The internet is a compelling tool for research, enabling efficient, cost-effective data collection and facilitating access to large samples and new populations. This book presents a state-of-the-art guide to the internet as a tool for conducting research in the social and behavioural sciences using qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. New to this edition: Fully re-written to reflect the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies Expanded coverage of web surveys for data collection Unobtrusive methods to harvest data from online archives and documents New practical tools and resources, where to find them, and how to keep up-to-date with new developments as they emerge New chapter on research ethics and discussion of ethical practicalities throughout Guiding the reader through the theoretical, ethical and practical issues of using the internet in research, this is an essential resource for researchers wishing to assess how the latest techniques, tools and methods in internet-mediated research may support and expand research in their own field.

Online research methods are popular, dynamic and fast-changing. Following on from the great success of the first edition, published in 2008, The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, Second Edition offers both updates of existing subject areas and new chapters covering more recent developments, such as social media, big data, data visualization and CAQDAS. Bringing together the leading names in both qualitative and quantitative online research, this new edition is organised into nine sections: 1. Online Research Methods 2. Designing Online Research 3. Online Data Capture and Data Collection 4. The Online Survey 5. Digital Quantitative Analysis 6. Digital Text Analysis 7. Virtual Ethnography 8. Online Secondary Analysis: Resources and Methods 9. The Future of Online Social Research The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, Second Edition is an essential resource for anyone interested in the contemporary practice of computer-mediated research and scholarship.

Historically, social researchers have shown a willingness to exploit new technologies to enhance, facilitate and support their various activities. However, arguably no other technological development has influenced the landscape of social research as rapidly and fundamentally as the Internet. This collection avoids both uncritical embrace and wholesale dismissal by considering some of the key literature in the field of Internet research methods. Volume One: Core Issues, Debates and Controversies in Internet Research introduces themes and issues that run across all four volumes such as: epistemology, ontology and methodology in the online world; access, social divisions and the ′digital divide′; and the ethics of online research. Volume Two: Taking Research Online - Internet Survey and Sampling addresses the range of resources, digital archives and Internet-based data sources that exist online from relatively straightforward and practical guides to such material through to more polemical pieces which consider problems relating to the use, access and analysis of online data and resources. Volume Three: Taking Research Online - Qualitative Approaches considers the broad range of approaches to conducting researching via or ′in′ the Internet. The focus is on conventional methods that have been ′taken online′, and which in doing so, have become transformed in scope and character. Volume Four: Research ′On′ and ′In′ the Internet - Investigating the Online World follows logically from that which precedes it in exploring how social research has been ′taken online′, not simply through the deployment of existing methods and techniques via the Internet, but in researchers′ increasing recognition and investigation of the online world as a sphere of human interaction - a socio-cultural arena to be explored ′from the desktop′ as it were.

Internet Research Skills is a clear, concise guide to effective online research for social science and humanities students. The first half of the book deals with publications online, devoting separate chapters to academic articles, books, official publications and news sources, which form the core secondary sources for social science research. The second half of the book deals with the open web, a vast and confusing realm of materials, many of which have no direct print counterpart. The third edition has been updated throughout and now includes: - coverage of cutting edge online services as well as newly developed approaches to using online materials - a new chapter on organising your research and internet research methods - additional material on the use of social networks for research. - illustrations, examples and short exercises to help you put what you learn into practice. Internet Research Skills is an invaluable guide for undergraduate students carrying out research projects and for postgraduate students working on theses and dissertations.

Offering a concise, comprehensive guide to conducting research on the Internet, this book provides a detailed explanation of all the main areas of Internet research. It distinguishes between primary research (using the Internet to recruit participants, to administer the research process and to collect results) and secondary research (using the Internet to access available material online). The book is designed for social science researchers and presents a user-friendly, practical guide that will be invaluable to both students and researchers who wish to incorporate the Internet into their research practice.

Whether or not one believes the hyperbolic claims about the Internet being the biggest thing since the invention of the wheel, the Internet is a medium with great consequences for social and economic life. Doing Internet Research is written to help people discern in what ways it has commanded the public imagination, and the methodological issues that arise when one tries to study and understand the social processes occurring within the Internet. Each contributor to the volume offers original responses in the search for, and critique of, methods with which to study the Internet and the social, political, economic, artistic, communicative phenomena occurring within and around it. This book provides encouragement for readers getting started with Internet research and also provides perspective on this new and ubiquitous communication medium.

Highlighting the progress made by researchers in using Web-based surveys for data collection, this timely volume summarizes the experiences of leading behavioral and social scientists from Europe and the US who collected data using the Internet. Some chapters present theory, methodology, design, and implementation, while others focus on best practice examples and/or issues such as data quality and understanding paradata. A number of contributors applied innovative Web-based research methods to the LISS panel of CentERdata collected from over 5,000 Dutch households. Their findings are presented in the book. Some of the data is available on the book website. The book addresses practical issues such as data quality, how to reach difficult target groups, how to design a survey to maximize response, and ethical issues that need to be considered. Innovative applications such as the use of biomarkers and eye-tracking techniques are also explored. Part 1 provides an overview of Internet survey research including its methodologies, strengths, challenges, and best practices. Innovative ways to minimize sources of error are provided along with a review of mixed-mode designs, how to design a scientifically sound longitudinal panel and avoid sampling problems, and address ethical requirements in Web surveys. Part 2 focuses on advanced applications including the impact of visual design on the interpretability of survey questions, the impact survey usability has on respondents’ answers, design features that increase interaction, and how Internet surveys can be effectively used to study sensitive issues. Part 3 addresses data quality, sample selection, measurement and non-response error, and new applications for collecting online data. The issue of underrepresentation of certain groups in Internet research and the measures most effective at reducing it are also addressed. The book concludes with a discussion of the importance of paradata and the Web data collection process in general, followed by chapters with innovative experiments using eye-tracking techniques and biomarker data. This practical book appeals to practitioners from market survey research institutes and researchers in disciplines such as psychology, education, sociology, political science, health studies, marketing, economics, and business who use the Internet for data collection, but is also an ideal supplement for graduate and/or upper level undergraduate courses on (Internet) research methods and/or data collection taught in these fields.