Submitted by Steve on Tue, 2009-01-06 01:50.

Welcome to 2009! Tomorrow, we will be having our first online Immersive Research class of the year (with more to follow later in the year).  One of the things I like to impress upon folks who are new to online qualitative research that online is not a methodology - it's a medium for research - just like in person is a medium. I think this is an important distinction because it frames the approach in a very different way. The online medium can support a variety of methodologies and techniques (diaries, projectives, discussions etc). Just like in person, it has strengths, weaknesses and burgeoning conventions.

Online as a medium is really strong in terms of being able to sustain interaction and engagment over time. It's also a medium where you can move from individual and group interactions at will depending on how it best serves your research.  And I believe that it's also a very good expressive reflective medium for participants.  In many studies participants comment on how much they learned about themselves.

So I am excited to guide the class through the possibilities of this new medium - and look forward to the new things I will learn from them as well.