Open AccessListening to #2A: Applying a Qualitative Method to Twitter Dialogue
Author(s) -
Laura Smith,
Laila Abdel-Salam,
Molly Coyne,
Courtney McVicar,
Divya Robin,
Randolph M. Scott-McLaughlin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2020.4304
Subject(s) - social media , active listening , microblogging , qualitative research , context (archaeology) , exploratory research , computer science , sociology , world wide web , social science , paleontology , communication , biology
In this article, we present a project that explored the application of an established qualitative methodology to a novel source of data: microblog postings on the social media platform Twitter, also known as tweets. In particular, we adapted Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997) for use in this analysis. The coinciding aim of the project was to study the cultural impasses that seemed to characterize U.S. society surrounding the 2016 presidential election. Publicly available tweets bearing the hashtag #2A were selected for examination; this hashtag indicated the user’s intention to direct the posting to the attention of Twitter users in the context of the Second Amendment, which refers to citizens’ right to bear arms. The article describes the process by which CQR was modified for this use, profiles the exploratory findings, and present suggestions for subsequent similar research undertakings.