Online Research Essentials

Brenda Russell, PhD, is an associate professor in the applied psychology program at Pennsylvania State University, Berks in Reading, Pennsylvania. Her recent research involves using the Internet to design, administer, and collect survey and experimental research data.John Purcell, MBA, MS, is recently retired from Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont, where he was department chair and professor and coordinator of the e-commerce concentration in the Department of Business Administration.

• Preface. Introduction.The Authors.1. Understanding the Basics of Research.Learning Objectives.Making Decisions: Intuition Versus Science.Using the Scientific Method in Research.Formulating a Research Question.Understanding Research Terminology.Research Methods That Can Help Answer Your Question.2. Ethical Considerations for Using the Internet for Research.Learning Objectives.Defining Ethics and Its Role in Conducting Research.What Can We Learn from Debriefing Statements?Deception and Online Research: Participant Privacy, Anonymity, and Other Issues.3. Getting to Know Microsoft Expression.Learning Objectives.How the Internet Works.Introducing Microsoft Expression.Creating and Modifying Tables.4. Planning Your Research Study.Learning Objectives.Formulating Your Research Question.5. Creating a Simple Survey on the Internet.Learning Objectives.Planning the Survey.Constructing the Survey.Designing and Creating the Database and Connecting It to the Online Survey.Specifying the Survey Processing.6. Introduction to Survey Development: Easy Steps to Creating an Online Survey.Learning Objectives.Survey Methods: Interviews and Questionnaires.General Guidelines for Formatting an Online Survey.7. Using Styles, Style Sheets, and Graphics.Learning Objectives.Exploring Styles.Working with Style Sheets.Working with Pictures and Graphics.8. Creating More Complicated Internet Surveys.Learning Objectives.Style Guidelines.Chunking Questions.9. Sampling Procedures.Learning Objectives.Understanding Populations and Samples.10. Developing Experimental Designs.Learning Objectives.Introduction to Experiments and Between-Subjects Designs.11. Introduction to Web Programming.Learning Objectives.Javascript Programming.Creating Multiple Versions of a Page to Eliminate Bias.12. Repeated Measures and Matched Groups Designs.Learning Objectives.Introduction to Within-Subjects Designs (Repeated Measures).13. Advanced JavaScript Programming.Learning Objectives.Variable Scope.Using Cookies to Prevent Multiple Submissions.14. Advanced JavaScript Programming II.Learning Objectives.Using Query Strings.When Things Go Wrong.15. General Tips on Storing and Analyzing Your Data Using Statistics.Learning Objectives.Getting Data Out of the Web Survey.Descriptive Analyses.Testing Your Research Hypothesis Using Inferential Statistics.Helpful Resources and Links to Analyze Data.Appendix. Using Photoshop to Create Buttons and Banners.Resources.Glossary.References.Index.