Description
This book brings into focus the technologically augmented nature of global online communities, advancing research methods that reveal the imprint of emergent social forms and characterise digital frontiers of social engagement. Drawing on insights from across the social sciences, it presents a case study of people with passions for reptiles and amphibians to illustrate for next generation researchers how to conduct community research in the real world. Richly illustrated with ethnographic research, together with extensive survey and interview material drawn from around the world, Research Methods and Global Online Communities explores the changing nature of communities that form around common interests and are embedded in a digital architecture rather than place. In doing so, this book transcends the digital dualism of online/offline models of community and engages with debates on the social impacts of the internet and the adaptive nature of community. As such, it will appeal to social scientists interested in innovative approaches to characterising digital communities through mixed-methods research practice.
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgements
Foreword
1 Introduction
Part I T he Study of Global Online Communities
2 C ommunity and Technology
3 T ranscending the Dualism
4 A Methodological Approach for Researching Digital Community
5 S ensitising Quantitative Methods to the Research Population
6 Sensitising Qualitative Methods to the Research Population
Part II Illustrating the Connections between
Research Methods, Concepts and Analysis
7 C ommunity Place
8 S ocial Composition
9 C ommunity Boundaries
10 C ommunity Cohesion
Bibliography
Index
