|
 


 

Tristram Hooley
International Centre for Guidance Studies
www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
 = 
 
Introduce yourself and tell us
‡ What your research is about
‡ What experience you¶ve had of online research
methods
‡ Technophobe or technophile?
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 =
  
   
4ake a note of the website you:
‡ used last
‡ use most
‡ use most for work
‡ use most for play/social life
  

 _
   
Online research Onsite research

Cyberspace Place

Virtual reality Reality

E-learning Learning
 '  
 |
Working in groups of 3 identify:
‡ Some advantages of using online research
methods
‡ Some disadvantages of online research
methods

Capture each of these on a different post-it.

 È

 
 
 
‡ Huge uptake of OR4 especially online questionnaires
‡ Useful in particular situations e.g. researching online
populations and previously difficult to contact groups
‡ Can mitigate distance and space and so
internationalise research
‡ Can save time and money
‡ Decrease personal risk
‡ Different dynamics of communication:
- more neutral venue?
- more thoughtful responses?
- different participants open up/contribute?
 _



‡ But issues of digital access and digital literacy can limit
who we talk to
‡ Drop off rates for questionnaires high
‡ Issues of identity verification
‡ Challenges to building rapport in interviews
‡ Circumstances of interview beyond interviewers control
‡ Technical obstacles
‡ Still need degree of technical competence and
institutional support (although this is getting easier all
the time)
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 @  
 

‡ http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=e
n&formkey=dGFLNUhUZ2pWc2d5VHJWV1Rr
dF9UOHc64

‡ Links from
adventuresincareerdevelopment.posterous.com
 @ 
 


Web-based questionnaire
h





  








E-mail questionnaire
h
 
 

   

 


uestionnaire attached to an email

h

 
   
  

 
 

 

 6 

What are Who are How are

your you talking you talking
research to? to them?
Sampling
uestion type
questions/
Recruitment Survey length
aims Non-response Language
 È

 
 

‡ Increasingly common approach (familiar to
respondents)
‡ Speed and volume of data collection
‡ Savings in costs
‡ Flexible design
‡ Data accuracy
‡ Access to research populations
‡ Anonymity
 ]


 
 

‡ Sample bias
‡ 4easurement error (Sax et al 2003)
‡ Non-response bias
‡ Length response and drop out rates
‡ Technical problems
‡ Ethical issues
 j

 
‡ Recruitment
‡ Sampling
‡ Identity verification
‡ Incentives
‡ Response rates
    

‡ 4ake contact before mailing the survey e.g. an introductory
letter
‡ Provide information that builds trust e.g. names and photos of
the researchers
‡ Engage gatekeepers and encourage them to endorse the survey
‡ Think about how your brand (e.g. the university) will be
perceived by the subjects
‡ 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)
    

Fan W. & Yan Z. (2010). Factors affecting
response rates of the web survey: A systematic
review. — 
    
  (2)
132-139.
http://www.citeulike.org/user/pigironjoe/article/62
49505
 j 
The quantity of information that may be
generated and the speed at which responses
can be collected can result in pleasing piles of
data- but we should be wary of being seduced by
sheer quantity; data is only useful if it is
representative of the larger population.
=



 ] 
=  
Usability Or will the interface colours and question
types frustrate people and put them off?

=  

Accessibility Or will it crash on old computers render

weirdly on different operating systems and
be impossible to use with a screen reader?
=  

Doability Or are your multi-media dreams running

ahead of your technical ability and are your
data arriving in an unusable format?
 
 


‡ Wide range of options available for developing

online questionnaires.
‡ 4ost claim to be WYSIWYG and to require no
technical knowledge. (@ )
‡ Before deciding on what to use:
± Do some research
± Speak to your technical support
± Run a pilot
 Ä  @
‡ The impact of different question types
http://wads.le.ac.uk//gg/orm/timingform.htm
 | 
‡ @   Get someone else to do it for you.

‡  
± Google Forms http://docs.google.com FREE
± Lime Survey http://www.limesurvey.org FREE
± BOS http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk CHEAP
± Survey4onkey http://www.surveymonkey.com
± Snap http://www.snapsurveys.com
± Using the functionality of your website or VLE
± Bespoke systems

‡   
± Building a questionnaire using your technical skills and the
software and hardware resources available.
± Typically using HT4L JavaScript ASP Flash etc.

See the Technical Guide for further advice

www.geog.le.ac.uk/orm/technical/techsoftware1.htm
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 ! 
 
‡ Part of the Google Docs suite
‡ Go to www.google.com
‡ Choose ]  from !
‡ Choose " from # $
‡ Use % to add new questions headers
or pages
 Ä 
‡ Create a survey to be sent to all European air
travellers who travelled during the period the
ash cloud was causing delays and
cancellations.
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 @ !

‡ Go into http://tinychat.com/orm
‡ Write what you want to know about online
interviewing
‡ If you can answer anyone else¶s question do
so.
‡ If you can¶t answer anyone else¶s question ask
some clarifying questions.
 
 


‡ Cyberparents research project. Clare 4adge and
Henrietta O¶Connor;
‡ Role of the Internet in the lives of new parents.
 @ !
 " #
 Pioneering online research (1998-9)
‡ Increasing number of parenting sites in the UK:
http://www.babyworld.co.uk/
‡ Recognition of the role of the Internet in the lives of
new parents.
‡ Aimed to examine how why and in what ways new
parents use the Internet as an information source
about parenting and as a form of social support
‡ Used combination of online methods: web-based
survey and synchronous online interviews
 @ 
 " 
‡ Established contact with Babyworld
‡ Interviewed key staff members
‡ Access agreed
‡ Established webpages for the project within the
University website (www.geog.le.ac.uk/baby)
± 4eet the researchers (included photos of us)
± Project information
± Survey
‡ Used University crest and linked only to University and
babyworld

$


http://caspian.geog.le.ac.uk/baby/
 | $
     
‡ Rapid results from questionnaire - dwindled after a few
days
‡ Sixteen respondents expressed interest in further
interview
‡ Respondents geographically widely dispersed
‡ 4any had new babies and/or were pregnant
‡ All internet/technology users
‡ Logical progression to interview online
 @  " 
‡ Involved time investment in setting up times/dates and
sending/installing software
‡ Synchronous focus group interviews using semi-
structured interview schedule
‡ Prepared questions in advance along with µscript¶ and
then cut and paste
‡ Had to use typed words to replace usual visual
pointers e.g. building rapport
j   

 
 Ä 
 % 
 
!  
  
j   |
  

‡ Virtual interviews challenge conventional interviewing

practices in particular:

± Establishing rapport (e.g. lack of visual/physical

pointers)
± Interview conversation written

‡ However î
    
  




  
 


 
 
 


 (Kitchin 1998 395).
 ã

!


 
‡ Textbook guides highlight importance of physical and
visual clues in gaining trust building rapport and
µassessing¶ each other:
î 



      




 (Robson 1993:236)
î
  

 

 

   


 
   

  (Glesne
and Peshkin 1992:95).

‡ Shared characteristics age gender ethnicity status

can have impact.
 ã


 

‡ Set up web pages with photographs

‡ Established relationships via email/phone
‡ Tried to stress similarities
‡ Carefully designed interview schedule/script
‡ Particular focus on sharing profile data
‡ Overall this seemed to work well
 Ä

 
  



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 Ä 
 

 

‡ î 
  
 

 

 

 
  
 


  


    (Paccagnella 1997:3)
‡ Our µinsider status¶ helped entry/ µsuccess¶ of method
‡ Also there can be a tendency to be more open even
to strangers than in offline encounters
‡ µ     
    


 

 
  

 
  

   






 !  

 
 

"




  
  


   




h  Poster (1995:90)
 ! 

‡ Changed interview conversation
‡ Interrupting a virtual conversation somehow felt more
acceptable in the written word than in the spoken F2F
context
‡ Supportive interactions?
‡ Empathy smiling nodding etc?
‡ Silences and probes - how do you deal with this?
‡ Spellings paralinguistic expressions e.g. lol
µemoticons¶
‡ Less structured and more interactive as questions
posted with time lags so final interview transcript
littered with interruptions typos and non-sequential
chat
‡ Real advantage - transcripts ready made
 j  

‡ Parenting gone wired: empowerment of new mothers

on the internet?  
—   #
 7 2
199-220.
‡ 4others in the making? Exploring notations of liminality
in hybrid cyber/space. $  
% 

 #

 30 1 83-97.
‡ On-line with e-mums: exploring the Internet as a
medium for research. &
 34 1 92-102.
 |
  6
‡ Why use online interviews?
‡ Type of interview (synchronous or
asynchronous)
‡ One-to-one or group?
‡ Text based or using audio or video?
‡ What software/service will you use?
‡ How are you going to record retrieve and
analyse data?
 j  
  
‡ Adobe ConnectNow
http://www.adobe.com/acom/connectnow/
‡ TinyChat http://tinychat.com/ (probably need to
upgrade for anything serious)
‡ GoogleTalk http://www.google.co.uk/talk/
‡ 4any VLEs also have chat and virtual
classroom tools that can be used for this kind
of purpose.
 @ 

 
  
‡ Think about trust and rapport building
‡ Prepare text intros etc that you can paste in
‡ Be prepared to be assertive to bring people
onto topic
‡ Be aware of the possibility for direct messages
to individuals
‡ Consider a Plan B for dealing with technical
hitches
‡ An hour is a long time in a virtual focus group
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 Ä 
‡ Get into groups of 5
‡ One of you is going to be the researcher.
Choose who and leave the room.
 "


‡ You are a group of business people who have
been given a free flight if you will participate in
a focus group about the service the airline you
use delivers.
± You are generally co-operative but all
experienced disruption due to the ash cloud.
You would like to put pressure on the company
to compensate you.
± You are also interested in swapping any details
about cheaper flights with other participants
 ! 
‡ http://tinychat.com/ormash1
‡ http://tinychat.com/ormash2
‡ http://tinychat.com/ormash3
‡ http://tinychat.com/ormash4
‡ http://tinychat.com/ormash5
 |
‡ What sort of space is the internet?
‡ Online surveys and questionaires
‡ Creating an online survey
‡ Online focus groups and interviews
‡ Taking part in an online focus group
‡ Ethics
 
 |
 
  

‡ There is currently a big push to embed research ethics

more formally in the culture of the social sciences.
± Economic and Social Research Council (2005).
(

 ' (
.
± University of Derby Research Ethics
http://www.derby.ac.uk/about-the-university/ethics-and-
governance .
‡ Yet there is far less of a consensus about online
research ethics.
‡ This asks the question ³is there anything special about
the online environment that requires new set of ethical
guidelines?´
Ä 

 
 
  

‡ Ä#& %'(Ä =
#  (2002)
'

 


 

)



  
&%(
 


.
http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf.
‡ This stresses ³Ethical pluralism´
‡ Argues that ³there is more than one ethical decision-
making framework used to analyze and resolve those
[internet research]conflicts.´
‡ It is also worth noting that the online world of ³email
chatrooms webpages various forms of instant
messaging 4UDs and 4OOs USENET newsgroups´
described in this report in 2002 is now radically
transformed.
 =   
One of the problems of mapping existing research ethics
onto the online world is the difficulty of deciding how to
categorise the spaces that you are observing/interacting
with.

Public Private

Published Informal

Writing Speech

Personal Broadcast

Anonymous Identified
 Ä 

!


 
³The great variety of human inter/actions
observable online and the clear need to study
these inter/actions in 

 ways
«This interdisciplinary approach to research
leads however to a central ethical difficulty: the
primary assumptions and guiding metaphors and
analogies - and thus the resulting ethical codes -
can vary sharply from discipline to discipline
especially as we shift from the social sciences.

Ä#& %'(Ä =
#  (2002)

    
‡ How will you gain informed consent?
‡ How can the participant withdrawal from the
research? Is it easier or harder to withdraw
compared to face-to-face research?
‡ Is deception a defensible research strategy?
Can 'lurking' as socialisation into the online
culture of a group be an important prerequisite
for research?
 !  



‡ How can confidentiality be assured and how

might this vary with the nature of the research
venue? (e.g. Chat rooms compared to
weblogs webpages emails to large listservs).
‡ How might subject anonymity be achieved in
practice?
‡ How can you improve data security? Can you
promise that your electronic information will not
be accessed and used by others?
 "

‡ Can you agree whether the data you collect will
be public or private?
‡ How might participant expectations of privacy
vary with specific research method used?
‡ How useful are legal definitions of privacy and
requirements for data projection?
‡ How do we respond to highly subjective
readings of the culture or expectations of
online communities?
 


 


‡ Are there ethical implications in researching
places we¶ve never been and people we¶ve
never met?
‡ How does the digital divide limit who can we
'speak' to?
‡ Can you assume people can speak freely on
the internet? Censorship issues?
‡ What languages are we going to use? How
might this limit who can we speak to?
‡ What online inequalities might be significant?
 @ 
‡ How will a truly multi-media web change the way we
undertake research?
‡ What possibilities are offered by Web 2.0
technologies? How does it change the boundary
between researcher and researched?
‡ As IT becomes more embedded in people¶s every day
life will it be possible to differentiate between online
and onsite methodologies?
‡ '  How can we define a methodology and
ethical approach against a rapidly changing
technological background?
    
‡ International Journal of Internet Research
Ethics
http://ijire.net/
   |
‡ See Exploring OR4
http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/orm/
‡ Slides and links for this presentation available at
http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.posterous.com/
‡ Exploring OR4 bibliography at
http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/orm/learnerresources/bibliogr
aphy.htm
‡ 4y OR4 bibliography at
http://www.citeulike.org/user/pigironjoe/tag/online-
research-methods