what are online reseach methods
DESCRIPTION
Session that I gave to the EdD in April 2015TRANSCRIPT
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What are online research methods?
Tristram Hooley and Vanessa Dodd
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Overview
A digital context?
What is online research?
Understanding online data
• Interrogating existing data
• Collecting new data
www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS
Overview
A digital context?
What is online research?
Understanding online data
• Interrogating existing data
• Collecting new data
www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS
Online and onsite
Blended living
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Binary oppositions or points along a continuum?
Online research Onsite research
Cyberspace/digital world Place
Virtual reality Reality
E-learning Learning
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Overview
A digital context?
What is online research?
Understanding online data
• Interrogating existing data
• Collecting new data
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What is online research?
• Online research methods utilise the internet as their medium for research.
• Online research methods can be used to investigate online and offline phenomena.
• There has been widespread increase in the use of online research methods– Reduces problems associated with time and space– Saves money– Less personal risk– Participant friendly environment
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Limitations
• Online methods may only reach a portion of the target population (i.e. those with access to the internet).
• Ethical issues regarding data protection and informed consent.
• Understanding the range of tools, environments and online cultures is a precursor to successful research.
• The pace of technological change.• Increased blurring of the online and offline environments
creates a need for new composite methodologies
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Ethics
The six guiding principles of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) are:
1. The greater the vulnerability of the individual or group, the greater the obligation to protect the individual or group;
2. Decision-making should be practical and applied to the specific context;
3. Digital information at some point has involved human subjects and the principles guiding research on human subjects apply;
4. Understanding the balance of the rights of the individual with the potential social benefits of the research;
5. Ethical issues may occur at any time during the research and must be addressed as they arise; and
6. The ethical process in research is an explicit and deliberate process.
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Overview
A digital context?
What is online research?
Understanding online data
• Interrogating existing data
• Collecting new data
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Deciding on appropriate methods
• What are your research questions/aims?• What is the population you are interested in studying?• Will you need to collect new data or does the data already
exist?
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Type of online research methods
Interrogating existing data
Fieldwork
Data mining
Collecting new data
Surveys
Interviews
Focus groups
Experiments
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Overview
A digital context?
What is online research?
Understanding online data
• Interrogating existing data
• Collecting new data
FieldworkFace-to-face fieldwork resituated in an online environment to investigate issues pertaining to online subcultures.
• Participation in email lists• Observe discussions• Engage in video
exchanges• Examine chat records• Observe user behaviour
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Fieldwork case studies
• https://sites.google.com/site/wianetnography/home
• http://webheadsinaction.org/
• https://www.edu-nation.net/
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Typical places to mine data
• Research data
(e.g. http://www.data-archive.ac.uk)• Administrative (and clinical) data• User generated data• Intervention interactions
http://blog.jeffdouglas.com/2013/01/16/force-com-streaming-api-with-ruby/
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Overview
A digital context?
What is online research?
Understanding online data
• Interrogating existing data
• Collecting new data
www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS
SurveysAdvantages Challenges
Increasingly common approach (familiar to respondents)
Biases: sample bias, measurement error, non-response bias
Speed and volume of data collection Content: Length, design, wording
Savings in costs to researcher Technical issues
Flexible design Ethical implications
Data accuracy Recruitment
Access to research populations Validity: identity verification
Anonymity Response rates
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Survey design Issues
• Will your questionnaire be easy to use?• Will the interface, colours and question types frustrate
people and put them off?Usability
• Will your questionnaire be accessible?• Will it crash on old computers, render weirdly on
different operating systems and be impossible to use with a screen reader?
Accessibility
• Will your questionnaire be doable?• Are your multi-media dreams running ahead of your
technical ability and are your data arriving in an unusable format?
Doability
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Improving survey response rates
• Make contact before mailing the survey e.g. an introductory email• Provide information that builds trust e.g. names and photos of the researcher• Engage gatekeepers and encourage them to endorse the survey• Think about how your brand e.g. how the university will be perceived by the
participants• Provide clear instructions on how to complete the questionnaire• Limit the amount of personal information you request• Use simple questionnaire format and avoid complex or open-ended questions• Design survey so it takes approximately 10 minutes to complete• Do not include more than 15 questions• Send one or two follow up reminders• Emphasise confidentiality (if appropriate)
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Online survey software
• Surveymonkey (http://surveymonkey.com )• Limesurvey (https://www.limesurvey.org/en/ )• Google forms (https://www.google.co.uk/forms/about/ )• Snap surveys (http://www.snapsurveys.com/ )• Qualtrics (http://www.qualtrics.com/)
To name a few…
Online Interviews and focus groupsAdvantages Disadvantages
Carry out interviews or focus groups with a very geographically dispersed population
Trust and rapport building
Interview individuals or groups who are often difficult to reach such as the less physically mobile or the socially isolated or those living in dangerous places
Design of interview/focus group schedule
Provide savings in costs to the researcher
Keeping people on topic
Supply ready transcribed interview data Dealing with technical hitches
Quickly providing fast and cheap alternatives to face-to-face interviews
Maintaining momentum including dealing with silence
Reduce issues of interviewer effect as participants cannot see each other
Guaranteeing the ethical rights of respondents including informed consent, confidentiality and privacy
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Potential focus group/interview software
Skype http://www.skype.com/en/
Tinychat http://tinychat.com/
A variety of instant messaging platforms (e.g. Whatsapp, Facebook messenger)
Existing online forums/discussion boards
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Experiments
• Experiments create artificial environments within which human behaviour can be observed. They are not used very much in education but are more common in psychology and economics.
• It is possible to move experiments online. • Crowdsourcing platforms may have the capability to
overcome recruitment issues but challenges remain due to lack of researcher control of variables in online environments.
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ReferencesBusher, H., & James, N. (2012). In cyberspace: qualitative methods for educational research. Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education, 223.
Converse P. D., Wolfe E. W., Huang X. and Oswald F. L., (2008), ‘Response Rates for Mixed-Mode Surveys Using Mail and E-mail/Web’, American Journal of Evaluation, 29 (1): 99–107.
Couper, M. P. (2008), Designing Effective Web Surveys, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dillman, D.A. Smyth, J.D. and Christian, L.M. (2009). Internet, Mail, and Mixed-mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Driscoll, C. and Gregg, M. (2010), ‘My profile: The ethics of virtual ethnography’, Emotion, Space and Society, 3(1): 15–20.
Fielding, N., Lee, R.M., & Blank, G. (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: SAGE.
Hine, C. (Ed.) (2005). Virtual methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg.
Ioannidis, J.P. (2013). Informed consent, big data, and the oxymoron of research that is not research. American Journal of Bioethics, 13(4): 40 – 42.
James, N., & Busher, H. (2015). Ethical issues in online research. Educational Research and Evaluation, 21(2), 89-94.
Markham, A. and Buchanan, E. (2012). Ethical decisionmaking and internet research: recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee. Available from: http://aoir.org/reports/ethics2.pdf [Accessed 29 April 2015].
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Our research
• Cann, A., Dimitriou, K. & Hooley, T. (2011). Social Media: A Guide for Researchers. London: Research Information Network.
• Hooley, T. & Dodd, V. (Forthcoming 2016). Online Research Methods for Mental Health. In Anthony, K, Mertz Nagel, D and Goss, S (eds.) The Use of Technology In Mental Health: Applications, Ethics and Practice. Springfield: Charles C Thomas. Second edition.
• Hooley, T., Marriott, J. & Wellens, J. (2012). What is Online Research?: Using the Internet for Social Science Research. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Hooley, T. & Weller, P. (Forthcoming 2015). In Cheruvalil-Contractor, S. & Shakkour, S. Digital Methodologies in the Study of Religion. London: Bloomsbury.
• Hooley, T., Wellens, J., Madge, C. & Goss S. (2010). Online Research Methods for Mental Health. In Anthony, K, Mertz Nagel, D and Goss, S (eds.) The Use of Technology In Mental Health: Applications, Ethics and Practice. Springfield: Charles C Thomas.
• Madge, C., O'Connor, H., Wellens, J., Hooley, T. & Shaw, R. (2006). Exploring online research methods, incorporating TRI-ORM; an online research methods training programme for the social science community.
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About us
Tristram Hooley
Professor of Career Education
International Centre for Guidance Studies
Blog: https://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @pigironjoe
Vanessa Dodd
Research Assistant
International Centre for Guidance Studies
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In conclusion
• Online research methods offer powerful tools for education researchers.
• However, they need to be used carefully with a recognition of the issues that they can pose for ethics, sampling and managing their implementation.
• They offer the opportunity both to analyse existing data and to collect new data.
• It is increasingly possible to blend online and onsite research together.