![]() ![]() Overall, I found that the use of free, offline software and cheap, energy-efficient, lightweight hardware did not compromise the efficiency or integrity of my research. Using this methodology, I produced six manuscripts (at varying stages ranging from project conception to proofing), including Pham et al. I managed references using the Linux application “JabRef” (Version 5.0, 2020) with which I auto-generated a reference list. I created accompanying figures using LucidChart (Version 2.9.14, 2020). bVNC offers additional utility by turning the phone screen into both a monitor and a touchpad for cursor movement and zoom-in/out gestures. I ran LibreOffice, conventionally a desktop application, by utilizing the Linux desktop operating system “Debian” (Version 10.4, 2020) and emulated Debian on Android using the Android apps “UserLAnd” (Version 2.7.2, 2020) and “bVNC” (Version 4.1.0, 2020). LibreOffice can save in Microsoft file formats (which some journals did require), albeit with less fidelity than Microsoft Word itself (Version 0.20214, 2020). I typed/formatted via a touch-keyboard using the Android word processor app “Collabora Office” (Version 4.2.3, 2020) and formatted via a physical keyboard using the more fully featured Linux application LibreOffice (Version 6.4, 2020), on which Collabora Office is based. Using my field note setup, I wrote initial drafts of manuscripts while conducting a separate ethnographic study in another region. However, any Android-based OS will suffice. To prepare my smartphone, I installed the Android-based (mobile operating system ), open-source Lineage OS (Version 16.0, 2019) so that people who can only afford older and cheaper smartphones can use that hardware by replacing their original OS with one that offers more up-to-date usability, security, and software compatibility. I selected the smartphone form-factor to take advantage of four things: (1) a 24-fold percentage increase in LMIC mobile-phone ownership between 2000 to 2015 and its now higher accessibility relative to electricity or clean water ( World Bank 2018a, 2018b World Health Organization 2015) (2) younger generations that have more experience with smartphones than with desktop computers ( Evers 2018) (3) light-weight, energy-efficient features that suit working in and traveling between electricity- and Internet-limited regions and (4) external powerbanks (INIU-10000mAh $17.71), which can power smartphones but not conventional laptops. I did all my ethnographic work using a low-specification smartphone (LG K20 PLUS $46 all prices estimated using e-auction website eBay). Thus, if we can make low-cost locally available technology work for collecting and analyzing field data, we can create a more diversified and equitable research community. For example, we have seen technological opportunities explode in resource-poor areas in tandem with the smartphone’s evolution and continued development in open source (free and public code) software ( Câmara and Fonseca 2007 Kalogriopoulos et al. However, the fundamentals of qualitative research may not require these expenses ( Do and Yamagata-Lynch 2017 Heyerdahl 1950 Lane 2018). My total came to $2,138 (for a breakdown of the expenditures, see Online Appendix Table 1). ![]() 2018 Banner and Albarrran 2009 Hart and Achterman 2017 Lewis 2004 ONLYOFFICE vs LibreOffice 2018 PC Magazine 2019). To get a sense of what one qualitative research project may cost, I tabulated the hypothetical expenditures for one LMIC-based researcher unaffiliated with a HIC-academic institution ( Abdekhodaie et al. Others with little access to online banking systems cannot climb the pay walls that guard online payments in the first place. Today, universities in LMIC are training ethnographers, but to stay on pace with conventional qualitative research standards, those ethnographers must use industry-standard tools, many of which require exorbitant hardware or license fees ( Al-Busaidi 2008 Madrigal and McClain 2012 Mays and Pope 1995 St. Traditionally, ethnography was done by people from high-income countries (HIC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
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