Webethnography: towards a typology for quality in research design

Daniel D. Prior and Lucy M. Miller

Traditional ethnography focuses on identifiable cultural groupings of individuals and, through a process of observation and participant interviews (among other techniques), the researcher explores the effects of the social dynamic with regard to a topic of interest.

Webethnography: towards a typology for quality in research design

Daniel D. Prior

University of New South Wales

Lucy M. Miller

Macquarie University

Introduction

Internet-based research is a relatively new approach to market research and to empirical social science more broadly. Advantages include timely and inexpensive access to data, particularly from internet-savvy consumers, as well as access to a broad range of potential research participants. Disadvantages include potentially inaccurate representations of user thoughts and feelings, and difficulty in interpreting non-contextualised data (Kozinets 2002). Despite the identified drawbacks of this approach, there is at present an overwhelming trend in favour of internet-based...

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