RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

242 INTERNET-BASED RESEARCH AND COMPUTER USAGE
time of writing, Skype.com provides a real-time,
extremely inexpensive means of direct conversation
via the Internet, either from computer to
computer or from computer to a fixed line. Because
of these or other features, the Internet may also
enable researchers to contact hard-to-reach groups
and individuals (e.g. in the case of conducting research
on sensitive topics). On the other hand, as
mentioned above, the reduction of the interview
to purely a written exchange can mitigate some of
the essential features of an interview as discussed
in Chapter 16: the need to regard interviews as a
full social encounter.
Chat rooms provide the opportunity for split
screens and shared screens, thereby displaying the
ongoing dialogue between participants. If chat
rooms are not to be used, then email provides
an alternative, which presents an opportunity
for ongoing discussion that is dependent on the
(usually fast) speed of the email facility. These
approaches may lack the spontaneity and richness
of conventional interviews, but they also have
the attractions afforded by anonymity and the
absence of a face-to-face encounter (though the
use of video cameras located above computer
screens can also be added to the interview). The
quality of the image may be poor and may not be
synchronous with the speaker – there often being
a slight delay, broken images or movement in
a series of freeze-frame rather than continuous
imaging. Internet interviewing can also go offline,
with respondents writing their own responses to
questions and sending them at different times,
though, to some extent, this merges the interview
with the questionnaire survey, the only difference
perhaps being in the degree of flexibility of
questions (contents, nature, emerging issues and
follow-up) in online interviews in comparison to
questionnaires. Internet interviews simply require
both parties to agree a time to log on to the
computer in order to conduct the interview, and,
if required or possible, to set up the video camera.
Searching for research materials on the
Internet
The storage and retrieval of research data on
the Internet play an important role not only
in keeping researchers abreast of developments
across the world, but also in providing access
to data which can inform literature searches to
establish construct and content validity in their
own research. Indeed, some kinds of research
are essentially large-scale literature searches (e.g.
the research papers published in the journal
Review of Educational Research). Online journals,
abstracts and titles enable researchers to keep
up with the cutting edge of research and to
conduct a literature search of relevant material
on their chosen topic. Web sites and email
correspondence enable networks and information
to be shared. For example, researchers wishing to
gain instantaneous global access to literature and
recent developments in research associations can
reach Australia, East Asia, the United Kingdom
and United States in a matter of seconds through
such web sites as the following:
American Educational Research Association: http://
www.aera.net
American Educational Research Association (again):
http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/catalog/providers/185.html
Australian Council for Educational Research: http://
www.acer.edu.au/index2.html
British Educational Research Association: http://
www.bera.ac.uk
Chinese American Educational Research Association:
http://www.ttu.eedu/∼edupsy/regis.html
Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre
(UK: among the largest monitoring centres of its
kind in the world): http://www.cemcentre.org
Economic and Social Research Council (UK) http://
www.esrc.ac.uk
Educators’ Reference Desk (the source of ERIC
in the United States, publications of the American
Educational Research Association): http://
www.eduref.org/
European Educational Research Association: http://
www.eera.ac.uk/index.html
Hong Kong Educational Research Association:
http://www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/∼hkera
Mid-South Educational Research Association (a very
large regional association in the United States):
http://www.msstate.edu/org/msera/msera.html