Using Online Questionnaires, Synchronous and Asynchronous Interviews in Social Science Research

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• Using Online Questionnaires, Synchronous and
  Asynchronous Interviews in Social Science Research

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Session Outline

• In this session we will
• cover qualitative and quantitative online
  research
• discuss your experience of online research and
  offer you some innovative case studies
• talk about how to conduct online research and
  give you an insight into the participants
  experience
• show you where to go to find out more about
  online research.

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Exploring Online Research Methods
Funded by ESRC Research Methods Programme (Phase
2).
Website located at www.geog.le.ac.uk/ORM.

• Comprensive resources about on-line research
  methods focusing on
• on-line questionnaires
• on-line interviews.

• Guidance offered on
• ethical issues
• technical issues.

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Researching OnlineCase Study The Cyberparents
Project

• Pioneering online research (1998-9)
• Increasing number of parenting sites in the UK
  http//www.babyworld.co.uk/
• Recognition of the role of the Internet in the
  lives of new parents and the immense inner sense
  of security that comes with discovering that real
  people most of them parents, some of them
  nurses, doctors and midwives are available,
  around the clock if you need them (Rheingold,
  199416).
• Aimed to examine how, why and in what ways new
  parents use the Internet as an information source
  about parenting and as a form of social support.
• Used combination of online methods web-based
  survey and interviews

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The Research Process

• Established contact with Babyworld
• Interviewed key staff members
• Access agreed
• Established webpages for the project within the
  University website (www.geog.le.ac.uk/baby)
• Meet the researchers (included photos of us)
• Project information
• Survey
• Used University crest and linked only to
  University and babyworld

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Web-based Questionnaire

• Hypertext link from babyworld homepage to our
  web-based questionnaire
• Used hook question are you a cyberparent and
  logo
• Clicking on link automatically redirected user to
  our site
• Chose not to use incentive
• Web-based questionnaire
• Simple and quick to complete
• Drop down menus
• Ranking and open questions
• Final question about further participation
• Pop up thank you once submitted successfully
• http//www.geog.le.ac.uk/baby/babyworldform.asp

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On-line synchronous interviews

• Rapid results - dwindled after a few days
• Sixteen respondents expressed interest in further
  interview.
• Respondents geographically widely dispersed.
• Many had new babies and/or were pregnant.
• All internet/technology users.
• Logical progression to interview online.

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Software

• Debated asynchronous/synchronous interviews
• Hotline Connect conferencing software familiar to
  researchers was available
• Used as tool for distance learning students
• Facilitates real-time chat through specific
  server address
• Advantages
• Easy to install on PC and Apple Mac.
• No need for sophisticated hardware or high
  technical ability
• Facilitators have control confidentiality
• Low cost

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The Interview Process

• Involved time investment in setting up
  times/dates and sending/installing software
• Synchronous focus group interviews using
  semi-structured interview schedule
• Prepared questions in advance along with script
  and then cut and paste
• Worked well but at times unable to use script and
  other times used it just because we could
• Had to use typed words to replace usual visual
  pointers e.g. building rapport

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Engagement, Interaction and Communication in
Synchronous Online Interviews

• Virtual interviews challenge conventional
  interviewing practices, in particular
• Rapport building (e.g. lack of visual/physical
  pointers)
• Interview design
• Language use
• Virtual interface
• Insiders and outsiders
• However, the vast majority of social spaces on
  the internet bear a remarkable resemblance to
  real world locales (Kitchin 1998395).

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Visual Clues and Rapport

• Textbook guides highlight importance of physical
  and visual clues in gaining trust, building
  rapport and assessing each other
• smile and dress in a similar way to those you
• will be interviewing (Robson, 1993236)
• Your appearance, speech, and behaviour must be
  acceptable
• to your research participants (Glesne and
  Peshkin, 199295).
• Shared characteristics, age, gender, ethnicity,
  status can have impact.

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Virtual Rapport

• Set up web pages with photographs
• Established relationships via email
• Tried to stress similarities
• Carefully designed interview schedule/script
• Particular focus on sharing profile data
• Overall this seemed to work well

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First of all we thought it would be a good idea
to introduce ourselves

• Hello everyone. I'm Clare and I have a daughter
  called Isabelle who
• is nearly 2 . I work in the geography department
  of Leicester
• University on a 3-day contract and Isabelle is in
  a local community
• nursery on those days. I am 35 years old, white
  and my partner is a
• psychiatric nurse. I don't use the Internet very
  often because I am so
• busy at work and I don't have computer access at
  home.
• Hen and Clare Hi Julia, Jane and Jo, welcome to
  the chat - could
• you tell us a bit more about yourselves?

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• Julia
• Hi, I am 34 on Sunday (!!) with a daughter,
  Anabelle aged 10 months. I am a full time mother
  and am loving avery minute of it.
• Jane
• Hi, I'm Jane, I'm 29 years old, 30 in September.
  I'm a new mum, with a daughter , Joy who was born
  on March 15th, so coming up for 3 months now. I'm
  a stay at home mum, and about to go crazy at
  times, as she's had colic, and screams like mad..
  I love being a mum!!
• Jo
• Hello everyone! I am 33 years old, married and
  have a 21 month old daughter who I'm sure is
  starting the terrible twos early! I work part
  time (reluctantly) but love being a mum.

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Engagement and Rapport

• a stranger wanting to do academic research into
  online communities is often viewed as an
  unwelcome arbitrary intrusion (Paccagnella,
  19973)
• In this case insider status facilitated entry
  and success of method.
• Did not encounter the aura of suspicion
  surrounding stranger to stranger communication in
  cyberspace(Smith, 199740)

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Engagement and Rapport

• Seems to be tendency to be more open, even to
  strangers, than in offline encounters
• As Poster (199590) has argued
• Without visual clues about gender, age,
  ethnicity and social status conversations open up
  in directions which might otherwise be avoided.
  Participants in these communities often express
  themselves with little inhibition and dialogues
  flourish and develop quickly

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Written Conversation

• Changed interview conversation
• Interrupting a virtual conversation somehow felt
  more acceptable in the written word than in the
  spoken F2F context.
• Supportive interactions?
• Empathy, smiling, nodding etc.?
• Silences and probes - how do you deal with this?
• Spellings, paralinguistic expressions e.g. lol,
  imho, emoticons
• Less structured and more interactive as questions
  posted with time lags so final interview
  transcript littered with interruptions, typos and
  non-sequential chat.
• Real advantage - transcripts ready made

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Online Interviews Key Issues

• Why use online methods?
• if the research question involves an online
  social phenomenon, a potential strength of the
  method is to be researching in the location of
  interest (Gaiser, 1997136).
• Type of interview (synchronous or asynchronous)
• Software (choice, installation)
• Technical ability and access to computer
  (researcher and subjects)
• Venue (convenient, safe space)
• Carefully designed interview (prepared text,
  intros)
• Virtual rapport (how can you establish this?)
• Technical hitches/language use.

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Conclusions- the potentials

• Aid interaction with formerly unapproachable
  groups.
• Access to group with shared, narrowly defined
  interests.
• Provide previously unobtainable information and
  perspectives.
• Although sampling problems remain, the indicative
  data gained from on-line research may be useful
  for research on population sub-groups and for
  exploratory analysis.
• Savings of time and money.
• As on-line research is still in its infancy, many
  of its potentials are still to be discovered and
  evaluated.

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and the limitations

• Novel techniques so while some of their
  limitations may therefore be solved in time,
  others may never be remedied.
• Indeed although the data collected by virtual
  interviews, in particular, can be rich and
  valuable to the researcher, the potential of
  on-line research should not be exaggerated many
  of the issues and problems of conventional
  research methods still apply in the virtual
  venue.
• While online methodological frameworks are in
  constant flux, change is not necessarily always
  progressive faster and cheaper is not
  necessarily synonymous with better.

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So.

• As Dodd (199860) argues, we must ensure that
• cheap entry costs and glowing attractiveness
  of Internet fieldwork do not result in shoddy
  cowboy research.
• It is unlikely that online research is going to
  replace onsite research but rather it is another
  option in the methodological toolkit.
• Therefore the use of online research methods must
  themselves be carefully considered.

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Key sections of the site
Introduction
Modules
Resources
Background
Detailed breakdown on the Website Overview sheet.
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Examples Case Studies
Module index
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Reference tool
Site link

• While you are using the site you can collect
  references.
• Click on the reference you want to bring up the
  full reference and add it to your reference list
• Choose Open my reference list to see the
  references you have collected.
• Save or print the list before you finish using
  the site.

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Summary of the site

• You can find
• Information
• Tips/hints
• Technical advice
• Methodological discussion
• Theoretical discussion
• Case studies
• Learning activities

For Research design Solving practical
problems Self-directed learning Teaching
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