Researching online communities: new challenges for the researcher Cover Image

Badanie społeczności internetowych: nowe wyzwania dla badacza
Researching online communities: new challenges for the researcher

Author(s): Wojciech Mincewicz
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: virtual community; online community; research; observation; interview; cyberspace; data

Summary/Abstract: This article contributes to the discussion on research conducted in online communities by social scientists. It consists of three parts. After an introduction, the author points out the essential characteristics that define these communities and indicates the types distinguished by other researchers, organising the methodological reflection. Virtual communities, i.e. those in which people meet in cyberspace and communicate long enough to know each other and form lasting relationships when they become an object of empirical exploration, require specific research methods and techniques. The problem analysed in the second – the most comprehensive – part of the study concerns using classical methods of observing social reality when researching online communities. The third part highlights the challenges researchers face with the digitisation of social life. Among those identified was access to digital data, and one of the most essential skills of researchers is to reach these data.

  • Issue Year: 2024
  • Issue No: 88
  • Page Range: 61-75
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish
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