Table of Contents

SECTION ONE - ONLINE RESEARCH METHODS
Chapter 01: Online Research Methods in the Social Sciences: An Editorial Introduction - Raymond M. Lee, Nigel G. Fielding, and Grant Blank
SECTION TWO – DESIGNING ONLINE RESEARCH
Chapter 02: The Ethics of Online Research - Rebecca Eynon, Jenny Fry and Ralph Schroeder
Chapter 03: Data Quality in Online Environments - Karsten Boye Rasmussen
SECTION THREE - ONLINE DATA CAPTURE AND DATA COLLECTION
Chapter 04: Research Design and Tools for Online Research - Claire Hewson
Chapter 05: Nonreactive Data Collection Online - Dietmar Janetzko
Chapter 06: What’s New? The Applications of Data Mining and Big Data in the Social Sciences - Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, Elad Segev and Aviv J. Sharon
Chapter 07: Of Instruments and Data: Social Media Uses, Abuses and Analysis - Martin Innes, Colin Roberts, Alun Preece and David Rogers
Chapter 08: “Big Social Science”: Doing Big Data in the Social Sciences - Jonathan Bright
SECTION FOUR – THE ONLINE SURVEY
Chapter 09: Overview: Online Surveys - Vasja Vehovar and Katja Lozar Manfreda
Chapter 10: Sampling Methods for Online Surveys - Ronald D. Fricker, Jr
Chapter 11: Online Survey Design - Vera Toepoel
Chapter 12: Online Survey Software - Lars Kaczmirek
Chapter 13: Improving the Effectiveness of Online Data Collection by Mixing Survey Modes - Don A. Dillman, Feng Hao and Morgan M. Millar
SECTION FIVE – DIGITAL QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
Chapter 14: Online Social Networks: Concepts for Data Collection and Analysis - Bernie Hogan
Chapter 15: Scale, Time, and Activity Patterns: Advanced Methods for the Analysis of Online Networks - Javier Borge-Holthoefer & Sandra González-Bailón
Chapter 16: Social Simulation and Online Research Methods - Corinna Elsenbroich
Chapter 17: Games and Online Research Methods - Harko Verhagen, Magnus Johansson, Wander Jager
Chapter 18: Data visualisation as an emerging tool for online research - Helen Kennedy and William Allen
SECTION SIX – DIGITAL TEXT ANALYSIS
Chapter 19: Online Tools for Content Analysis - Roel Popping
Chapter 20: Sentiment Analysis for Small and Big Data - Mike Thelwall
Chapter 21: Artificial Intelligence/Expert Systems and Online Research - Edward Brent
Chapter 22: The Blogosphere - Nicholas Hookway and Helene Snee
SECTION SEVEN – VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHY
Chapter 23: Ethnographies of Online Communities and Social Media: Modes, Varieties, Affordances - Christine Hine
Chapter 24: Online Interviewing - Henrietta O’Connor and Clare Madge
Chapter 25: Online Focus Groups - Katie M. Abrams and Ted J. Gaiser
Chapter 26: Tools for Collaboration in Video-based Research - Jon Hindmarsh
Chapter 27: CAQDAS at a Crossroads: Affordances of Technology in an Online Environment - Christina Silver & Sarah L Bulloch
SECTION EIGHT – ONLINE SECONDARY ANALYSIS: RESOURCES AND METHODS
Chapter 28: Online access to Quantitative Data Resources - Louise Corti and Jo Wathan
Chapter 29: Secondary Qualitative Analysis Using Online Resources - Patrick Carmichael
Chapter 30: Finding and Investigating Geographical Data Online - David Martin, Samantha Cockings and Samuel Leung
Chapter 31: Mapping Spaces: Cartographic Representations of Online Data - Matthew Zook, Ate Poorthuis and Rich Donohue
SECTION NINE – THE FUTURE OF ONLINE SOCIAL RESEARCH
Chapter 32: Engaging Remote Marginalized Communities Using Appropriate Online Research Methods - Brian Beaton, David Perley, Chris George, Susan O’Donnell
Chapter 33: Web- and Phone-Based Data Collection Using Planned Missing Designs - William Revelle, David M. Condon, Joshua Wilt, Jason A. French, Ashley Brown and Lorien G. Elleman
Chapter 34: Social Cartography and ‘Knowing Capitalism’: Critical Reflections on Social Research and the Geo-Spatial Web - Harrison Smith, Michael Hardey, Mariann Hardey and Roger Burrows
Chapter 35: Online Environments and the Future of Social Science Research - Michael Fischer, Stephen Lyon and David Zeitlyn
Chapter 36: Online Research Methods and Social Theory - Grant Blank

About the Author

"My research interests are in criminology, socio-legal studies, social research methodology, and new technologies for social research. In criminology I have particular expertise in policing, having conducted studies of police training, police occupational culture, community and neighbourhood policing, equal opportunities in the police service, police corruption, and comparative research on international police systems. In socio-legal studies I have particular interests in the criminal courts and the experiences of lay people during the criminal trial process. My study of lay participants' experience of trials of cases of physical violence won the Socio-Legal Studies Association Hart Prize 2007 for the Best Socio-Legal Book. In social research methodology my primary expertise is in qualitative methods, particularly the practice and ethics of participant observation, the status of interview data, and software for the analysis of qualitative data, in which latter I co-direct the UK national centre for qualitative software. I also have substantial expertise in multiple-method research and methodological 'triangulation', secondary analysis of archival qualitative data, online research methods, and the application of grid and high performance computing to social research, where I have a particular interest in the use of Access Grid technology for 'virtual fieldwork'. My paper on the latter was shortlisted for the Sage Prize for Innovation and Excellence 2007. My research has been sponsored by, inter alia, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Fulbright Commission, the US Department of Defense, the Home Office, the UK Police Foundation, the US Police Foundation, Surrey Police Authority, Surrey Police, the Metropolitan Police, the Swiss Information and Documentation Service, the Deutsche Zentral Archiv, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Thales plc, Electricite de France, Volkswagen Stiftung, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" Raymond M. Lee is Reader in Social Research Methods in the Department of Social Policy and Social Science, Royal Holloway University of London. His research interests include research methodology, the sociology of religion and the sociology of labour markets. His specific methodological interests include the problems and issues which surround research on 'sensitive' topics, and the impact of new technologies on the research process. His books on methodology include Doing Research on Sensitive Topics and Dangerous Fieldwork. In addition, he has edited Using Computers in Qualitative Research (with Nigel Fielding), Researching Sensitive Topics (with Claire Renzetti) and Information Technology for the Social Scientist. Grant Blank is Survey Research Fellow at Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford. He is a sociologist who studies the social and cultural impact of the Internet and other new communication media. He is also interested in cultural sociology, especially reviews and cultural evaluation.Grant began his career as an independent consultant based in Chicago Illinois specializing in research design, statistical analysis, and database design. He previously taught at American University in Washington DC. He completed his PhD on the sociology of reviews at the University of Chicago in 1999, and joined OII in 2010.

Reviews

Online Research Methods are exploding in variety and importance. This new SAGE Handbook provides a much-needed comprehensive treatment of this dynamic and exciting field. From big data, semantic mining, AI, simulations, and visualizations to online focus groups,interviewing, ethnography, video-based research, and  much more besides, this volume has everything you need for a broad and deep exploration of the new world of research online.
*Robert Kozinets*

In 2008 with the first and very successful edition of the Handbook, online research was characterized by its "newness" and by "caution". Today’s researchers are now "familiar" with online methods and "adept at their use", so the second edition of the Handbook has updated 27 chapters of the first edition and added nine chapters and two sections: "Digital Quantitative Analysis" and "Digital Text Analysis". Big data, gaming and participatory research are now also present. With a pragmatic focus on the current state-of-the-art, the new Handbook remains very attuned to the issues and challenges of online research and its methods.
*Karl van Meter*

Internet-based research methods is a diffuse and rapidly evolving area and this new edition of the Handbook of Online Research Methods provides a much needed overview and assessment of where it currently stands. As well as comprising some updated chapters, this new edition now includes chapters on many new areas, some of which were barely on the horizon when its predecessor was published. As such, this new edition provides much needed advice on the implementation of these methods and an appraisal of the state of the field. It will be invaluable to students and practitioners.
*Alan Bryman*

The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, Second Edition", edited by Nigel Fielding, Raymond Lee and Grant Blank, brings together several of the most noted scholars in the area of web and online survey methodology, along with the contributions of many younger researchers. The result is a compendium of information about online survey design, survey ethics, sampling and data capture, analysis of social network data, content analysis of digital text, online ethnography, and secondary analysis of online data, as well as essays relating online data to artificial intelligences, cartography, and diverse other topics. The authors are to be commended for an excellent update to their first edition, producing  volume of significant value to those interested in online research methods, social science, and social theory.
*Dave Garson*

"The rapid growth of online communication technologies—social media, distributed internet use, and mobile devices
capable of recording and sharing information spontaneously—has expanded opportunities for researchers to collect and
use digital-born data. Keeping up with the methods for conducting studies in an online environment requires new ways of
thinking about the overall research process. This impressive handbook, written by an international team of scholars,
facilitates such conceptualization for both novice and experienced researchers...The handbook′s focus on
the social sciences makes one wish for a similarly useful companion handbook examining online research methods
applicable to the humanities and performing arts."
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Beginning students through professionals/practitioners.
*CHOICE*