Hi Marj I'm currently working with a group as part of SCROLLA investigating means of characterising online learning communications. We are treating messages posted to online conferences as indicators of online behaviours, although other terms are also used, such as 'moves' which bring in other research, for example, associated with turn taking in groups. ( A couple of recent conference papers are available on the web at http://www.shef.ac.uk/nlc2002/proceedings/symp/04.htm#04a Chappel et al "Fast Coding of On-line Learning Behaviours using an 'Elements' Approach" and McAteer el al http://www.shef.ac.uk/nlc2002/proceedings/symp/04.htm#04b "Characterising On-line Learning Environments", if you're interested.) I suspect the conclusions that can be drawn by your student will depend on how she intends to analyse the chat room data. This could be the critical discourse analysis that Jeremy referred to, which might seek to categorise incidences of different kinds of communication behaviours, or references to behaviours outside of the chatroom. Any conclusions from this would be based on assumptions made by the researcher, which may be off the mark, especially given the nature of the study. One technique that we will be developing to address this, is that of situated participant recall. This involves interviewing, possibly online, contributors to discussions to first ask for their views on the discussions under study, and then to comment on the researcher's interpretation of parts of these communications. This approach has the advantage of reducing the chance of quoting out of context and changing the original author's intent, while checking the interpretation of others' comments. It also links to the importance of gaining permission and maintaining confidentiality. Other techniques that might be useful to investigate could be social networks analysis. Depending on how much background detail you have, this could be interesting in terms of who refers to whom, or who pays attention to whom within the chat room, and could lead on to work that is more related to the impact of the discourse. My focus is in online learning, but one paper in this area that may be useful is Murphy, K. L., & Collins, M.P. (1998). "Development of communication conventions in instructional electronic chats." Journal of Distance Education 12(1/2): 177-200 Available online at: http://disted.tamu.edu/aera97a.htm Best wishes Rachel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Rachel A Harris Scottish Centre for Research into On-Line Learning and Assessment University of Glasgow Florentine House 53 Hillhead Street Glasgow, G12 8QQ 0141 330 2878 r.harris@udcf.gla.ac.uk www.scrolla.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Marj Kibby Sent: 07 August 2002 06:02 To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Chat Room Study Hi all, A PhD student is doing research into Enjo Kousai or teenage prostitution in Japan. Her primary source of personal information is chat room archives. Our review board has said that we can do a study of the chat room but "The research can only be about chat room discourse and not about how Japanese teenagers behave" Can tentative 'conclusions' be drawn about attitudes and behaviours from online conversation? Does anyone know of published work along these lines? Cheers, Marj Dr Marjorie Kibby, Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia Marj.Kibby@newcastle.edu.au +61 2 49216604 << File: Marj Kibby.vcf >>