Researching the Platformization of the Family: Methodological Challenges

Abstract

This chapter addresses the challenge of designing research methods to empirically study the platformization of the family. In order to move away from simplistic definitions and discussions like “screen time”, we need rigorous and imaginative methods for capturing everyday family life and understand how platform logics are structuring relationships between and beyond families. Therefore, this chapter identifies ethnographical and participatory methodological approaches and strategies used by researchers who have conducted empirical work on family lives and platformization. By illustrating how these methodologies have been useful to understand how interactions among families are mediated by digital platforms, the authors discuss its potentials and limitations to understand and theorise the processes of platformization in contemporary societies.