“Focus groups in cyberspace”: using the Internet for qualitative research

The potential of the Internet as a valuable methodological research tool is increasingly being recognised by both market researchers and academics. This paper contributes to the debate surrounding virtual synchronous group interviews and the value of online research. Specifically it introduces the use of a software conferencing technique – Hotline Connect – and discusses the implications of using the technique for Internet‐based research. In particular, issues of interview design, developing rapport and the virtual venue are considered. The paper draws on the experience of a recent research project entitled “cyberparents” and concludes that the use of conferencing software holds great potential for synchronous online interviewing. However, this must be combined with sensitive, ethical handling of both the research process and the data to overcome problems inherent in any interviewing situation.

[1]  Christine B. Smith,et al.  Casting the Net: Surveying an Internet Population , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[2]  N. Scholl,et al.  On‐line qualitative market research: interviewing the world at a fingertip , 2002 .

[3]  Fiona Stewart,et al.  Internet Communication and Qualitative Research , 2000 .

[4]  Alan Branthwaite,et al.  Nothing New under the Sun? , 2000 .

[5]  Roger Burrows,et al.  VIRTUAL COMMUNITY CARE? SOCIAL POLICY AND THE EMERGENCE OF COMPUTER MEDIATED SOCIAL SUPPORT , 2000 .

[6]  Stephen A. Webb,et al.  ON THE NATURE OF FUTURE WORLDS? - CONSIDERATIONS OF VIRTUALITY AND UTOPIAS , 2000 .

[7]  A. Felstead,et al.  In Work, At Home: Towards an Understanding of Homeworking , 1999 .

[8]  P. Chen,et al.  Realtime Interviewing Using the World Wide Web , 1999 .

[9]  Charles Adriaenssens,et al.  An Adaptation of Moderated E-mail Focus Groups to Assess the Potential for a New Online (Internet) Financial Services Offer in the UK , 1999 .

[10]  Katie J. Ward,et al.  The Cyber-Ethnographic (Re)Construction of Two Feminist Online Communities , 1999 .

[11]  N Maffulli,et al.  Accessing the Internet for patient information about orthopedics. , 1998, JAMA.

[12]  R. Kitchin,et al.  Towards geographies of cyberspace , 1998 .

[13]  Sven Berg,et al.  Collective decision making in hierarchies , 1998 .

[14]  Deborah Lee.  Interviewing men: Vulnerabilities and dilemmas , 1997 .

[15]  Ted J. Gaiser.  Conducting On-Line Focus Groups , 1997 .

[16]  R. Coomber.  Using the Internet for Survey Research , 1997 .

[17]  Shannon O'Lear,et al.  Using Electronic Mail (E-mail) Surveys for Geographic Research: Lessons from a Survey of Russian Environmentalists∗ , 1996 .

[18]  R. W. Smith.  A King's Observator: The Correspondence of John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer Royal. , 1996 .

[19]  Karen L. Michaelson.  Information, Community, and Access , 1996 .

[20]  Simon Marvin,et al.  Telecommunications and the City: Electronic Spaces, Urban Places , 1996 .

[21]  M. Poster.  Postmodern Virtualities , 1995 .

[22]  Raj Mehta,et al.  Comparing Response Rates and Response Content in Mail versus Electronic Mail Surveys , 1995 .

[23]  Alan C.B. Tse,et al.  Comparing Two Methods of Sending out Questionnaires: E-mail versus Mail , 1995 .

[24]  Howard Rheingold,et al.  The Virtual Community: Finding Commection in a Computerized World , 1993 .

[25]  C. Robson,et al.  Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers , 1993 .

[26]  S. Kiesler,et al.  Response Effects in the Electronic Survey , 1986 .

[27]  R. Burgess.  In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research , 1984 .

[28]  A. Oakley.  Interviewing women: a contradiction in terms (and a subsequent exchange with Joanna Malseed) , 2004 .

[29]  Samuel J. Best,et al.  Using the Internet as a Medium for Research , 2004 .

[30]  C. Hine.  The Virtual Objects of Ethnography , 2000 .

[31]  J M Lamp,et al.  Guiding parents' use of the Internet for newborn education. , 1999, MCN. The American journal of maternal child nursing.

[32]  Susan C. Smith.  Uncovering Key Aspects of Experience: The Use of In-depth Interviews in a Study of Women Returners to Education , 1996 .

[33]  Roger Burrows,et al.  Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk: Cultures of Technological Embodiment , 1995 .

[34]  Roger Burrows,et al.  Cultures of technological embodiment , 1995 .

[35]  Giacomo Mauro DAriano.  The Handbook for Focus Group Research. , 1994 .

[36]  R. Bergen.  Interviewing Survivors of Marital Rape: Doing Feminist Research on Sensitive Topics , 1993 .

[37]  J. Finch.  'It's great to have someone to talk to': Ethics and politics of interviewing women. , 1993 .

[38]  L. Mcdowell,et al.  Doing Gender: Feminism, Feminists and Research Methods in Human Geography , 1992 .

[39]  Linda McDowell,et al.  Life without Father and Ford: The New Gender Order of Post-Fordism , 1991 .

[40]  T. J. Hayes,et al.  Focus Group Interviews: A Reader , 1990 .

[41]  B. Berg.  Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences , 1989 .

[42]  J. M. Billson.  Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research , 1989 .

[43]  D. Morgan.  Focus groups as qualitative research / by Morgan, David L. , 1988 .

[44]  Grant Mccracken.  The long interview , 1988 .

[45]  M. H. Quenouille.  Survey Methods in Social Investigation , 1973 .