ICT in Education

1. Contents
Introduction 1
1. Presentation and critical evaluation of the research 3
1.1. Literature Review 3
1.2 Methodology issues and validity of the study 5
1.3 The ethical implications of the study 13
2. Conclusion
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2. A Critical review and theoretical framework of “Presentation on Self on the
Web: an ethnographic study of teenage girls’ weblogs” by Denise Sevick Bortree
Introduction
The aim of this study is to examine the research “Presentation on Self on the
Web: an ethnographic study of teenage girls’ weblogs”. Denise Sevick Bortree reports
a three-month (October to December 2003) ethnographic study of teenage girls’
weblogs focused on the way they use weblogs for interpersonal and mass
communication and the dangers or challenges teenage girls being involved in their
communication with a broader audience. However, the research question remains
unclear as Bortree refers at the beginning “This study examines two aspects of teens
girls’ blog use: (1) challenges and hazards of conducting interpersonal
communication in a mass medium, and (2) self-presentation strategies used to
negotiate a dual audience (p.25)”, while later she specifies her interest only in how
teen girls use weblogs in relation to their friends and in a broader audience: “My
specific interest in conducting this study was discovering the ways teenage girls use
blogging as a tool for self-expression, both for interpersonal communication ( to
friends) and mass communication (to a broader audience of teenagers)” p.28
This assignment will discuss the methodology followed by the researcher.
Bortree refers that she used the ethnographic method and founded her research on a
variety of surveys regarding the strategies individuals use in order to present
themselves in the real world and in the internet. Observing the content and the design
of teen’s weblogs, Bortree chooses the snowball sampling method and focuses her
research mainly on girls’ blogs. Then, she conducts a series of 13 in-depth interviews
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3. with teen teens’ bloggers not participating in the study and continues into the final
step of the research, the analysis.
During her study, Bortree sheds light on some interesting aspects of the
research problem, on the way teens girls use blogging as a means of dual
communication and the risks in which are involved. Teenagers use blogging by
showing a particular intimacy to their friends as a way of maintaining their
friendships; this also acts as a kind of diary where girls exchange their experiences
freely. However, in their interviews the girls maintained that when communicating
with a larger group of people they try to ‘look different’ because they want to be liked
by others. In the analysis of her research’s data, Bortree used the grounded theory and
tried to give explanations based on other’s findings. However, during her study,
issues concerning the validity of the methodology, as well as ethical issues are
derived.
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4. 1. Presentation and critical evaluation of the research
1.1. Literature Review
Bortree attempts to examine the perils and difficulties in the use of a
contemporary mass medium such as internet when teen girls try to conduct
interpersonal communication. She also tries to examine the self-presentation strategies
employed by present-day teenage girls in their attempt to address what Bortree
describes as the ‘dual audience’ and, hence, the dual communicative goal of these
weblogs. Bortree specifies the dual communicative goal of blogging; from one side,
this is “to build and maintain relationships with friends” (the first part of the blog’s
audience), while at the same time “appealing to a larger group of teenage
acquaintances who may be reading the same blog” (Bortree 2005:25). She builds her
study on the findings of earlier researches related to the motivations and the self
strategies the individuals use in their social interaction, shedding in this way a light in
the insights of the research.
Bortree in her study about the self presentation strategies teenage girls use in
blogs, relies upon a variety of previous surveys’ findings, old and new, relating to the
self- presentation strategies individuals use not only in the internet but also in their
daily life. The explicit reference to other surveys, some older and other new, which
are closely related to the Bortree’s study, gives the reader the theoretical ‘scaffold’,
necessary to negotiate with the whole study while, at the same time, gives the study a
sense of authority (Brown & Dowling 1998). In particular, Bortree draws upon
Goffman’s (1959) description of individuals’ performance in any communicative
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5. event and their use of self-presentation strategies during their communication.
According to Gofmann, communication is a way of expressing the individual’s
identity. Bortree refers also to Baumeister and Jones who associated the self-
presentation with the pleasure of others.
Bortree reinforces further her research by referring to previous investigations
on teenagers’ weblogs and the strategies they use when presenting themselves. The
500 websites assessed by Dominick (1999) confirmed some strategies individuals use
in their online communication. The Ingratiation (aiming at being liked by others), the
Competence (i.e. self-promotion as skilful), the Intimidation (i.e. anger as a
demonstration of power), the Exemplification (i.e. as a proof of morality) and the
Supplication (i.e. “appearing helpless so that others will come to your aid” (Dominick
1999) influence on the nature of individuals’ performance. Another research found
that the most common strategy the individuals use is the ingratiation (Jones 1990). In
addition, in their communication, users use a specific language in order to make close
friendships (McKenna 2002). In this vein, adolescents express themselves in a way
that would allow them to become acceptable by a group of people (Shilstein 2001).
Stern (1999) also discerned three kinds of characters: the ‘spirited’ (aiming at the self
glorification and self description), the ‘somber’ (the internet as a shelter of the social
convention) and the ‘self-conscious (with a sense of self- restrain)’.
Based on the above findings of presentation strategies, Bortree also
distinguishes in her research three strategies teen girls use to present themselves.
These are the ingratiation, the competence and the supplication. Teen girls showed
ingratiation to some persons by listing their names on their blogs, by exposing their
experiences with them, or by calling them with their names. Some times girls in order
to draw the interest of others, reveal negative aspects of themselves (supplication).
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6. Other times, they tried to show a social face to other people by adding in their webs
links of their friends or of people that met online; or just by allowing to receive a lot
of comments. In this communication with friends and a broader audience, teen girls
tried to keep a balance; from the one side, to be believable from their friends and from
the other side to impress the people who meet online.
1.2 Methodology issues and validity of the study
The concepts of validity have been central to defining ‘objectivity’ and
‘rigorousness’ in social science research. As Punch writes (2005:45), validity may
refer to the accuracy of research data, the overall validity of the research, to whether
the research design reflects the reality, and finally the generalizability of the study’s
findings.
Bortree conducted an online research and used the ethnographic method in
order to explain how teenage girls use blogging as a creative medium for interpersonal
and mass communication, and the risks hidden in the use of blogging, as well as the
self-presentation strategies the teenage girls use. “The development of this
understanding involves the immersion of the researcher in the practices in the
empirical setting and sustained interaction with participants. The predominant means
of collecting data is through highly detailed observation” (Brown & Dowling 1998:
43). In this respect, ethnographers select their data through observation, interviews
and conversations and examine the facts in the ‘environment’ in which they are taking
place, in turn helping them to deepen more into the research (Brown & Dowling
1998). However, Bortree conducts a three-month (October to December 2003) study
including only observation of the weblogs’ content and graphics that teenage girls
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7. used. In addition, this time is too short for someone to be engaged in this ‘community
of teens’ and makes ‘valid’ assumptions about the way teen girls use blogging.
Bortree used the non-probability sampling method and more specifically the
snowball sampling method since, because of the shifting character of the blogs, it was
difficult for her to select her sampling. So, in turn, she decided to select her
participants observing the links included in teens’ websites and which formed other
subgroups of friendships. She observed and selected 40 sites (29 females and 11
males, aged 16-18) that appeared to form a wide friendship group in which a variety
of smaller friendship subgroups was constructed. Then she concentrated on 6 sites.
Although the snowball sampling undermines the validity of the sample, it was the
appropriate method for Bortree’s research: “While this approach severely restricts the
generalizability of the findings, considering the qualitative nature of this study, the
goal is not to generalize but rather to explore more deeply the nature of this
phenomenon” (Rowan & Huston 1997, p.29).
However, the criteria Bortree used for selecting and grouping the bloggers-
geographic area, social relations, and age - affect on the validity of the findings.
Bortree selects American teenagers who knew each other, lived in the same area and
attended the same school. However, the definition of groups of friends cannot be
considered a valid indicator given the shifting character of the weblogs. Bortree
explains that frequently, someone’s link who was appeared to be friend was dropped
and substituted by new link.
Bortree, after finishing the ethnographic study, proceeded in the second stage
of her research by conducting email in-depth interviews. According to Johnson
(2002) the in depth interviews are used for further investigation of individual’s
experiences and are usually used in conjunction with other methods such as
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8. observation or interviews aiming at confirming their assumptions or as a method of
triangulation. In order to carry out the in-depth interviews, Bortree necessitated
finding other participants from the Internet as the teenage girls used for the
ethnographic study did not provide any personal e-mail address. So, she e-mailed
invitations asking 50 girls aged 18 years old whom select from others’ weblogs to
take part in the interview. These girls maintained a weblog at that time and were at the
same age with the girls who were participated in the ethnographic study. The fact that
Bortree did not interview the authors of the blogs she observed in the ethnographic
study, does not help her to ensure her first assumptions about the way teens girls use
blogging, and in turn, does not give validity to her assumptions. In addition, this may
also be the reason of why remained some unanswered questions about the real
motivations of teen’s communication: “More in-depth interviews with teenage
bloggers would give valuable insight into the world of teenage blogging (p38)”.
However, from these 50 girls to which Bortree sent e mails invitations, the
16 accepted to participate in the interviews and the researcher sent an e-mail with 10
questions: “Of the 50, 16 responded and volunteered to participate in the online
interview process […]. Of the 16, 13 responded to the e-mail questions”. (p.31).
Bryman (2004) sheds light to other two interesting aspects of the interviewing: the
difficulty for the researcher in internet interviews to establish relations of confidence
and trust with the participants. This is distinct when we read in Bortree’s study: “Of
the 50, 16 responded and volunteered to participate in the online interview process
[…]. Then, Bortree continues that “Of the 16, 13 responded to the e-mail questions.
(p.31)”, which shows the weakness of the internet research where the interviewee is
not in position to know if some questions bother the participants (Bryman 2004). The
above shows additionally the difficulty for the interviewee to establish relations of
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9. confidence and trust with the participants. It also shows another one aspect of
‘weakness’ of the e- interviews according to which the interviewee is not in position
to know if some questions bother the participants (Bryman 2004). Finally, a serious
consideration should also be given in the responses of these interviews as email
interviews make less spontaneous the participants’ responses than the face-to-face
interviews, as they give time for consideration. However, using synchronous means of
communication, like face-to-face interviews or in telephone or online (and not by e
mail) which have many of the benefits of the face-to-face interviews as they are ‘real
time’, could help her more to investigate the real motivations of how teens use their
weblogs (Bryman 2004).
Without doubt, one cannot ignore that interviews, in combination with data-
gathering approaches, may lead to identifying new topics, as well as to exploring,
explaining or clarifying data collected through other methods (Brawn & Dowling
1998). However, two issues here are raised, the issue of “observer bias” and
“observer effects” (Gay & Airasian 2000). In the first case, the researcher as
“participant observer” can be influenced negatively or positively by his/her intimacy
with the participants. On the other hand, acting as a participant, the researcher can
examine closely and comprehend better his/her research, and, additionally, the
participants knowing that they are observed it may influence their responses. Finally,
Bortree does not give us any information about the nature of the questions which does
not help us to assess the validity of this method.
Silverman (1993: 20-29) highlights the importance of investigating the
language for understanding the meanings in various social contexts. Breaks and
pauses in the speech reflect the inner incentives and the potential fears or suspensions
of the speaker. In this case, the researcher is engaged in a meticulous investigation of
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10. talk in order to determine the way the conversation is organized and performed in its
‘natural environment’, as well as the ‘strategies’ which the individuals use in their
social interaction (Ritchie 2000). After the conversation analysis, Bortree could
proceed in the discourse analysis of written texts, where the language is considered
not only as a means of communication, a tool of speech, but also as a means of social
interaction (Wood & Kronger 2000).
Our attention is being drawn by Bortree’s saying: “I choose this group
because it reflected what appear to me to be a typical group of teenage bloggers-
primarily female (29 female, 11 males) […] (p 29)”. Another one issue which is
derived here for the internet investigations is that the researcher does not know if the
participants are really what they are registered (Bryman 2004). Bortree refers that she
“[…] e mailed invitations to 50 girls who identified themselves in their blogs as 18
years-old.” (p.31). This in turn can undermine the validity of the research’s findings.
After conducting some interviews, Bortree proceeds to the analysis of her
research data. This analysis argues the existence of an intrinsic tension in the design
of teenage weblogs between the need for interpersonal communication, i.e. the
sharing of intimate thoughts and the expression of personal conflicts among close
friends on the one hand, and the desire for mass communication with a wider blog
audience in ways that promote a well- accepted self-presentation on the other hand.
To that end, as the study maintains, a number of self-presentation strategies are
employed with various aims and varied results, typically including “ingratiation”,
competence, and supplication. According to Bortree, however, the significance of
weblogs as a communicative medium, lies not so much in that they facilitate
interactive dialogue, but in that they allow the freedom to indulge in a constructive
monologue or in Bortree’s words, “a commentary of sorts, that others may respond to
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11. through other forms”(p. 37). Yet, as she reminds us, “the risk of exposure and loss of
privacy(p.38)” in the public domain of the internet remains a constant threat for
teenage bloggers and calls for a balanced use of weblogs as creative tools for teenage
self expression.
Bortree in her analysis uses the grounded theory. According to Quinn Patton
(2002: 442), the analysis demands “creativity, intellectual discipline, analytical rigor,
and a great deal of work”. Walker et al (2006) coding is the method which is used in
the grounded theory for the analysis of the data. In this respect, the information given
for the analysis method used by Bortree is not sufficient enough to give validity in the
findings of her research. Bortree referred only that “taken together, these findings
from the ethnographic study and the interviews indicated that teens […]” p.37
One of the methods that researchers use in order to confirm the validity and
reliability of their research data is the method of triangulation. The method of
triangulation combines and examines the results of the qualitative and quantitave
methods of data collection. It also entails the comparison of different data sources
such as the results of observations with those deriving from interviews. Bortree
compares the results of the observations (some teens used blogging as a ‘diary’
although they knew that their writing could be read by anyone; others were more
‘reticent’), with the results of the email interviews from teen girls who did not take
part in the Bortree’s research but maintained their weblog during the ethnographic
study. Bortree could give validity in her study and may shed light to some obscure
aspects of teens that left her study if she conducted interviews with the same
participants of the ethnographic study; more specifically, online interviews, or by
phone interviews could support Bortree more than the face to face interviews, to
deepen the real motivations of teen girls (Quinn Patton 2002:559 & Bryman 2004). In
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12. the e mail interviews individuals response less spontaneously as they have as much
time as they want to think and to hide potential fears or hesitations which they could
not do it easily in the face to face or telephone or even in online (in a chatroom)
interview.
The credibility of the research depends on the issues reviewed above such
as the variety of sources and research methods used when gathering and interpreting
data, the analysis process the researcher uses, as well as the research experience and
the education that the researcher may have in relation with his/her research (Quinn
Patton 2002). In her study, Bortree attempts to investigate the way in which teenage
girls use blogging, by means of insufficient sources and inadequate variety of research
methods when gathering and interpreting data. Furthermore, analysis methods such as
a discourse analysis or a conversation analysis of the content of the weblogs could be
an alternative approach for Bortree to explain teenagers’ deeper motivations of using
blogging.
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13. 1.3 The ethical implications of the study
Undoubtedly, the most significant issue in research ethics is to ensure the
participants’ consent to be involved therein; the researcher must confirm the consent
of the participants from the observation as “collecting information on participants or
observing them without their knowledge or without appropriate permission is not
ethical” (Gay & Airasian 2000:99). The informed consent has to do with the purpose
of the study, the questions which are going to be asked in the interviews, the
researcher’s confidentiality, the way in which the data will be used, the risks the
individuals may be involved (Quinn Patton 2002). However, in this study, Denise
Sevick Bortree begins her research by observing the content and the design of the
teenagers’ weblogs without confirming the consent of participants. The reason is that
she investigates the blogs which are publicly available. She does not reveal names and
other information which would put in danger the participants’ privacy. In the second
stage of her research, the email interviews, Bortree informs the participants about the
purpose of the study.
Another significant ethical issue that derives from this study is the
anonymity in using the data collected about or from people (Gay & Airasian 2000).
Many strategies have been developed in recent years in order to protect
confidentiality, such as including codes instead of names or giving pseudonyms
(Brown & Dowling 1998). In this study, Bortree in the interviews she conducts and
the on line conversations she refers, does not reveal the real names of the research
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14. participants. “To protect the girls’ privacy, direct quotes from their blogs will not be
used in this paper […].The names are not included I this write-up to protect the girls’
identities.” (p39).
2. Conclusion
Firstly, a sort of surveys is mentioned about the behavioral strategies
individuals use in online communities and their real life giving in turn to the research
a sense of validity. Bortree proceeds in her ethnographic study by observing the
content and design of some teenager’s blogs and she distinguished groups of friends.
However, the short period of three months which Bortree used in order to conduct this
ethnographic study does not help her to incorporate into the teens’ world and give
validate explanations of the way they use blogging.
Bortree in the second stage of her study conducted some in-depth interviews
with teenagers that did not take part in the ethnographic study. The above does not
support her fist assumptions about the dual communication of teen girls. She does not
give any information about the content of the questions so we can not make any
assumption about the validity of that study. However, she maintained the anonymity
of the participants.
In her analysis, Bortree used the grounded theory but she did not refer to any
specific method (coding) she used to examine her data. Rather she merely concluded
that teenager girls admitted that blogs act as diaries in which they ‘entrust’ thoughts
that they cannot otherwise express under the fear of adults’ intervention. Although the
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15. use of blogs as diaries leads to the creation of deeper relations, it is admitted that girls
often try to promote a different image of them when communicating with broader
audiences. Bortree finished the ethnographic study by maintaining that the focus on
the content and design of teenager’s blogs left unanswered some questions about the
real motivations of teenager girls’ blogging.
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