Tinkering with Method as We Go

Abstract

This chapter presents the qualitative method we developed to document a phenomenon that we have called ‘working out loud’ (WOL) on social media. Working out loud is a mundane practice where workers of all kinds communicate something about their daily experience of doing their work and being at work. This character makes WOL simultaneously widespread and difficult to grasp and, with little prior knowledge of people’s sharing behaviour, our investigation started in a very open fashion. Because only the general contours of the practice labelled ‘working out loud’ were known, our methodological approach had to be devised and regularly adjusted in order to explore the phenomenon. The chapter discusses the approach that we elaborated as the collection of digital traces necessary to flesh out the concept of WOL progressed. This also makes visible the backstage work involved in data collection and analysis.