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...the overall process of conducting evaluation research in eHealth requires careful and detailed planning ... and a combination of tenacity and creativity to address the inevitable thorny methodological challenges...
(Ahern, Patrick, Phalen and Neiley, 2006)
Several issues that are problematic in more conventional research still apply, albeit in a different guise, but these must be situated in the context of who or what is being researched, and why, and can be largely overcome with more creative methodologies and considered
preparation.
(Ayling and Mewse, 2009, p.566)
Sensitivity is required in internet research for legal, practical
and ethical reasons.
Balancing the possibilities and pitfalls of internet data collection
is neither simple nor straightforward. Scholars cannot merely adopt
the practices of traditional communication modes, but must approach
the internet as a unique medium that necessitates its own conventions..
Attempting to undertake online data collection is far easier than successfully
accomplishing it. For those who chose to perform it, they must do so
deliberately and cautiously.
(Best and Krueger, 2004, p.85)
...just as the Internet continues to expand its global reach, and as Internet research follows close behind, becoming an ever-more international and interdisciplinary enterprise, international perspectives on the myriad ethical issues that inevitably emerge when we seek to study human
beings
will continually grow urgent.
New technologies not only offer fresh opportunities for research but
also impose new limitations.
(Christians and Chen, 2004, p.18)
Privacy is a more sensitive issue for internet surveys than for conventional
survey media. The intimate relationship between respondents and their
personal computers and between respondents and the online communities
in which they participate create new privacy boundaries that are easily
transgressed by researchers
Internet technologies (such as instant messaging) and cultural artifacts (such as blogs) have recently become more popular... ; ethnographers will need to be alert to such shifts as they search for topics for research, define their research setting, choose and adjust methods of data
collection,
and use appropriate strategies for gaining access.
(Cora Garcia et. al., 2009, p.78)
There are several areas where we are likely to see more research attention. ... One ... is increased attention to the inferential challenges facing all survey methods in a changing society. Another is that the Web itself is changing. ...we need to figure out what this will mean for
traditional
surveys and how we can use the increased interactivity of the Web to improve measurement.
(Couper and Miller, 2009, pp.834-5)
1998 may well be remembered as the year web surveying 'took off!'.
The yet to be answered question is how effectively future web surveys
will be conducted and whether they will gain scientific acceptance.
(Dillman, Tortora and Bowker, 1998, p.15)
We must ensure that cheap entry costs and glowing attractiveness of
internet fieldwork do not result in shoddy 'cowboy' research.
...the unique linguistic characteristics of synchronous online chat might constitute an important new domain for communication broadly, with implications for qualitative research specifically.
(Fox, Morris and Rumsey, 2007, p.546)
...given today's pace of innovation, the internet and how we use it is likely to be quite different even just a few years from now. How this effects sampling for internet-based surveys remains to be seen.
...significant gender differences were found in use of many of the stylistic variables and the supercode analysis showed overall gender-related patterns in interaction styles. The results suggest that gendered power differentials may carry over into online contexts, which has implications
for
the use of CMC in education.
Our final advice to the researcher who wants to implement an internet-based
study is to engage in thorough planning and piloting.
While we believe that internet-mediated primary research has great
potential, it is still in its infancy. The technologies and procedures
need researching further.
New media seem to offer the hope of reaching different populations
of research subjects in new ways, but their promise is tinged with anxiety.
Online research is marked as a special category in which the institutionalised
understandings of the ethics of research must be re-examined.
In the moments of innovation and anxiety which surround the research
methods there are opportunities for reflexivity. Seizing these moments
for reflexivity depends, however, on not taking the radical capacities
of the new technologies for granted, nor treating them as poor substitutes
for a face-to-face gold standard.
...it is worth refining our methodological framework to strengthen the trustworthiness and credibility of future research studies that use email.
Educational researchers have a responsibility to ensure that in whatever research paradigm they work, the research that is conducted is done so within an 'ethic of respect' to those who participate... When research uses the Internet as the medium of investigation, these ethical
responsibilities
become more complex for the educational researcher.
...most research on the internet is centred in Anglo-American cultural
contexts.
(Jankowski and van Selm, 2005, p.203)
At present for most internet researchers it is likely that gaining
access is the least difficult aspect of the research process... What
has become more difficult is determining how to ensure ethical use is
made of texts, sounds and pictures that are accessed for study.
Researchers must take care to note that there is no such thing as ‘the
internet’, no single common experience of its use. Indeed, there
is little that is convergent about the internet as a medium.
The online environment has created a new space for discussion, with
the potential of involving people who may not otherwise be able to participate
in research.
It is hardly an exaggeration to observe that the Internet has had, is having, and will have a major impact on research methods at every stage of the research process.
(Lee, Fielding and Blank, 2008, p.3)
Any discussion of internet surveys should always be made in the context of their type and function, because there exist a wide variety of Internet survey methods with different technological approaches, purposes, populations, and methodologies.
(Lozar Manfreda and Vehovar, 2008, p.265)
Although online research holds promise, its potential should not be
exaggerated: many of the issues and problems of conventional research
still apply in the virtual venue.
While online methodological frameworks are in constant flux, change
is not necessarily always progressive: there is a need for online researchers
to practice their 'craft' with reflexivity.
Web-based survey research has reached a level of maturity such that it can be considered an essential part of the sociological tool kit. In addition to advances with this method, however, it should also be noted that Web survey research has reached a level of crisis, particularly as a tool
of
public opinion research.