Using Online Questionnaires,
Synchronous and Asynchronous
Interviews in Social Science Research
Session Outline
In this session we will:
•
cover qualitative and quantitative online research;
•
discuss your experience of online research and
offer you some innovative case studies;
•
talk about how to conduct online research and give
you an insight into the participants experience;
•
show you where to go to find out more about online
research.
Exploring Online Research Methods
Funded by ESRC Research Methods Programme
(Phase 2).
Website located at www.geog.le.ac.uk/ORM.
Comprensive resources about on-line research methods
focusing on:
• on-line questionnaires;
• on-line interviews.
Guidance offered on:
– ethical issues;
– technical issues.
Researching Online:
Case Study: The Cyberparents Project
• 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
and ‘the immense inner sense of security that comes with
discovering that real people – most of them parents, some of them
nurses, doctors and midwives are available, around the clock if
you need them…’ (Rheingold, 1994:16).
• 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
interviews
The Research Process
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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)
– Meet the researchers (included photos of us)
– Project information
– Survey
• Used University crest and linked only to University
and babyworld
Web-based Questionnaire
• Hypertext link from babyworld homepage to our
web-based questionnaire
• Used ‘hook’ question: ‘are you a cyberparent’ and logo
• Clicking on link automatically redirected user to our site
• Chose not to use incentive
• Web-based questionnaire:
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•
•
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Simple and quick to complete
Drop down menus
Ranking and open questions
Final question about further participation
Pop up ‘thank you’ once submitted successfully
http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/baby/babyworldform.asp
On-line synchronous interviews
• Rapid results - dwindled after a few days
• Sixteen respondents expressed interest in further
interview.
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•
•
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Respondents geographically widely dispersed.
Many had new babies and/or were pregnant.
All internet/technology users.
Logical progression to interview online.
Software
• Debated asynchronous/synchronous interviews;
• Hotline Connect conferencing software familiar to
researchers was available;
• Used as tool for distance learning students;
• Facilitates real-time chat through specific server
address;
• Advantages:
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–
–
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Easy to install on PC and Apple Mac.
No need for sophisticated hardware or high technical ability
Facilitators have control – confidentiality
Low cost
The Interview Process
• 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
‘script’ and then cut and paste
• Worked well but at times unable to use script
and other times used it just because we could
• Had to use typed words to replace usual visual
pointers e.g. building rapport
Engagement, Interaction and Communication
in Synchronous Online Interviews
• Virtual interviews challenge conventional
interviewing practices, in particular:
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–
–
–
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Rapport building (e.g. lack of visual/physical pointers)
Interview design
Language use
Virtual interface
‘Insiders and outsiders’
• However, ‘the vast majority of social spaces on the
internet bear a remarkable resemblance to real
world locales’ (Kitchin 1998:395).
Visual Clues and Rapport
• Textbook guides highlight importance of physical and visual clues
in gaining trust, building rapport and ‘assessing’ each other:
‘smile and dress ‘…in a similar way to those you
will be interviewing’ (Robson, 1993:236)
‘Your appearance, speech, and behaviour must be acceptable
to your research participants’ (Glesne and Peshkin, 1992:95).
• Shared characteristics, age, gender, ethnicity, status can have
impact.
Virtual Rapport
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•
•
•
•
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Set up web pages with photographs
Established relationships via email
Tried to stress similarities
Carefully designed interview schedule/script
Particular focus on sharing profile data
Overall this seemed to work well
First of all we thought it would be a
good idea to introduce ourselves
Hello everyone. I'm Clare and I have a daughter called Isabelle who
is nearly 2 . I work in the geography department of Leicester
University on a 3-day contract and Isabelle is in a local community
nursery on those days. I am 35 years old, white and my partner is a
psychiatric nurse. I don't use the Internet very often because I am so
busy at work and I don't have computer access at home.
Hen and Clare: Hi Julia, Jane and Jo, welcome to the chat - could
you tell us a bit more about yourselves?
Julia:
Hi, I am 34 on Sunday (!!) with a daughter,
Anabelle aged 10 months. I am a full time mother
and am loving avery minute of it.
Jane:
Hi, I'm Jane, I'm 29 years old, 30 in September.
I'm a new mum, with a daughter , Joy who was born
on March 15th, so coming up for 3 months now. I'm
a stay at home mum, and about to go crazy at
times, as she's had colic, and screams like mad..
I love being a mum!!
Jo:
Hello everyone! I am 33 years old, married and
have a 21 month old daughter who I'm sure is
starting the terrible twos early! I work part
time (reluctantly) but love being a mum.
Engagement and Rapport
• ‘a stranger wanting to do academic research
into online communities is often viewed as an
unwelcome arbitrary intrusion’ (Paccagnella,
1997:3)
• In this case ‘insider status’ facilitated entry and
‘success’ of method.
• Did not encounter the ‘aura of suspicion
surrounding stranger to stranger
communication in cyberspace’(Smith, 1997:40)
Engagement and Rapport
• Seems to be tendency to be more open, even
to strangers, than in offline encounters
• As Poster (1995:90) has argued:
‘Without visual clues about gender, age,
ethnicity and social status conversations open
up in directions which might otherwise be
avoided. Participants in these communities
often express themselves with little inhibition
and dialogues flourish and develop quickly’
Written Conversation
• 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, imho,
‘emoticons’
• 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
Online Interviews: Key Issues
• Why use online methods?
‘…if the research question involves an online social
phenomenon, a potential strength of the method is to be
researching in the location of interest’ (Gaiser, 1997:136).
• Type of interview (synchronous or asynchronous)
• Software (choice, installation)
• Technical ability and access to computer (researcher and
subjects)
• Venue (convenient, safe space)
• Carefully designed interview (prepared text, intros)
• Virtual rapport (how can you establish this?)
• Technical hitches/language use.
Conclusions- the potentials…
• Aid interaction with formerly unapproachable groups.
• Access to group with shared, narrowly defined
interests.
• Provide previously unobtainable information and
perspectives.
• Although sampling problems remain, the indicative
data gained from on-line research may be useful for
research on population sub-groups and for
exploratory analysis.
• Savings of time and money.
• As on-line research is still in its infancy, many of its
potentials are still to be discovered and evaluated.
…and the limitations
• Novel techniques so while some of their limitations
may therefore be solved in time, others may never be
remedied.
• Indeed although the data collected by virtual
interviews, in particular, can be rich and valuable to the
researcher, the potential of on-line research should not
be exaggerated: many of the issues and problems of
conventional research methods still apply in the virtual
venue.
• While online methodological frameworks are in
constant flux, change is not necessarily always
progressive: faster and cheaper is not necessarily
synonymous with ‘better’.
So….
• As Dodd (1998:60) argues, we must ensure that
‘…cheap entry costs and glowing attractiveness of
Internet fieldwork do not result in shoddy `cowboy’
research.’
• It is unlikely that online research is going to
replace onsite research but rather it is another
option in the methodological ‘toolkit’.
• Therefore the use of online research methods must
themselves be carefully considered.
Key sections of the site
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Examples: Case Studies
Module index
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gaining consent.
soliciting visitors
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