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Researching Care Platforms: Methodological and Ethical Considerations in the Broad Field of Domestic Platform Labour

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  • Orth, Barbara
  • Baum, Franziska

Abstract

This article presents a methodological reflection on the challenges of researching domestic and care work mediated by digital labour platforms. While knowledge production on gig work in the logistics sector has soared, research on care platforms is slow to catch up, especially in very relational forms of home-based work, such as eldercare. We take this uneven development in the literature as a starting point to unpack the empirical conundrums in this field. Drawing on our own experience with trying to recruit care platform workers in Germany between 2019 and 2024, we shed light on the ethical dilemmas we encountered and offer some lessons learnt. The article calls for long-term commitments, multi-sited ethnographies, longitudinal perspectives and mixed-methods designs to study care platforms in the future. Finally, we advocate for researching platform labour beyond the gig.

Suggested Citation

  • Orth, Barbara & Baum, Franziska, 2024. "Researching Care Platforms: Methodological and Ethical Considerations in the Broad Field of Domestic Platform Labour," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue OnlineFir, pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:336452
    DOI: 10.1177/08969205241280360
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alexandrea J. Ravenelle, 2017. "Sharing economy workers: selling, not sharing," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(2), pages 281-295.
    2. Gruszka, Katarzyna & Pillinger, Anna & Gerold, Stefanie & Theine, Hendrik, 2022. "(De)valuation of household cleaning in the platform economy," Ecological Economic Papers 44/2022, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Valeria Pulignano & Claudia Marà & Milena Franke & Karol Muszynski, 2023. "Informal employment on domestic care platforms: a study on the individualisation of risk and unpaid labour in mature market contexts," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 323-338, August.
    4. Paula McDonald & Penny Williams & Robyn Mayes & Maria Khan, 2024. "Income generation on care work digital labour platforms," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 358-380, June.
    5. Paula McDonald & Penny Williams & Robyn Mayes, 2021. "Means of Control in the Organization of Digitally Intermediated Care Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(5), pages 872-890, October.
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