Online Research

This best-selling handbook has been brought fully up-to-date with coverage of recent developments in the field including social media, big data, data visualization and CAQDAS.

FIND THE INFO YOU'RE AFTER &break;&break;The internet is a valuable research tool for anyone, but finding relevant, accurate information isn't always as easy as the click of a mouse. If you've found yourself at a dead end on the information superhighway, then let experienced researcher Maura Shaw show you the way. &break;&break;Shaw takes you through the techniques and tools you need to find information ranging from historical data to medical information to images and videos. Screen shots of different pages enable you to follow along as Shaw explains the process of finding information. Simple explanations of technical terms and step-by-step instruction help you learn how to: &break;&break; Use bookmarks effectively&break; Evaluate websites for relevancy, accuracy, and currency&break; Use basic and advanced search features, such as Boolean operators&break; Locate and access helpful reference websites&break; Conduct market research to help with writing and publishing&break; Know when you have enough information to stop researching&break; Distinguish between types of search engines &break;&break;With the skills and knowledge found in this comprehensive guide, you'll be able to search the internet with speed and accuracy in no time, so you spend less time digging for information and more time putting it to good use.

Online Research Essentials Designing and Implementing Research Studies Online Research Essentials Written by experts in the field, Online Research Essentials provides step-b-step guidance to the student or new practitioner in how to create, test, and deploy online survey research. The book includes everything needed for planning and developing a survey, putting it online, and formatting data for further analysis. Russell and Purcell provide support for using the popular Microsoft Expression Web and Adobe Dreamweaver web page authoring tools and for using the Access database that is used to collect and store survey results. Online Research Essentials is a comprehensive resource that discusses the practical aspects of survey development and applied research and offers information on a wide range of research-related topics that include: Scientific method and research design Ethical considerations on using the Internet for research Creating web pages Planning the research study Creating a simple survey on the Internet Developing an e-survey Creating more complicated Internet surveys Sampling procedures Developing experimental designs JavaScript and web programming and advanced JavaScript programming Repeated measures and matched group designs

The massive expansion of the internet into every aspect of our lives creates a challenge for social researchers: can they simply transfer their traditional methods and techniques online or do they need to reinvent research methods for the new environment? As online research becomes increasingly prevalent it becomes more important for researchers to have an answer to these questions and an approach to conducting research online. This book is a straightforward, accessible introduction to social research online. It covers the key issues and concerns for social scientists: online surveys, focus groups, interviews, ethnographies and experiments, as well as discussing the implications of social media, and of online research ethics. It provides a detailed, up-to-date glossary and bibliography for those new to the area. Short, clear case studies throughout allow students to see examples of the research in practice. Wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, What is Online Research? shows social scientists of all levels - from undergraduates to established researchers - how to engage in the online environment in appropriate ways, and points the way forward for future research.

The internet and digital technologies have transformed sport and the way that we research sport, opening up new ways to analyse sport organisations, fan communities, networks, athletes, the media, and other key stakeholders in the field. This engaging and innovative book offers a complete introduction to online research methods in sport studies, guiding the reader through the entire research process, and bringing that process to life with sport-related cases and examples. Covering both qualitative and quantitative methods, the book introduces key topics such as generating a research idea, implementing the research design, maintaining good ethical standards, and collecting, analysing and presenting data. It explains how to conduct online surveys, online interviews, and online ethnography in practice, and every chapter contains individual and group activities to encourage the reader to engage with real online research, as well as further reading suggestions to help them develop their knowledge. Online Research Methods in Sport Studies is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics, and researchers with an interest in sport studies, and is a useful reference for practitioners working in sport or sport media who want to improve their professional research skills.

Qualitative researchers can now connect with participants online to collect deep, rich data and generate new understandings of contemporary research phenomena. Doing Qualitative Research Online gives students and researchers the practical and scholarly foundations needed to gain digital research literacies essential for designing and conducting studies based on qualitative data collected online. The book will take a broad view of methodologies, methods and ethics, covering: Ethical issues in research design and ethical relationships with participants Designing online qualitative studies Collecting qualitative data online through interviews, observations, participatory and arts-based research and a wide range of posts and documents. Analyzing data and reporting findings Written by a scholar-practitioner in e-learning and online academia with 15 years’ experience, this book will help all those new to online research by providing a range of examples and illustrations from published research. The text and accompanying materials will offer discussion and assignment ideas for ease of adoption.

Qualitative researchers have grappled with how online inquiry shifts research procedures such as gaining access to spaces, communicating with participants, and obtaining informed consent. Drawing on a multimethod approach, Conducting Qualitative Research of Learning in Online Spaces explores how to design and conduct diverse studies in online environments. Authors Hannah R. Gerber, Sandra Schamroth Abrams, Jen Scott Curwood, and Alecia Marie Magnifico focus on formal and informal learning practices that occur in evolving online spaces. The text shows researchers how they can draw upon a variety of theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and data sources. Examples of qualitative research in online spaces, along with guiding questions, support readers at every phase of the research process.

In an era of constrained research budgets, online interviewing opens up immense possibilities: a researcher can literally conduct a global study without ever leaving home. But more than a decade after these technologies started to become available, there are still few studies on how to utilize online interviews in research. This book provides 10 cases of research conducted using online interviews, with data collected through text-based, videoconferencing, multichannel meetings, and immersive 3-D environments. Each case is followed by two commentaries: one from another expert contributor, the second from Janet Salmons, as editor.