Debriefing and feedback procedures

Participatory research and internet activism (Jenny Pickerill, Department of Geography, University of Leicester)

My research has tended to focus on examining how activists involved in environmental and social change politics utilise the internet – their internet activism (Pickerill 2003). It is often the more radical activists who have been most inventive and exploratory in their use of the internet and thus it has been these groups who I have sought to engage in my research. These choices, however, were also influenced by my own politics and my broader participation and commitment to environmental and social change activism. Thus I have sought to combine good reflexive methodological practice (through participatory research and in-depth interviews) with action-orientated research that seeks to ‘change the landscape’ rather than just survey and map it.

I was interested in what opportunities and tensions the internet offered to activists. What was of interest was less what they posted on-line, or discussions they had on-line, but the role that the internet played in the broader dynamics of activism and activists everyday lives. I did this through interviews and participant observation. In some cases actually writing parts of the groups’ websites myself - using my research as a way to aid the campaigns and thus directly interfering in the dynamics I was exploring.

This involvement facilitates access to the people I was interested in but also complicates the researchers’ positionality. This involvement brings with it an ethics of commitment and a responsibility not only for fair representation, and confidentiality, but also for action. Thus there is a responsibility to present your work in a constructive way, not simply a critique or deconstruction of somebody else's hard work. Moreover, there is a culture within such radical activism that can serve to smooth over internal dissent – the ideology that doing something is better than nothing and that you should not criticise unless you are prepared to change things yourself. Thus academic work too must help such movements move forward.

Crucial to such research then are the moments of debriefing and feedback. In all of this work I sought to develop a feedback loop whereby drafts of my work were returned to interviewees and groups and their comments fed into the final pieces. Drafts and final pieces were posted on-line and distributed via summary hardcopy booklets. Thus such research becomes about honesty, responsibility, and sharing; being honest about one’s position and what you intend to use the research for: A responsibility to look after data collected, seek permission for its use, to take action through our research and to write in such a way that is useful and constructive to participants involved; and sharing everything you have learned during the process and your outcomes with those who took part.

References:

Pickerill, J. (2003) Cyberprotest: Environmental Activism On-Line. Manchester University Press. Manchester.
(For more details see http://www.jennypickerill.info/book.html)