Using the Internet to Conduct Academic Research

1
Using the Internet to Conduct Academic Research

• Gove N. Allen
• A. B. Freeman School of Business
• Tulane University

2
Five Main Approaches

• Online Surveys
• Internet Experiments
• Data Collection Agents
• Direct Observation through site hosting
• Direct Observation through browser logging .

3
Online Surveys

• Sample Size
• Time to complete
• Coding error
• Subject Selection Considerations
• Electronic vs. paper instruments
• Branching
• Error Checking
• www.academicSurvey.org .

4
Internet Experiments

• Sample size / treatment strength
• Veridicality
• Subject selection / participation
• Process data
• Post hoc control
• experiment.academicdata.org (4-52-1280) .

5
Data Collection Agents

• Sample size
• Secondary data
• Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal
• Singualr vs. distributed
• Fair use?
• SECRET Agent
• www.academicData.org .

6
Site Hosting

• Primary, behaviroal data
• Limited to one site
• Provide a valued service
• Human subjects considerations
• Education-exchange.org
• Social networks
• Electronic course delivery
• Market manipulation .

7
Browser Logging

• Primary, behavioral data
• Browsing behavior across sites
• Custom Browsers
• Proxy Servers .

8
Questions