Hybrid ethnography: Access, positioning, and data assembly

Abstract

This research suggests three ways in which hybrid ethnography can be used to overcome the shortcomings of single-realm ethnography, in particular, ethnographies that situate solely in the offline or online worlds. I focus on how researchers adapt the ethnographic toolkit to an environment where digital and physical landscapes touch, overlap, and blend. I name these tools multi-access, multi-positionality, and online-offline data assembly. Multi-access refers to researchers using alternative access points to renegotiate blocked access. Multi-positionality refers to researchers leveraging online and offline self-portrayals to reestablish relationships with multiple participants. Online-offline data assembly refers to researchers analyzing multi-faceted data generated by researchers and participants to validate analyses. Taken together, researchers combine, separate, and mix three tools as toolkits to flexibly transition online and offline in the post-pandemic era.