I will be able to better understand journaling and research further into its problematisation. I will also be analysing more Instagram and YouTubers as influencers I follow that journal post regularly about their journeys and so I can engage more with this to see another side to journaling and researching. Not only this, but through The Routine’s journal ‘Questions for Myself’, I will be starting a journal of my own and see if it changes my life and mental wellbeing in any way. This way, I am fully immersing myself into the culture and society of journaling.
Reflective journals are defined as ‘… written documents that students create as they
think about various concepts, events, or interactions over a period of time for the
purposes of gaining insights into self-awareness and learning’. The article hyperlinked explains the relationship between reflective journals and students. Many academics find there is much to gain from journaling and this is why the frameworks I have chosen to work with will better my understanding and my audience’s understanding of journaling. It essentially is saying that journals are a great food for thought and keep the student remembering facts and information given to them. Not only this but it allows them to write down – or illustrate – things that happen to them through the course of their life and this throws them into self-awareness and understanding ones self.
Another article written by Fast Company also shows the benefits of journaling. This article shows that once the stereotype of journaling is removed, the benefits are tremendous. This is even including boosting your immune system. Staying in tune and understanding your emotions has all these scientific benefits and what I want to do, through my ethnographic research of the chosen frameworks, is diminish the stereotype and showcase the benefits of journaling.
Through using scholarly articles and social media with my ethnographic research I will most definitely stumble across multiple ethical issues that I plan to avoid.
Ethical issues that I expect to come across are individuals names and privacy issues, bias research and being unable to correctly reference work. These issues are quite common with research as a whole but as an ethnographic researcher in this instance, it becomes a bit more difficult.
I will ensure that my audience on Twitter and Reddit know that what I am posting and asking questions about, is for research purposes and every answer will be anonymous. This will be done through blacking out of names (even though reddit is 90% anonymous anyway). When it comes to this research I can see issues arising with bias as I will be participating. In order to avoid this, I will make my final research report very clear that I have participated in my own journaling journey and so some responses to stereotypes and problems within journaling may be bias in relation to my own personal experience but I also will be ensuring that my answer varies with sources. This is why I have chosen multiple frameworks, social media, the world wide web and participation. Lastly when it comes to referencing scholarly and peer-reviewed articles I will hyperlink and Harvard reference the links to ensure that all workers rights are allocated in the correct direction.
In summary, the ethnographic research project that I will be producing, has every intention of being ethical and unbiased. Although it is in our human nature to be bias when we are in participation, I will be taking into account the secondary research conducted and weigh up the primary and secondary sources, to compare and come to a fair conclusion of research.
Until Next Time, R.
References
Tank, A., 2020. This Is How Journaling Can Make You A More Effective Leader. [online] Fast Company. Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/90423383/the-benefits-of-journaling-for-leaders <Accessed 28 August 2020>
O’Connell, T, 2011, The Case of Reflective Journals: Is the jury still out? [online PDF download], Research Gate. Available At: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232947360_The_case_of_reflective_journals_Is_the_jury_still_out <Accessed 28 August 2020>
immerse into media 