Defining e-research in social work: a review of strategies and challenges

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted social work researchers for whom fieldwork is the crux of data collection. Resilient as humankind is, researchers must innovate to look at society and communities digitally. This review paper explores e-research as an option for social researchers. It summarises and synthesizes existing literature on digital research in social work. What is e-research? What is the position of the researcher in this context? What are some of the strategies and challenges in conducting research online? The paper throws light on these questions. This review article reveals the methods that can be adapted to merge technology with research in the social work domain. It also lays out the challenges of e-research. We propose a synthesized definition of e-research in social work and conclude that there is tremendous value in using technology and doing research online if done ethically.

摘要

对社会工作研究者来说, 实地考察是数据收集的关键, 而新冠疫情打乱了他们的工作。人类具有韧性, 研究者也必须创新, 以数字化方式看待社会与社区。本文探讨了数字研究 (e-research) 作为社会研究人员的一种选择, 总结及综合了有关社会工作数字化研究的现有文献, 包括:什么是数字研究? 在这种情况下, 研究人员的位置是什么? 在进行线上研究时, 有哪些策略与挑战? 本文对这些问题进行了阐明。此外, 本文还揭示了将科技与社会工作领域的研究相结合的方法, 列出了数字研究面临的挑战。本文提出了社会工作数字研究的综合定义, 并在结论中指出, 符合伦理地使用科技和线上研究将具有巨大价值。

KEYWORDS:

• Digital data
• digital research
• e-research
• digital social work
• research online
• social work research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).