Workshops during the German
Online Research 04
1.) title of the workshop:
The Analysis of Online Groups: Topics, findings,
techniques, and applications
2.) duration of the workshop:
90 minutes
3.) workshop fees:
40 resp. 20 Euro
4.) target groups:
academics, internet-professionals, and students
who empirically want to investigate online groups
5.) Is the workshop prepared for an exclusively
German language or an international audience?
international audience
6.) workshop language:
English/German depending on the audience
7.) Description of the content of the workshop:
The course will give a systematic introduction
into empirical findings concerning online groups.
Concepts, theories, findings, and topics of research
are presented and critically discussed.
In a next step, methods for empirical studies
of online groups are presented. During the planning
and conduction of empirical studies has to distinguish
between
- types of online groups,
- the kinds of question one wants to answer,
- study designs,
- methods of data collection, and
- methods of data analysis.
Small analyses of online groups will be conducted
during the course with the help of prepared data
material. The opportunities and limitations for
research on online groups will be made clear.
8.) goals of the workshop:
After the course the participant will be able
1. to develop meaningful questions for analyses
of online groups
2. to plan empirical studies for the analysis
of important characteristics of online groups
in accordance with standard academic criteria
for empirical social research
3. to assess how empirical studies of online groups
will be organized and -depending on the pre-knowledge-
to conduct or to supervise such a study
9.) necessary previous knowledge:
basic knowledge about empirical research and about
online groups
10.) literature that has to be read for participation:
11.) additional literature
Bortz, Jürgen & Döring, Nicola
(2002). Forschungsmethoden und Evaluation für
Human- und Sozialwissenchaftler (3., überarbeitete
Aufl.). Berlin: Springer.
Döring, Nicola (2003). Sozialpsychologie
des Internet. Die Bedeutung des Internet für
Kommunikationsprozesse, Identitäten, soziale
Beziehungen und Gruppen (2., vollständig
überarbeitete und erweiterte Aufl.). Göttingen:
Hogrefe.
12.) information about the workshop organizer:
Dr. Nicola Döring is a Deputy Professor
for Methods of empirical social research and
statistics at the Universität der Bundeswehr
Hamburg (Germany). Her research includes social
aspects of online and mobile communication,
learning and teaching with new media, and evaluation
research:
www.nicola-doering.de
13.) email address for registration of participants:
nicola.doering@unibw-hamburg.de
+ u.matzat@tm.tue.nl