In Cyberspace: Qualitative methods for educational research

摘要

[From Introduction] Cyberspace is an interactive site or space that is used for all computer-mediatedudcommunication (CMC). It has become a space in which people can chat and play, as welludas develop online relationships and alternative forms of online identity. It has hadudsignificant impact on the conditions of social interaction, providing opportunity forudindividuals to construct the reality of their everyday lives with people who are distantudfrom them in time and space as well as those who are geographically proximate to them.udIn the last five years this technology has become a daily part of many people’s livesudrather than just a special place that they visit occasionally. It has reconfigured the way inudwhich individuals communicate and connect with each other especially through the manyudsocial sites that now exist, such as Face book, but also through the use of email, Blogsud(the Blogosphere), Twitter, Bulletin boards and websites on any number of topics, suchudas the one for new mothers investigated by Madge and O’Connor (2005), Wikis, and theudblandishments of the media to contact them online. It has also become a site where theudsocial interactions of individuals and communities can be researched and where theudconstruction of practices, meanings and identities can be investigated, includingudrelationships between researchers and participants, in ways that may not be possible inudthe physical world (Dominguez et al, 2007). In this virtual world, researchers may carryudout anthropological research into the cultures of social groups in Second Life, a virtualudworld where people, through their avatars, engage in a range of interactions some ofudwhich may not be possible in physical life (Boellstorf, 2008).