Desarrollo social

Any scientific endeavour is riddled with the challenge of ensuring a delicate balance between knowledge production and adhering to ethical guidelines. This study was no different, as my desire to produce knowledge had to be counterbalanced by upholding scientific principles. Although I received ethical clearance from Rhodes University’s Ethical Standards Committee, I must point out that university ethical codes are insufficient to illuminate hidden aspects and offer practical solutions to researchers in online inquiry settings. Whilst I do not advocate for the total abandonment of academic scientific ethics, I believe that these guidelines are not cast in stone. These ethical guidelines should be “contextualised” (Whiteman, 2010) in line with multi-sited environments. Contextualised ethics, as Whiteman (2012) notes, do not exclude the relevance of general principles to the practice of research but

148

rather explore the interpretation and relevance of these principals in the specific research context.

Because scientific research ethics exhort researchers to avoid harming their respondents as well as to avoid infringing on the rights of respondents, I had to navigate a minefield of ethical issues. Some of the ethical questions that arose during the fieldwork and reporting phase include: Who are my respondents? Whose data is it? What is private information? What is public information? How do I handle online data in my thesis? Should I include verbatim quotations from Facebook group and profile pages and risk that the participant is traceable through current or future search facilities? All these foregoing ethical questions are intimately connected to the well-established and broader ethical debates around private versus public realms, consent, and rights to privacy (Hammersley & Traianou, 2012).

In order to meet the ethical obligations of this study, I requested permission to be a researcher on the six Facebook groups from their administrators. Although some of these groups were public groups, meaning their information could be accessed by everyone on Facebook, I requested for permission from Facebook group administrators to use messages contained therein. I also asked youth activists for their permission to use Facebook postings and to record them during the interviews. Given the intricate relationship between informed consent and privacy concerns in an online environment, I adopted “de-lurking” as an ethical strategy. De-lurking entails making my presence known to the youth activists before befriending and covertly observing them on Facebook (boyd, 2007). This strategy enabled me to develop social rapport with participants I observed and contacted for further conversation.

Another ethical problem associated with social media research is traceability. This refers to the fact that all communication which is typed rather than spoken leaves a physical trace known as a “data trace” that can be archived or preserved (Duffy, 2002). In order to deal with this ethical problem, data mined from Facebook groups and profile pages will be used sparingly to ensure confidentiality and privacy (Sveningsson, 2004). Due to the political volatility of the Zimbabwean context and the sensitivity of some of the responses provided by respondents, I decided to use the term “male” or “female youth” in place of real names (associated with Facebook policy) to preserve confidentiality throughout findings chapter. The terms male or female youth were qualified with the use of the name of the social movement (for instance, female youth, NCA) with regards to the citation of interviews and

149

online participant observations. All “Googlable” postings were de-identified through a combination of paraphrasing and use of the term male or female youth.

4.7 Conclusion

In this chapter, I have presented a detailed account of the choice and justification of the research methodology, methods and procedures. I have situated this study within the ambit of the comparative case study approach. Despite locating this particular study within the context of qualitative research design, I have argued that quantitative data is also useful in terms of assessing the participation levels on Facebook groups and profile pages. Consequently, I have noted that this study make use of data triangulation. Qualitative research has allowed me to investigate how and why Facebook is deployed for political activities “from the ground-level view of those using these tools” (Gerbaudo, 2012: 5-6). In order to gather qualitative and quantitative data, I have deployed three-pronged data collection techniques: online participant observation, qualitative content analysis and individual in-depth interviews. I have also discussed ethical considerations navigated in this study highlighting how these challenges were addressed.

Thus, the research findings presented and discussed in the next two chapters (Chapter Five, Six and Seven) are derived from the methodological approach outlined in this chapter.

150

CHAPTER FIVE

HOW YOUTH ACTIVISTS USE FACEBOOK FOR POLITICAL

ACTION IN ZIMBABWE AND SOUTH AFRICA

5. Introduction

The previous chapter has discussed at length the methodology and methods employed in this study. This chapter presents the research findings mostly informed by the literature and theoretical discussions outlined in Chapters One, Two and Three. As intimated in Chapter Four, data for this particular chapter was gathered through a combination of online participant observation, qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews. The chapter foregrounds a comparative analysis of how Zimbabwean and South African youths drawn from a range of social movements use Facebook for political purposes. The data is interpreted and presented in collaboration with verbatim quotations derived from the in-depth interviews and online participant observations culled from Facebook groups and fan pages. It is important to note that all the discussion and analysis of findings in the next four chapters are discussed in an integrated manner in order to avoid repetition. An integrated approach is concerned with synthesising both the discussion and analysis so as ensure a flawless articulation of issues. As discussed in Chapter Four, this study is situated within the context of comparative ethnographic and multi-sited fieldwork which allowed me to triangulate online and offline data collection techniques: social media ethnography, qualitative content analysis and in- depth interviews. Social media ethnography enabled me “to immerse myself in the context and spaces in which they [Facebook users] use the technology” (Mabweazara, 2013: 106), thereby directly observing how youths behaved on Facebook pages and groups. Qualitative content analysis was also useful because it enabled me to analyse online data gathered from Facebook groups and fan pages. To corroborate online observations and qualitative content analysis, in-depth interviews were also deployed. The purpose of in-depth interviews was to investigate how and why youths in both countries used Facebook for political purposes. In this chapter, online data gathered from Facebook groups, fan pages and profile pages will be used without direct attribution to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. With the exception of a few Facebook posts which are presented in an abridged format, it is important to note that no changes have been made to the original spelling or grammar of all postings. For Facebook

151

postings written in vernacular languages (like ChiShona, isiXhosa, isiNdebele and so forth) translation is provided. Although not everyone on the six Facebook groups and fan pages studied in Zimbabwe and South Africa fit into the category of the youth (as defined in Chapter One), it is important to note that these digital spaces are frequented by young people (see Chapter Seven). As intimated in Chapter Four, all the 49 respondents (34 males and 15 females) in Zimbabwe and South Africa were promised anonymity hence the use of terms like “male youth” and “female youth” for attribution purposes.

5.1 Responses on how youths in Zimbabwe and South Africa use Facebook for