DGOF prize "Best Research Thesis Award"

The German Society for Online Research (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Onlineforschung, DGOF) announces its Best Research Thesis Award. The prize has a value of 3000,- Euros. It will be given to students who have finished a thesis (Bachelor/Master/Ph.D.) in 2007 or 2008. The submission deadline is: December 31, 2008.

Requirements
Submissions in English or German language must include an electronic version (word or pdf) of the thesis plus an additional English language extended abstract (600-1000 words) that summarizes the analyzed question, the used methods, the most important findings, and its relationship to relevant existing theories and earlier findings.
The thesis must be written in 2008 or 2007. At the time the thesis was submitted all authors must have been graduate or postgraduate students only. Works by post-docs are not eligible for submission. The thesis may have multiple student authors.

Evaluation Criteria
The prize will be given to the author(s) of a thesis that provides an exceptional analysis of a specific issue in the area of internet research. The analysis should focus on aspects of

• method research (web surveys, online experiments, mobile surveys, multi-mode data collection, statistical biases, innovative forms of data collection, etc) and/or
• social, organizational, or psychological consequences or aspects of mobile or online communication (Web 2.0, social networking, online communities, E-Health, digital inequality, etc).

• innovativeness of the findings
• theoretical foundation
• adequacy of the chosen research design and, if applicable, the empirical foundation
• clarity of the presentation.

The Award
The author(s) will be given the opportunity to present the findings at the General Online Research Conference 2009 (see www.gor.de) and to publish the work. 1300,- Euros of the prize will go directly to the applicant(s) who are selected as winners by the expert evaluators. Additional 1700,- Euros will be provided for publication in the book series "Neue Schriften zur Online-Forschung" and, if necessary, English language translation of a short manuscript that presents selected findings of the thesis for submission as an article to the International Journal of Internet Science

Procedure
Applicants have to submit an electronic copy of their thesis, including the extended abstract and a copy of the received grade (if available) online at the GOR 09 Conftool. Email submissions are excluded. Authors of empirical as well as theoretical contributions that score high on the evaluation criteria are encouraged to submit their work. More information is available via office@dgof.de. Submission is possible as of September 1, 2008 at the GOR 09 Conftool: Please create an account ("Register new"), then submit your thesis. Please follow this scheme: "Your submissions" and after that please choose "DGOF prize "Best Research Thesis Award"". The registration in our Conftool and the submission for the DGOF prize are irrespective of the participation of GOR 09.