2004

Hine Christine

Social Research Methods and the Internet: A Thematic Review

http://www.socresonline.org.uk/9/2/hine.html

Introduction

1.1 Sociological Research Online did not set out to be a journal about the Internet. It could more accurately be framed as "action research" where the Internet is concerned, since by the practical doing of Internet publishing, and by trying to exploit the possibilities of the technology, the journal has set out to change and challenge existing practice (Bulmer and Stanley, 1996). It is possibly not surprising, however, that it has often attracted sociologists who are interested in the Internet as a topic. Without ever setting out to be an authority on sociology of the Internet and sociology done via the Internet, the journal has over the course of time become a rich resource for finding sociologists who are unafraid of the Internet and who use it in interesting and fruitful ways in their research.