Online Social Research

The Editors: Mark D. Johns is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication/Linguistics at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. His research interests include social impacts of new communication technologies and intersections of media, religion, and culture.Shing-Ling Sarina Chen is Associate Professor of Mass Communication at the University of Northern Iowa. Her research interests include communication technologies and social structures, electronic media and the community, audience experiences, and social relationships in cyberspace.G. John Hall is Professor Emeritus at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). He received his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. During his twenty-eight year tenture in the Department of Communication Studies at UNI, he has established a diversified record fo articles and papers for publication and presentation.

• Contents: Norman K. Denzin: Prologue: Online Environments and Interpretive Social Research – Clifford G. Christians/Shing-Ling Sarina Chen: Introduction: Technological Environments and the Evolution of Social Research Methods – Matthew Williams/Kate Robson: Reengineering Focus Group Methodology for the Online Environment – Sharon S. Kleinman: Researching OURNET: A Case Study of a Multiple Methods Approach – Kathleen LeBesco: Managing Visibility, Intimacy, and Focus in Online Critical Ethnography – Mary K. Walstrom: «Seeing and Sensing» Online Interaction: An Interpretive Interactionist Approach to USENET Support Group Research – Amy S. Bruckman: Introduction: Opportunities and Challenges in Methodology and Ethics – Mark D. Johns/G. Jon Hall/Tara Lynn Crowell: Surviving the IRB Review: Institutional Guidelines and Research Strategies – Lori Kendall: Participants and Observers in Online Ethnography: Five Stories About Identity – Annette N. Markham: Representation in Online Ethnographies: A Matter of Context Sensitivity – Shing-Ling Sarina Chen/G. Jon Hall/Mark D. Johns: Research Paparazzi in Cyberspace: The Voices of the Researched – Steve Jones: Introduction: Ethics and Internet Studies – Jim Thomas: Reexamining the Ethics of Internet Research: Facing the Challenge of Overzealous Oversight – Susan B. Barnes: Issues of Attribution and Identification in Online Social Research – Katherine M. Clegg Smith: «Electronic Eavesdropping»: The Ethical Issues Involved in Conducting a Virtual Ethnography – G. Jon Hall/Douglas Frederick/Mark D. Johns: «NEED HELP ASAP!!!»: A Feminist Communitarian Approach to Online Research Ethics – Charles Ess: Epilogue: Are We There Yet? Ethical Guidelines for Online Research.