News Constructions of Fear and Victim: An Exploration Through Triangulated Qualitative Document Analysis

Abstract

A seminar project used the World Wide Web to examine the multiple meanings of fear and victim in various news media to explore the substance of news as well as experiment with using an interactive Web page in a seminar format. The approach used was triangulated qualitative document analysis (TQDA), which relied on an interactive Web page format that permitted multiple observers to view others’ data, analysis, and summary comments as well as incorporate these accounts into their own work. The aim was to foster a critical reflective analysis using online information bases and interacting with each other outside of class as well as during seminar session. The provocative findings were reflexively joined to the information technology and emergent interaction process.