Research Methods and their Internet Counterparts'

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Research Methods and their Internet Counterparts.

• Survey Interview Ethnography

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Surveys

• Epistemological underpinnings
• Objectivist Aimed at capturing objectively
  existing phenomena.
• Positivist Emphasis on factual reality rather
  than on experiences of reality.
• Questionnaires can be objective, replicated, and
  causality can be drawn out of analysis.

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Objectives of Surveys

• Description Attempt to make descriptive
  assertions about a population of interest.
• Explanation Attempt to prove or disprove an
  explanatory assertion. This could involve making
  links between variables (causal inferences).
• Discovery Attempt to reveal relationships that
  are unknown to researchers.

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Steps in Developing a Survey

• Stating the research question
• Defining the concepts in the research question
• Operationalizing the concepts into measurable
  variables.
• Specifying the independent (cause) and dependent
  (effect) variables
• Developing a causal hypothesis.
• Introducing other variables (antecedent/intervenin
  g)
• Revisiting causal connections
• Drawing a causal model

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Data-Collection Techniques

• Questionnaire
• Non-standardized
• Standardized
• Semi-structured
• Face-to-face (F2F) interviewing
• F2F administering of paper questionnaire
• Telephone interviewing
• Mailing paper questionnaire
• E-mail questionnaire
• Web-based questionnaire

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Types of Surveys

• Cross-Sectional Surveys
• Longitudinal Surveys
• Trend Studies
• Cohort Studies
• Panel Studies
• Variations

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Questionnaire Design

• Constructing valid, reliable, and unbiased
  questions is necessary but not sufficient for
  creating a good questionnaire how the questions
  are organized and presented also deserves careful
  consideration.

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Tips for Design

• What is the importance of the study
• Estimate of time
• Clear and orderly questionnaire
• Begin with relevant and easy questions

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Measurement of Variables

• Categorical variables that are made up of a set
  of attributes that form a category
• Nominal Ordinal
• Numerical variables are used to represent units
  as the numbers carry mathematical value.
• Interval Ratio
• Measurement Error
• Validity Reliability

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Sampling
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Sampling Methods

• Probability
• Simple Random Sampling
• Stratified Sampling
• Cluster Sampling

• Non Probability
• Quota Samples
• Network / Snowball

Probability sampling every element or unit in
the population has some likelihood, or a non-zero
probability, of being in the sample.
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Strategies for Increasing User Response Rates

• Create motivation
• Interest
• Reward
• Agency
• Reduce the cost to the respondent
• Time
• Effort
• Self-esteem
• Emotion
• Direct financial cost
• Establish trust
• The researcher-respondent relationship in the
  survey.

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Web-Based Surveys Advantages

• Speed and volume of data collection
• Savings in costs
• Flexible design
• Data accuracy
• Access to research populations
• Anonymity
• Respondent acceptability

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Web-Based Surveys Disadvantages

• Sample bias
• Measurement error
• Non-response bias
• Text-only alternative
• Length, response and drop-out rates
• Technical problems

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E-mail Questionnaire

• Advantages
• Sent directly to respondent ensuring delivery to
  recipient.
• Requires little preparation, so low cost.
• Easy to design and answer.
• Easy for respondent to return via email 'reply'
  button.
• Few technical skills required.
• Disadvantages
• Questionnaire design usually simplistic.
• Not attractive owing to limited design features.
• Has to be quite short or get very low response
  rates.
• Results must be hand-entered into a data base
  which increases time, costs and data entry error.
  
• Valid email addresses required for sampling
  purposes.
• Anonymity of respondent may be jeopardized as
  email address returned with questionnaire and so
  may respond in a more socially desirable manner.

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General Considerations

• Recruitment approaches and issues
• Sampling approaches and issues
• Identity verification
• Ethical approaches and issues
• Samples http//www.createsurvey.com/demo.htm

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Examples

• Studying the Internet through surveys
• The World Internet Project
• http//www.worldinternetproject.net/
• Studying social issues through Internet-based
  surveys
• The National Geographic Survey James C. Witte,
  Lisa M. Amoroso and Philip E. N. Howard, 2000
  Research Methodology Method and Representation
  in Internet-Based Survey ToolsMobility,
  Community, and Cultural Identity in Survey2000
  Social Science Computer Review, 18 179

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Lab Activity

• Form pairs
• Go online
• Activity 1
• Find an online survey and study its aims,
  questions and format.
• Fill out the survey (optional)
• Prepare to report your experience to the class.
• Activity 2
• Review the following materials (refer to the
  Surveys section of the class website).
• Examine the methodologies of the respective
  studies.
• Record the main results.
• Prepare to report to class What kind of
  knowledge of the Canadian Internet do these
  studies provide?

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Qualitative Interview

• Aims of the interview
• Types of interviews
• According to the questionnaire
• Standardized
• Structured
• Semi-structured
• Narrative
• According to the mode of communication
• F2F
• E-mail
• Phone
• Internet-based
• According to the main analytical focus
• Interview as topic
• Interview as resource
• Sampling
• Recruitment
• Conditions
• Researcher- respondent relationship in the
  interview.

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Internet-Based Interviews

• Advantages
• Savings of cost
• Location, geography and travel
• Equipment
• Flexibility
• Venue
• Engagement in the online interview
• Speed
• Disadvantages
• Distracted participants
• Participant interest and motivation
• Language use
• Technological competence
• Access
• Identity verification

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Internet-Based Interviews

• Types
• Asynchronous vs. synchronous interviews
• Asynchronous interviews Email
• Asynchronous focus groups
• Synchronous online interviews
• Time in Internet-based interviews
• Researcher-respondent relationship in
  Internet-based interviews
• Designing the interview script
• Establishing respondent identity
• Rapport
• Language Use

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Combining Internet-Based and F2F Interviews

• Why?
• When?
• How?
• Transition from online to offline
  researcher-respondent relationship
• What do we get from each kind of interview?

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Lab Activity Internet Use in this Class

• Split into pairs
• Work individually to design a short interview
  script and question guide regarding the others
  Internet use.
• E-mail them to your partner
• Review the answers of your partner
• Report to class what you did well and what not so
  well. What did you learn about the others
  Internet use?

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Ethnography

• What is ethnography?
• Main tenets of ethnography.
• How is the ethno defined?
• How is the graphy performed?
• Evolution of the concept of ethnography.
• Contemporary debates regarding ethnography.

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Virtual Ethnography

• What are the objects of virtual ethnography?
• Virtual communities
• Online networks
• Online user cultures
• Offline user cultures
• Other
• How do the approaches and techniques of the
  virtual ethnographer change?
• What can we learn about the Internet through
  virtual ethnography?

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Steps in Virtual Ethnography

• The ethnographer as participant vs. observer
• Entering the field
• Negotiating access and acceptance
• Finding informants
• Observing the natives
• Talking to the natives
• Researcher-respondent relationship in virtual
  ethnography.
• Writing the ethnography
• Validation issues

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Content Analysis
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Discourse Analysis
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Conversation Analysis
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Network analysis

• Structural analysis of social networks
• Relation content, direction and strength
• Tie connects a pair of actors by one or more
  relations
• Multiplexity
• Ego and whole networks
• Range
• Centrality-isolation
• Stars, cut points, cliques
• Density
• Positions

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Network analysis of blogsSusan C. Herring, Inna
Kouper, John C. Paolillo, Lois Ann
Scheidt,Michael Tyworth, Peter Welsch, Elijah
Wright, and Ning Yu(2005)