I am teaching a 5-day intensive course on online research methods. The course is scheduled to run 11-15 January 2010 in Canberra at the Australian National University, and will be held as part of the Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research Inc. (ACSPRI) Summer Program. The course draws from the ANU's masters specialisation on the Social Science of the Internet, which was set up in 2008. Here is the outline for the short course: The World Wide Web is only around 20 years old, but it has transformed the way we work, collaborate, engage in commerce, participate in the political process and interact socially. This course will provide students with thorough training in online research methods for social science Internet research. While "obtrusive" social research methods (e.g. online surveys and focus groups) will be covered, there is greater emphasis on unobstrusive research methods, e.g. quantitative analysis of Internet trace data from websites, blogsites and social networking sites such as Facebook. The course has a mixture of lectures and practical sessions. By taking this course, students will acquire important skills necessary for conducting empirical social science Internet research both in academic and industry settings. Students will learn: • What online research methods are best suited for researching various economic, political and social phenomena on the Internet, and how do these differ from methods traditionally used by social scientists? • What are the available tools and data for online research? • How to collect and analyse data from the Internet? • How to design and implement a research project that uses online research methods? • What are the ethical implications of the various online research methods? For more information on the course and booking, see: http://www.acspri.org.au/?page=current_program&course_id=50&program_id=20&pr... ------------------------------------- Dr Robert Ackland Fellow and Masters Coordinator, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University e-mail: robert.ackland@anu.edu.au homepage: http://adsri.anu.edu.au/people/robert.php project: http://voson.anu.edu.au ph./fax: +61 2 6125 0312/+61 2 6125 2992 Information about the Master of Social Research (Social Science of the Internet specialisation): http://adsri.anu.edu.au/study/msr.php -------------------------------------