What are online research methods?

Tristram Hooley and Vanessa Dodd

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

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

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

Blended living

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Binary oppositions or points along a

continuum?
Online research
Cyberspace/digital world
Virtual reality
E-learning

Onsite research
Place
Reality
Learning

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

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

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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.

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

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?

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

Type of online research methods

Interrogating
existing data
Fieldwork
Data mining

Collecting new
data
Surveys
Interviews
Focus groups
Experiments
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

Fieldwork
Face-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

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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-apiwith-ruby/

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

Surveys
Advantages

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

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

Survey design Issues

Usability

Will your questionnaire be easy to use?

Will the interface, colours and question types frustrate
people and put them off?

Accessibility

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?

Doability

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?

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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)

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

Online Interviews and focus groups

Advantages

Disadvantages

Carry out interviews or focus groups with

a very geographically dispersed
population

Trust and rapport building

Interview individuals or groups who are

Design of interview/focus group schedule
often difficult to reach such as the less
physically mobile or the socially isolated or
those living in dangerous places
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
www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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.

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

References
Busher, 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): 99107.
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): 1520.
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].

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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
.

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

About us
Tristram Hooley
Professor of Career Education
International Centre for Guidance
Studies
t.hooley@derby.ac.uk

Vanessa Dodd
Research Assistant
International Centre for Guidance
Studies
v.dodd@derby.ac.uk

Blog:
https://adventuresincareerdevelopmen
t.wordpress.com
/
Twitter: @pigironjoe

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS

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.

www.derby.ac.uk/iCeGS