Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

From the Publisher: 
A Question of Identity 
Life on the Screen is a fascinating and wide-ranging investigation of the impact of computers and networking on society, peoples' perceptions of themselves, and the individual's relationship to machines. Sherry Turkle, a Professor of the Sociology of Science at MIT and a licensed psychologist, uses Internet MUDs (multi-user domains, or in older gaming parlance multi-user dungeons) as a launching pad for explorations of software design, user interfaces, simulation, artificial intelligence, artificial life, agents, "bots," virtual reality, and "the on-line way of life." 
Turkle's discussion of postmodernism is particularly enlightening. She shows how postmodern concepts in art, architecture, and ethics are related to concrete topics much closer to home, for example AI research (Minsky's "Society of Mind") and even MUDs (exemplified by students with X-window terminals who are doing homework in one window and simultaneously playing out several different roles in the same MUD in other windows). Those of you who have (like me) been turned off by the shallow, pretentious, meaningless paintings and sculptures that litter our museums of modern art may have a different perspective after hearing what Turkle has to say. 
This is a psychoanalytical book, not a technical one. However, software developers and engineers will find it highly accessible because of the depth of the author's technical understanding and credibility. Unlike most other authors in this genre, Turkle does not constantly jar the technically-literate reader with blatant errors or bogus assertions about how things work. Although I personally don't have time or patience for MUDs,view most of AI as snake-oil, and abhor postmodern architecture, I thought the time spent reading this book was an extremely good investment.

스크린 위의 삶 = Life on the screen : identity in the age of the internet

The biggest challenge in fostering a virtual community is the supply of knowledge, namely the willingness to snare Knowledge with other members. This paper integrates the Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Capital Theory to construct a model for investigating the motivations behind people's knowledge sharing in virtual communities. The study holds that the facets of social capital -- social interaction ties, trust, norm of reciprocity, identification, shared vision and shared language -- will influence individuals' knowledge sharing in virtual communities. We also argue that outcome expectations -- community-related outcome expectations and personal outcome expectations -- can engender knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Data collected from 310 members of one professional virtual community provide support for the proposed model. The results help in identifying the motivation underlying individuals' knowledge sharing behavior in professional virtual communities. The implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.

http://idea-space.eu:19001/up/515486f5131ebee688cdd8b0d435af0f.pdf

Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: an integration of social capital and social cognitive theories

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is an online labor market where requesters post jobs and workers choose which jobs to do for pay. The central purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to use this website for conducting behavioral research and lower the barrier to entry for researchers who could beneﬁt from this platform. We describe general techniques that apply to a variety of types of research and experiments across disciplines. We begin by discussing some of the advantages of doing experiments on Mechanical Turk, such as easy access to a large, stable, and diverse subject pool, the low cost of doing experiments and faster iteration between developing theory and executing experiments. We will discuss how the behavior of workers compares to experts and to laboratory subjects. Then, we illustrate the mechanics of putting a task on Mechanical Turk including recruiting subjects, executing the task, and reviewing the work that was submitted. We also provide solutions to common problems that a researcher might face when executing their research on this platform including techniques for conducting synchronous experiments, methods to ensure high quality work, how to keep data private, and how to maintain code security.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1798687_code1554670.pdf?abstractid=1691163&mirid=1&type=2

Conducting Behavioral Research on Amazon's Mechanical Turk

Recommender systems have developed in parallel with the web. They were initially based on demographic, content-based and collaborative filtering. Currently, these systems are incorporating social information. In the future, they will use implicit, local and personal information from the Internet of things. This article provides an overview of recommender systems as well as collaborative filtering methods and algorithms; it also explains their evolution, provides an original classification for these systems, identifies areas of future implementation and develops certain areas selected for past, present or future importance.

http://romisatriawahono.net/lecture/rm/survey/information%20retrieval/Bobadilla%20-%20Recommender%20Systems%20-%202013.pdf

Recommender systems survey

Using the Internet to conduct quantitative research presents challenges not found in conventional research. Paper-based survey quality criteria cannot be completely adapted to electronic formats. Electronic surveys have distinctive technological, demographic, and response characteristics that affect their design, use, and implementation. Survey design, participant privacy and confidentiality, sampling and subject solicitation, distribution methods and response rates, and survey piloting are critical methodological components that must be addressed. In this article, quality criteria for electronic survey design and use based on an investigation of recent electronic survey literature are presented. The application of these criteria to reach a hard-to-involve online population-nonpublic participants of online communities (also known as "lurkers")-and survey them on their community participation, a topic not salient to the purpose of their online communities is demonstrated in a case study. The results show t...

/pdf/electronic-survey-methodology-a-case-study-in-reaching-hard-2ap9kb6ice.pdf

Electronic survey methodology: A case study in reaching hard-to-involve internet users.

Billions of people participate in online social activities. Most users participate as readers of discussion boards, searchers of blog posts, or viewers of photos. A fraction of users become contributors of user-generated content by writing consumer product reviews, uploading travel photos, or expressing political opinions. Some users move beyond such individual efforts to become collaborators, forming tightly connected groups with lively discussions whose outcome might be a Wikipedia article or a carefully edited YouTube video. A small fraction of users becomes leaders, who participate in governance by setting and upholding policies, repairing vandalized materials, or mentoring novices. We analyze these activities and offer the Reader-to-Leader Framework with the goal of helping researchers, designers, and managers understand what motivates technology-mediated social participation. This will enable them to improve interface design and social support for their companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations. These improvements could reduce the number of failed projects, while accelerating the application of social media for national priorities such as healthcare, energy sustainability, emergency response, economic development, education, and more.

/pdf/the-reader-to-leader-framework-motivating-technology-58u61s1nbp.pdf

The Reader-to-Leader Framework: Motivating Technology-Mediated Social Participation

Predicting quality in educational software: Evaluating for learning, usability and the synergy between them

Empathic communities: balancing emotional and factual communication

http://www-di.inf.puc-rio.br/~clarisse/docs/2004desouzaIwC16(3).pdf

Jennifer Preece

Papers

Electronic survey methodology: A case study in reaching hard-to-involve internet users.

The Reader-to-Leader Framework: Motivating Technology-Mediated Social Participation

Predicting quality in educational software: Evaluating for learning, usability and the synergy between them

Empathic communities: balancing emotional and factual communication

A framework for analyzing and understanding online communities