Virtual Methods

Given the emphasis on reflexivity that I have argued for in this introduction, it
is appropriate for the collection to end on a thoughtful note. In their epilogue
Jankowski & van Selm look back on the nature of the methodological innovations
that the chapters have proposed, and consider the future agenda for virtual
methods. They urge us to make connections across the grand methodological
divides, to continue to innovate in order to facilitate cross-national, longitudinal
and multi-method studies, and to continue to develop approaches to the ethics of
online research. Above all, they encourage dialogue, to provide an ongoing basis
for innovation as our understandings develop and as the scope of the projects we
want to tackle expands.
Methodological Approaches, Modes of Communication
Virtual Methods • 11
As described previously, the volume is divided into two parts which represent
broad themes of methodological interest. It is likely, however, that some readers
will approach the volume with questions that focus on particular methodological
approaches or modes of communication, asking, for example, what the volume has
to say about online interviews, or how it can help to research the World Wide Web.
For those readers, I provide here a summary of the chapters focusing on their treatment
of some key approaches and technologies.
Joinson begins the volume with a discussion of Internet behaviour that is
applicable to a wide range of methodological approaches. While he explicitly
discusses factors that might promote compliance with and disclosure in online
surveys, his observations are also provocative for thinking about interviews and
ethnographic encounters. A number of the authors discuss interviews, including
Kivits, Orgad, Sanders, and Rutter & Smith. Each conceptualizes the prospects
for online interviews in a different way, with only Kivits conducting a study
without use of face-to-face encounters to complement online research. The
others find rationales for face-to-face interviews either as a means to explore
different facets of informants’ lives, or as a factor in developing trusting and rich
research relationships. Ethnography is the specific focus of Sanders, Rutter &
Smith, Forte, Mackay, Guimarães and Beaulieu. Again, there are some startling
contrasts in the definition of field sites and the choices of communication media
which are made. Different research sites also provide opportunities for collection
and analysis of quite different forms of data: Mackay focuses on extended visits
and interviews in domestic settings; Forte uses web site production as a means
to complement and expand his geographically located ethnography; Rutter &
Smith begin online but find themselves drawn offline; Guimarães focuses on
social environments enacted wholly online; and Beaulieu traces emergent structures
through connections online and offline with a particular focus on hyperlinks.