Online research methods

Posted by SkillMaker in Oct, 2014

What are online research methods?

Online research methods are the digital tools and processes used to gather information on a topic from an internet search. The information gathered may include both factual information and the opinions of experts.

What are online research methods like?

Online research methods are like asking a parent about a historical event in order to give you information to help you achieve a particular outcome. Their information would involve facts and opinions sourced from their memory. The methods for obtaining information might include story telling, responses to questions, body language expressions which are all methods used to obtain and share information.

What is the purpose of online research methods?

Online research methods help people find the information they need quickly. Online tools provide information instantly. This information would take much longer to locate using offline research methods (such as searching for books in a library).

Where do online research methods fit in doing research?

  • What comes before? Compile a list of relevant research questions
  • Then – The online research method is followed
  • What comes after? Store and identify source of relevant information

What is the principle structure of online research methods?

In order to do online research, you must first decide what you are researching. For instance, let’s say you are interested in knowing the health benefits of drinking coffee. Follow the steps below:

  1. First, type ‘health benefits of drinking coffee’ into the search box of your favorite browser or search engine (for example, Bing, Google, Yahoo). You may also wish to rearrange the order of words typed into the search box (or to add or delete a word) and do another search. This will display a new set of websites as the search engine places different importance on the words searched.
  2. The browser will display links to several relevant websites in order of relevance/popularity.
  3. Open up several of these sites and scroll through them to decide whether or not they will be helpful. Also note who posted the website. Educational, business and government websites are more likely to be more factually reliable than those posted by individuals.

What are the different types of online research methods?

Online research methods include the following:

  • Going to websites located by a browser to read articles on the topic you are researching.
  • Watching online videos located by a browser, or by using a search facility such as Youtube.
  • Going to news websites like CNN, or local news programming stations, and searching their archives of news stories for relevant segments.
  • Using the free online library <www.thefreelibrary.com>, or a library from a college or university, to access books or journal articles that can be viewed online.
  • Copying and pasting information from different sites onto a blank page and saving this information for later review. (Don’t forget to also copy and paste the website address.)
  • Opening several different websites at once on your computer screen to compare information. This will help you to decide which website is likely to be the most reliable and helpful. (Note who wrote and posted the website to help you to make this assessment.) Also compare different opinions posted by experts, noting the basis for any opinions of interest.

What terms are used when using online research methods?

online research methods

Online research methods

  • Bookmarking is a way to digitally save the address of a website so you can come back to it later.
  • Copy and paste means copying information you want to see later and pasting it elsewhere. To do this, first highlight the information to be copied, right click to bring up a menu and then left click ‘copy’. Then open a blank page online (for example, in Microsoft Word). Right click again, and then left click to paste the selected information onto that page.
  • Links are web addresses that you click on (control/left click) to be automatically taken to that website.
  • Resources are the sources from which the author of the website got information.
  • Scroll means to roll down the page of a website reading the information at a glance.
  • Search engine (or browser) is a digital means of locating relevant websites for a topic.
  • Website is the place on the internet where an organisation or individual stores their information for public viewing.
  • Youtube <www.youtube.com> is an internet site where a person can search for video material such as documentaries and ‘how to’ demonstrations.

Where can I find more information about online research methods?

More information on online research methods is located at the following websites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_research_methods

http://www.ehow.com/how_5034563_job-doing-internet-research.html

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/

http://www.arl.org/

 

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