Master of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro held a National Webinar “Qualitative Research in the Digital Era” (29/9). Presenting as the keynote speakers, Dr. Eriyanto (Lecturer of Universitas Indonesia /Communication Research Expert/Author of “Communication Network Analysis”), Dr. Turnomo Rahardjo (Lecturer of the Department of Communication Science Undip), the event was moderated by Dr. Lintang Ratri Rahmiaji, S.Sos., M.Si (Lecturer of the Department of Communication Science Undip).

In his opportunity, Dr. Turnomo conveyed about phenomenological research. Phenomenology studied what appeared or showed itself (phainomenon/phenomen) into the subject’s experience, Knowledge (logos) of what appeared (phainomenon), Phainomenon was a reality that appeared in individual perception and the presence of an object, event or condition in one’s perception.

“Phenomenology sees objects or events from the perspective of a person as a perceiver. We know an experience or event consciously and test our perception of the event. All we can know is what we experience. Phenomenology means letting something be seen or manifest as it is,” he said.

In phenomenological research, it was to make a summary of the overall research, confirm the results of the study by stating differences from previous research, explain the results of research with the possibility of further research, linking research results with the significance of the research, linking research results with the researcher’s profession, linking the research result with the social relevance and close the explanation by offering the purpose and direction of further research.

While in his material entitled Netnography, a Qualitative Approach in Understanding Conversation in Social Media, Dr. Eriyanto said that Netnography started from an online/digital footprint. A digital footprint was recorded behaviour of people in the digital world. This digital footprint took various forms, ranging from postings on social media, comments on shopping forums, what to look for in search engines, comments on online forums, etc.

The netnographic method had undergone a change (evolution) from the previous study of virtual communities on the internet to the study of conversations on social media. The change in the focus of this netnograph study could not be separated from the development of technology and the presence of social media which had changed the presence of individuals on the internet.

“Netnography is research centred on data or data-sites. Researchers are first dealing with very large amounts of data or big data. Researchers must collect, sort and select the data to make it relevant to the research objectives. At this point, researchers can use software especially the one used to retrieve data. By using software, Netnographic researchers must realize that Netnography research is “first-hand” research, the researcher is the instrument itself. Software should not replace the basic principles of netnography such as engagement and immersion,” he explained. (Linda Public Relations)

Source: undip.ac.id