The emotional labour of researching sensitive topics online: Considerations and Implications

Utilising online data within qualitative research is becoming increasingly common, particularly as it offers a useful means for engaging with sensitive topics and accessing social actors in more ‘naturalistic’ settings. However, researching sensitive topics online can expose researchers to a range of emotional narratives, yet researcher emotion remains an area which is relatively underexplored in relation to online qualitative research. This paper then reflects on the emotional implications of qualitative research online through the case study of online infertility research. Three themes are highlighted: what happened next?; empathy from afar, and emotional detachment and these reflect on how emotion can be manifest and utilised, and the strategies that can be adopted to facilitate the negotiation of researching emotive and sensitive topics in online settings. Drawing on Campbell’s (2001) ideas, the paper then sets out what the notion of what ‘emotionally engaged online research’ may look like.