Ricerca qualitativa nei mondi virtuali: considerazioni di carattere metodologico

Contenuto principale dell'articolo

Laura Fedeli

Abstract

La letteratura internazionale ci consente di associare una connotazione di valore educativo ai mondi virtuali multiutente. Numerosi studi di carattere teorico e applicativo mostrano con evidenza le peculiarità dei diversi mondi virtuali usati come tecnologia didattica.
Il contributo presenta alcune riflessioni sulle implicazioni metodologiche emerse nella conduzione di una ricerca di tipo qualitativo in cui il mondo virtuale Second Life è stato sia l’oggetto della ricerca, sia l’ambiente in cui è avvenuta la raccolta dei dati attraverso le tecniche dell’osservazione partecipata, dell’intervista e del focus group.
L’esperienza, messa a confronto con tre percorsi di ricerca condotti in diversi mondi virtuali, ha evidenziato come la conduzione di una ricerca in tali ambienti immersivi possa avvalersi di una “presenza aumentata” in termini di potenzialità di azione da parte del ricercatore e del campione dei partecipanti.
Le ricerche citate evidenziano implicazioni di carattere metodologico che investono l’approccio del ricercatore, le tecniche di raccolta dei dati e aspetti etici legati all’identità e alla tutela della privacy.

Dettagli dell'articolo

Sezione
Articoli - Argomenti vari

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