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Hi there...
I am a Ph.D student at the Institute of Education in London. I am also a parent to young children myself and have worked for several years in parent and family support services. I am posting up here to share some information about my research on online parenting forums and ask if anybody wants to take part.
Why am I interested in speaking to parents on parenting websites?
In my research I am studying how online social and information networks are used and experienced by mothers and fathers in their everyday lives of parenting their children. I would therefore be grateful to hear about your particular experiences of being a parent in relation to your use (or not) of online sites.
Having previously studied face-to-face support for parents for my masters degree, I am examining how online forms of support compare.
What am I asking you to do?
The project is planned in three phases because an important part of my research is comparing the different methods by which the use of online sites can be studied – in this case, observing posts online, email interviews and face-to-face interviews:
1. Observation of engagement with the forum as a participant myself.
2. At some point I would like to ask you if I may conduct an interview with you using email.
3. If you are willing I would also, at a later point, like to conduct a face-to-face interview with you.
There is no obligation to take part in any of these if you do not want to.
What happens to the information you provide?
In my research your name will be changed and your forum posts anonymised, so that you cannot be identified.
I will send you a summary of the results at the end of my research.
If you are interested in taking part or you would like any further information please send me an email at j.winter@ioe.ac.uk, send a message to me here on DadTalk - username JoeWinter, or reply on this thread if you wish.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Joe Winter 🙂