Studying Hard-to-Reach Communities Online: The Case of Home Education in Italy

In her presentation, Dr. Anna Chinazzi critically examined the concept of “hard-to-reach” populations in online research, challenging conventional understandings that often attribute this label to an inherent deficit in the population. Instead, she argued that this label frequently obscures complex socio-cultural dynamics. Drawing on a socio-ecological framework—which explores interactions across individual, interpersonal, community, and systemic levels—Dr. Chinazzi reframed “hard-to-reach” not as a limitation, but as an opportunity. This perspective encourages researchers to view these populations as a methodological challenge that can inspire more inclusive research approaches. Applying this lens to home-educating families in Italy, she illustrated how research hesitancy arises from specific socio-cultural contexts. Despite being a legal practice, home education lacks broad social acceptance, contributing to sensitive dynamics around notions of "good parenting" and participant engagement. Digital methods, she argued, are particularly critical for studying home education communities. Digital spaces function as dynamic social infrastructures that facilitate social linkages, identity formation, knowledge-sharing ecosystems, and the co-construction of advocacy narratives. These spaces also revealed complex trust dynamics: netnographic fieldwork proved crucial in uncovering participants' skepticism toward research—mistrust that might have gone unnoticed with other methods due to the self-selection of voluntary participants. Dr. Chinazzi concluded by emphasizing the need to uphold participant agency. She urged researchers to actively address structural inequities while acknowledging and safeguarding individuals' right to opt out of participation. She advocated for methodological flexibility grounded in a critical awareness of power dynamics to navigate these challenges with sensitivity and equity.