Data Collection Procedures

Orienting to algorithmic governance in online TV, and the representational continuum in TV culture.

Literature and online-discourse horizons were reflected on and the research question came forth — from gaps in the field, the need for a contemporary response to the BDPfA (1995, Sec. J: Women and Media), and the recognised ontological significance of ubiquitous algorithms.

Adopting the hermeneutic stance and the hermeneutic algorithm audit (HAA) orientation.

Turning to the population of interest — female TV viewers in the UK — with purposive sampling from online sources.

A semi-structured, tentative schedule with possible prompts, including first-round setting/context questions followed by a first open question.

A schedule and platform test, to surface technical, language or bias issues in the schedule.

Researcher explication (descriptive) and a phase of hermeneutic reduction, via an AI-assisted researcher presupposition interview and disclosive dialogue.

Each of the seven participants was invited to complete a demographic survey with questions relevant to the research question.

Sustained, critical self-reflection surfacing my prejudices, assumptions, values, emotional responses and horizons of significance, interrogating how these might shape my questions, listening and interpretations — through structured critical reflective questions (CRQs) from the literature, worked through repeatedly. Iterative sampling reflections considered.

A global read of round 1, first impressions annotated from verbatim DM transcripts held in the secure Nexus database. Paradigm cases noted; surprising, challenging or striking aspects reflected on. Iterative CRQs in dialogue with the texts shaped the round-2 tentative schedules, varied per participant to stay with and deepen each narrative.

After round 1, each participant was invited to the Fieldnotes diary app to complete open-question tasks in their own time.

Sustained self-reflection on ongoing emotional responses and horizons of significance, interrogating how my responses and back-and-forth interpretations might shape my questions, listening and openness. Structured CRQs from the literature; iterative sampling reflections considered.

Back-and-forth parts–whole reading of the text. Exemplars surfaced using adapted Mattsson et al. (2014) analysis for exemplars (see Fig. X). Round-3 semi-structured tentative schedule and prompts developed.

Sustained, critical self-reflection surfacing prejudices, assumptions, values, emotional responses and horizons of significance, and how these might shape questions, listening and interpretations — structured CRQs worked through repeatedly. Iterative sampling reflections considered.

A second open-question task in Fieldnotes, following and based on the interview paradigm cases.

Back-and-forth parts–whole reading. Paradigm-case comparison and exemplars surfaced using adapted Mattsson et al. (2014) analysis (see Fig. X). Round-4 semi-structured tentative schedule and prompts developed.

Back-and-forth global and parts reads across interview texts, research topic and HP literature. Dwelling with the horizons, alongside continuous journalling and CRQs; sources of commonality (Benner & Wrubel, 1989) considered; themes surfaced; exemplar surfacing and Mattsson et al. (2014) questions. Small-group prompts and private online forum developed. Iterative sampling considered.

Deep interpretive phase: back-and-forth across parts and whole of the text corpus; read-aloud of interview texts; dwelling, surfacing and exemplar surfacing with Mattsson et al. (2014) questions; CRQs including HAA-specific. Writing.