Social researchers can hardly afford to ignore the Internet, as it has become an intrinsic part of everyday life. This new site of social interactions is begging to be researched and explored. At the same time it can be a moral minefield and a quality control nightmare even for researchers skilled in established methods. Virtual Methods offers a detailed exploration of the problems and opportunities surrounding Internet-based research. Can offline and online observations be combined? Are online interviews able to produce high quality data? How does a researcher sort through the vast mass of material available? From hyperlink analysis to the sex industry online, case studies sensitively highlight the difficulties researchers face, point out the opportunities to be seized, and offer practical solutions. Virtual Methods provides concrete advice for all stages of the research process. Anyone planning a research project involving the Internet will find this book an essential guide.

This timely book inspires researchers to deploy relevant, effective, innovative digital methods. It explores the relationship of such methods to 'mainstream' social science; interdisciplinarity; innovations in digital research tools; the opportunities (and challenges) of digital methods in researching social life; and digital research ethics.

The internet has become embedded into our lives, no longer a strange phenomenon, but instead an unremarkable way of carrying out our everyday interactions with one another. Online and offline are interwoven in everyday experience. Using the internet has become accepted as a way of being present in the world, rather than a means of accessing some discrete virtual domain. Ethnographers of these contemporary internet-infused societies consequently find themselves facing serious methodological dilemmas: where should they go, what should they do there and how can they acquire robust knowledge about what people do in, through and with the internet?This book presents an overview of the challenges faced by ethnographers who wish to understand activities that go on in the internet. Suitable for both new and experienced ethnographers, it explores both methodological principles and practical strategies for coming to terms with the definition of field sites, the connections between online and offline and the changing nature of embodied experience. Examples are drawn from a wide range of settings, including ethnographies of scientific institutions, television and social media, and locally-based gift-giving networks.

The internet has become embedded into our lives, no longer a strange phenomenon, but instead an unremarkable way of carrying out our everyday interactions with one another. Online and offline are interwoven in everyday experience. Using the internet has become accepted as a way of being present in the world, rather than a means of accessing some discrete virtual domain. Ethnographers of these contemporary internet-infused societies consequently find themselves facing serious methodological dilemmas: where should they go, what should they do there and how can they acquire robust knowledge about what people do in, through and with the internet?This book presents an overview of the challenges faced by ethnographers who wish to understand activities that go on in the internet. Suitable for both new and experienced ethnographers, it explores both methodological principles and practical strategies for coming to terms with the definition of field sites, the connections between online and offline and the changing nature of embodied experience. Examples are drawn from a wide range of settings, including ethnographies of scientific institutions, television and social media, and locally-based gift-giving networks.

Digital work has become increasingly common, taking a wide variety of forms including working from home, mobile work, gig work, crowdsourcing, and online volunteering. It is organizationally, interpretively, spatially, and temporally complex. An array of innovative methodologies have begun to emerge to capture this complexity, whether through re-purposing existing tools, devising entirely novel methods, or mixing old and new. This volume brings together some of these techniques in an accessible sourcebook for management, business, organizational, and work researchers. It presents a range of innovative methods which capture and analyse digitally-related work practices through reflexive accounts of real-world research projects, and elucidates the range of challenges such methods may raise for research practice. It outlines debates and recommendations, and provides further reading and information to support research practice. The book is organised in four sections that reflect different areas of focus and methodological approaches: working with screens; digital working practices; distributed work and organizing; and digital traces of work. It then concludes by reflecting on the methodological issues, research ethics, requisite skills, and future of research given the intensification of digital work during a global pandemic that has impacted all aspects of our lives.

Digital work has become increasingly common, taking a wide variety of forms including working from home, mobile work, gig work, crowdsourcing, and online volunteering. It is organizationally, interpretively, spatially, and temporally complex. An array of innovative methodologies have begun to emerge to capture this complexity, whether through re-purposing existing tools, devising entirely novel methods, or mixing old and new. This volume brings together some of these techniques in an accessible sourcebook for management, business, organizational, and work researchers. It presents a range of innovative methods which capture and analyse digitally-related work practices through reflexive accounts of real-world research projects, and elucidates the range of challenges such methods may raise for research practice. It outlines debates and recommendations, and provides further reading and information to support research practice. The book is organised in four sections that reflect different areas of focus and methodological approaches: working with screens; digital working practices; distributed work and organizing; and digital traces of work. It then concludes by reflecting on the methodological issues, research ethics, requisite skills, and future of research given the intensification of digital work during a global pandemic that has impacted all aspects of our lives.

As use of the Internet has become increasingly widespread, the Internet has also become a natural site for qualitative research. New researchable populations emerge, and illuminating discussions on every conceivable topic have become accessible to researchers. The Internet also presents many challenges, however, raising the questions of how to develop ethical and achievable research projects, and how to present findings to the widest possible audience. This book focuses on the process of writing qualitative Internet research, from the construction of the initial proposal to the preparation of different types of research reports, including conventional dissertations and more innovative media forms. Covering ethnographic, interview-based, and documentary analysis, Understanding Qualitative Research: The Internet offers clear guidance on the challenges and opportunities posed by the application of these approaches to Internet settings, drawing on a wide array of published examples and rooting its advice in the established principles of qualitative research. The author emphasizes the importance of reflexivity and developing awareness of the various genres of qualitative writing, together with building research reports that are significant as mainstream social research. Although the emphasis of this book is on qualitative research, it also draws on quantitative research techniques, since the sheer wealth of data available on the Internet prompts consideration of new ways of visualizing and summarizing data. Understanding Qualitative Research: The Internet also explores initiatives by Internet researchers to make use of new media technologies for analyzing and presenting their research, and to allow for new forms of interaction with research participants and audiences.

Social researchers can hardly afford to ignore the Internet, as it has become an intrinsic part of everyday life. This new site of social interactions is begging to be researched and explored. At the same time it can be a moral minefield and a quality control nightmare even for researchers skilled in established methods. Virtual Methods offers a detailed exploration of the problems and opportunities surrounding Internet-based research. Can offline and online observations be combined? Are online interviews able to produce high quality data? How does a researcher sort through the vast mass of material available? From hyperlink analysis to the sex industry online, case studies sensitively highlight the difficulties researchers face, point out the opportunities to be seized, and offer practical solutions. Virtual Methods provides concrete advice for all stages of the research process. Anyone planning a research project involving the Internet will find this book an essential guide.