As I love typologies, I thought I'd prepare one on this. Although such a list doesn't express the complexity of online research, I thought it would demonstrate the diverse ways to investigate digital media.
Online methods to examine online phenomena:
- computer-captured and compiled data (e.g., web metrics)
- email, virtual reality, VoIP telephone or video call, or instant messaging interviews
- diarying or user logs
- remote observation (participant or nonparticipant)
- online focus groups
- web-based or email surveys
- audience response systems
- remote user testing or experiments
- autoethnography (can be conducted through blogging)
- social network analysis
- semiotics or visual analysis
- content analysis
- discourse analysis
- hermeneutics
- ethnography
- web-based or email surveys
- email, virtual reality, VoIP, or instant messaging interviews
- diarying (e.g. through special software or blogs)
- photo documentation via mobile device
- face-to-face interviews or focus groups
- nonparticipant observation
- contextual inquiry
- verbal protocol analysis (talk-aloud method)
- eye-tracking studies
- user testing or experiments
Please let me know if I missed a major method, as I'd like this typology to evolve iteratively.
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