and the participants. As Gunaratnam notes, race and ethnicity are defining and emotional dimensions in the interview process; particularly with minoritized research participants such as members of the Muslim community in Myanmar.8 Therefore, care and consideration were employed when approaching these topics, and I, as the interviewer, limited my participation to open questions that would aim to encourage discussion among the groups. One last point to address was that as the groups will be aware that I am there as an academic researcher to research hate speech and Buddhist/Muslim relations, they may unintentionally answer my questions how they think I might like or expect. It is hoped, however, that open discussions limited this. Interviewing The aim of interviewing was to develop an understanding of how online sources are integrated into communication and information sharing. My method of interviewing, as noted, was semi-structured interviews with two focus groups. Therefore, the interviews were formally bracketed with a set time and space and had a loose schedule to follow, but responses were open so as to attempt to limit the preconceived notions of the interviewer. Focus groups consisted of a mix of Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu men and women living in Yangon, between the ages of 15 to 25. The purpose of using focus groups was so that they can interact with one another as well as with the researcher. The limitations of these interviews were acknowledged, as interviewees were not able to provide uncontested knowledge about their social surroundings. As Davies notes, many analysts have come to accept interviewing as a process between the interviewee and the interviewer to develop understanding about the social world.9 As I acknowledged earlier, limitations arise during these interviews from not being able to speak the Burmese language. Malinowski argues that speaking the language of the native gives the ethnographer an important insight into the native mentality. He tells us that his use of the Motu language during his time in Mailu ‘was no small 8 Gunaratnam, Y., (2003) Researching 'Race' and Ethnicity: Methods, Knowledge and Power, Sage, p.82. 9 Davies, (1999) p.94. - 10 -