Online and offline data

Orgad examined the methodologies of data collection and analysis in qualitative internet research. She also discusses online vs. offline data, when to use them, how to treat them, as well as issues with using both. One interesting point is that she cautioned readers that people tend to think offline data provides richer context and thus explains online data and online phenomenon. I didn’t realize I had this hidden assumption until she pointed out. This tendency could potentially skew research process and interpretive analysis. The combination of online and offline data used in a research project are only meaningful when they are complementary to each other. I found Orgad’s discussion on treatment of online and offline data inspiring to my research proposal, which involves two sets of data. I want to conduct a descriptive survey to get a general picture of the issue studied. I also think interviews would provide subjective accounts from the respondents’ perspective. Both would be interesting to look into, yet I have failed to consider the relationship between these data, and my methodology looks quite directionless at this point. Like Orgad pointed out repeatedly in the article, it really depends on the question and whether one set of data would add context and depth to the other. For my research proposal, I will reexamine my research topic and ask myself exactly what questions I’d like to answer in this study, what kind of data do I need, and if so, how would I treat, analyze and make sense of them.