Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
to a particular question, or answers being given to questions that were asked
several posts prior. In some cases, responses are to questions posed by other
participants and not directly related to the questions asked. The use of the “
>
”
symbolalsoprovidesawayforaparticipanttoinsertquestionsasawayofindi-
cating which question is being addressed.
In the text, the use of symbols, and of specific punctuation, and of text is
actually discussed. One participant notes that sometimes people are
“YELLINGand****screaming****!!!!!.”Oneparticipantnoted,“IWANTtohear
what people unlike me are thinking,” using “WANT” to highlight his point. In
anotherexample,theparticipantemphasizeshispointbystating,“IDON'Tsee
anydifferencebetweenthetwo”with“DON'T”addingemphasis.Ineachcase,
theaddedemphasismayaidtheresearcherinpickinguponaparticularsenti-
ment or underlying issue worth further exploration.
Anotherissueillustratedintheexampleistheissueofjargon.Ofteninonline
discussions,peoplewillassumeafamiliaritywithjargon.TermslikeF2F,which
means face-to-face, FAQ, frequently asked questions, and RL, real life, will
appearinaresponse.Researchersneedtobepreparedtodecipheronlinejargon
to ensure that they understand the meaning of a participant's contribution.
Intheprecedingpageswe'veoutlinedthewaysinwhichemailfunctionsand
how it can be used in research for interviews, surveys and focus. A number of
issuesrelatedtoworkingtheenvironmentandusingtheseresearchtechniques
havebeenidentifiedtoaidaresearcher.Therearecaseexamplesandpractical
tips for getting started. As you move beyond the beginning stages and seek
more sophisticated information to support your efforts, we encourage you to
consult the online help for a given software application as well as the tutorials
containedwithinmostapplications,aswellasseektheadvicecontainedinspe-
cific methods texts, as outlined in the previous chapters.
