Online Reflective Essays: A Guide for Qualitative Researchers

Conducting research online is becoming more popular among researchers, especially qualitative researchers. As qualitative methodology gains more credibility and popularity, it is important to continue expanding and improving the qualitative research toolkit. This article offers a guide for qualitative researchers on how to methodologically use online reflective essays to collect rich qualitative data to answer their research questions. When developing a study, qualitative researchers should consider a set of factors, including the research question, the sensitivity of the research question, the amount of reflectivity required to answer the research question, the length it takes to answer the research question, and the type of population that will be used to answer the research question. This article discusses these factors and provides practical design suggestions using examples from a previous study that collected data using online reflective essays.