[Air-L] Online Research Methods Texts/New Book Announcement

Nancy Baym nbaym at ku.edu
Thu Aug 28 06:47:55 PDT 2008


This is an opportune moment to announce the 
recent publication of a book Annette Markham and 
I edited called Internet Inquiry: Conversations 
About Method (Sage Publications). The book stars 
many AoIR luminaries. Below is some further 
information about it. Also, at least in the US, 
Amazon is offering it for 2/3 its list price:

http://www.amazon.com/Internet-Inquiry-Conversations-About-Method/dp/1412910013

use that extra $10 to buy yourself a refreshing beverage in Copenhagen.

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Product Description

This collection of dialogues is the only textbook 
of its kind. Internet Inquiry: Conversations 
About Method takes students into the minds of top 
internet researchers as they discuss how they 
have worked through critical challenges as they 
research online social environments. Editors 
Annette N. Markham and Nancy K. Baym illustrate 
that good research choices are not random but are 
deliberate, studied, and internally consistent. 
Rather than providing single "how to" answers, 
this book presents distinctive and divergent 
viewpoints on how to think about and conduct 
qualitative internet studies.

Key Features and Benefits

     * Presents each chapter in the form of a 
question in order to provoke explicit 
consideration of key issues
     * Illustrates choices made within larger 
disciplinary contexts to help students blend 
approaches, think broadly, and conduct internet 
research with the benefit of multiplicity
     * Offers a range of perspectives in each 
chapter to vividly demonstrate that there are 
many ways to answer methodological challenges well
     * Includes contributors from multiple disciplines and across the globe
     * Provides a highly reflexive writing style 
that allows readers to see processes that are 
rarely visible in finished research reports

Intended Audience

This edited volume is an excellent supplementary 
text for a variety of advanced undergraduate and 
graduate courses such as Internet Research, 
Research Methods, Qualitative Research Methods, 
and Computer-Mediated Communication in the 
departments of communication, media studies, 
sociology, and anthropology. It will assist new 
scholars as well as seasoned practitioners in 
this arena make informed choices in how they 
conduct inquiry.


Table of Contents:

Introduction: Making Smart Choices on Shifting Ground
Nancy Baym and Annette Markham

QUESTION ONE: How can qualitative internet 
researchers define the boundaries of their 
projects?
Christine Hine
with responses by:
Lori Kendall
danah boyd

QUESTION TWO: How can researchers make sense of 
the issues involved in collecting and 
interpreting online and offline data?
Shani Orgad
with responses by:
Maria Bakardjieva
Radhika Gajjala

QUESTION THREE: How do various notions of privacy 
influence decisions in qualitative internet 
research?
Malin Sveningsson Elm
with responses by:
Elizabeth A. Buchanan
Susannah R. Stern

QUESTION FOUR: How do issues of gender and 
sexuality influence the structures and processes 
of qualitative internet research?
Lori Kendall
with responses by:
Jenny Sundén
John Edward Campbell

QUESTION FIVE: How can qualitative researchers 
produce work that is meaningful across time, 
space, and culture?
Annette N. Markham
with responses by:
Elaine Lally
Ramesh Srinivasan

QUESTION SIX: What constitutes quality in qualitative internet research?
Nancy Baym
with response by:
Annette Markham

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