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  • CAREER COLUMN

Fieldwork at your fingertips: creative methods for social research under lockdown

With face-to-face interviews on hold, social scientists are turning to digital diaries and deep dives into YouTube audience interactions instead.
By
  1. Ash Watson

    1. Ash Watson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.

  2. Marianne Clark

    1. Marianne Clark is a postdoctoral fellow in the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.

  3. Clare Southerton

    1. Clare Southerton is a postdoctoral fellow in the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.

  4. Deborah Lupton

    1. Deborah Lupton is a professor at and leader of the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.

We are members of a social-science laboratory in Sydney, Australia, and collectively we research how social factors, such as gender or education, affect health and how people integrate digital technologies into their everyday lives. We have studied topics including smartphone use, women’s health and fitness practices and how people use smartwatches to track self-improvement metrics. Observing people in their everyday environments was an important part of our work. Being physically present helped us to understand people’s routines and relationships, and the social world around them.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00566-2

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