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Contribution short abstract

Based on research in student sex work in Slovenia, this paper argues effective quantitative tools require ethnographic experience. Long-term observation formed the precondition for a questionnaire (n=955). Computer methods are thus extensions of ethnographic work that confirm personal narratives.

Contribution long abstract

In the ongoing discussion on whether up-and-coming computer and quantitative methods are polarising anthropological fieldwork, this paper argues that the most effective quantitative tools are those developed with experience gained in ethnographic fieldwork. Based on research in student sex work in Slovenia, I will demonstrate that years of participant observation and digital ethnography did not only constitute a preliminary phase, but also formed a key precondition to building a good online questionnaire that served as an extension and extra confirmation of fieldwork conclusions.

Research into sensitive topics, which commercial sexuality and vulnerability definitely are, requires a delicate balance. Without previous long-term ethnographic research experience, the following quantitative research would fall victim to reductionism and terminological misunderstandings. I will show how ethnography developed specific vocabulary and exhibited a certain moral geography of the student population, which led to the formulation of a questionnaire answered by 955 respondents. No qualitative method would have been able to reach such a population in such a small time frame.

In the context of researching digital sex work, the researcher never really »leaves« the field. The entanglement of physical and digital reality creates permanent involvement. This paper claims that this inability of permanent disconnection is not a methodological flaw but rather a consequence of digital research. By treating questionnaires as layers of ethnographical research rather than final products, one avoids reductionism. Thus, the author understands computer methods as extensions of ethnographic work that serve to confirm personal narratives and experiences.