Internet
Introduction The Internet has become an important form of research in modern society, with a forecast of 500 million online globally by the year 2003. ... The vast amount of social and behavioral information potentially available on the Internet has made it a prime target for researchers wishing to study the dynamics of human interactions and their consequences in this virtual medium. ... As a result, there has been an increase in the number of Internet studies, ranging from surveys to naturalistic observation. The expansion of the Internet over the past decade has provided the researcher with a range of new opportunities for finding information, networking, conducting research, and disseminating research results. Through the use of tools such as online focus groups, electronic mail, and online questionnaires, the Internet opens up new possibilities for conducting research. It offers, for example • shorter timeframes for collecting and recording data: e-mail messages can be saved and analyzed in qualitative data packages, for example, while online surveys can be captured directly into a database • the possibility of conducting interviews and focus groups by e-mail, with related savings in costs and time • new "communities" to serve as the object of social scientific enquiry • opportunities for including mixed multiple media in questionnaires On the other hand, these opportunities also raise new challenges for the researcher, such as • problems of sampling • the ethics of conducting research into online communities • physical access and skills required to use the technologies involved • accuracy and reliability of information obtained from online sources • the changed chronology of interaction resulting from asynchronous communication Advantages of Using Internet as a Research Medium The number one advantage to using the Internet for research is speed. Compared to other methods, data for Internet research projects can be collecting within a relatively short period of time. ... The study also found high levels of satisfaction overall with Internet research, from both providers and users who conduct or use Internet research. With respect to benefits, Internet research can contribute to the growing pool of knowledge on the new phenomenon of online communities and interactions.