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9.4 Conducting ethnographic research 241

She decided to do ethnographically informed research to learn more about
the people of the online community, what they communicated about, and how
they communicated (Preece, 1998). She was not a strict observer, since she was
already a member of the community. She could understand, more than a strict
observer could, what it meant to have a torn ACL. The founder of the bulletin
board, Bob Wilmot, was aware of her research and helped answer her questions.
In contrast, when her student Diane Maloney-Krichmar, continued to study
the same community years later, she was a strict observer, not a participant
in any form. As Maloney-Krichmar noted in her paper, to participate in the
community fully would require faking the fact that she had the ACL knee
injury, which she could not do, because doing so might also taint the findings of
the research study, since she would be lying to community members and unable
to take a full part in the discussions (Maloney-Krichmar and Preece, 2005).

Many of the previous examples focus on ethnography in physical locations, with
face-to-face contact where researchers are physically present. Online research pres-
ents opportunities for ethnographic research that transcend these roles. The complete
participant role in traditional ethnographic research is predicated on the notion that
participation requires presence: to be a member of the group, you must be physically
with the members of that group, interacting with them face-to-face. This proximity
leads to many of the challenges of highly participative research, requiring research-
ers to be (at least passably) good actors and encouraging the connections that might
cause some to “go native.” More information about doing ethnographic research in
online settings is in Section 9.5.5.

9.4.3 BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Ideally, every ethnographer would be warmly welcomed into the group that they are
interested in studying. Members of the group would honestly and openly share se-
crets, discuss issues, and provide fair and unbiased assessments of how things work.
Unfortunately, this ideal may be realized only rarely. Even if there is nominal
buy-in from someone associated from the group, that doesn't mean that all group
members are interested or enthusiastic. Subjects of ethnographic research may be
outwardly hostile or simply indifferent to the project. Workplace ethnographies may
raise concerns among workers that the research may be used against them: “Maybe
they're going to use this study to figure out how to eliminate my job.”
Conducting ethnographic research would be very difficult indeed if you were
working with people who didn't like, trust, or respect you. Careful attention to some
fairly common-sense principles can help you define yourself as someone with whom
folks in the group will want to work with. Trying to be helpful—being a participant
instead of a burden—can help engender good will, if you follow through on your
promises. If you're not acting as a complete participant, you should take time to ex-
plain to someone why you're there, what you hope to learn, and what you hope to do