Review

"Interpretive" vs. Numerical Qualitative Why & how of human behavior Interpretation Language & observation E.g. "How do people "negotiate" identity on the Internet?" E.g. "What do users like about Skype?" Quantitative When, Where & how much of "natural" phenomena Measurement Statistical analysis E.g. "What kinds of icons or 'smileys' do people choose on Myspace?" E.g. "How many users in Innsbruck use Skype?"

"Interpretive" vs. Numerical Qualitative – Ethnography: e.g. research into community and identity – Historical Research: e.g. how has software for the Internet developed? C Quantitative: – Fragebogen with "closed" questions; e.g. "likert scale" – Website use – "Penetration" of Internet or Internet access – Social Network Analysis Critical Theory / Some Historical Theory construction content analysis POSITIVISM EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

Doing Research is like reading and interpreting a text or watching a video record of complex activity: Different frameworks result in different interpretations Positivism: Objects in the world can be known with certainty; subject (observer) and object (participant/user) are separate. Neopositivism: