Digging the web: Examples, promises and challenges of sing Web 2.0 tools for audience research

Hastall, M. (2011). Digging the web: Examples, promises and challenges of sing Web 2.0 tools for audience research . Zagreb conference: "New challenges and methodological innovations in European media audience research". 7-9 April 2011.

Abstract: Web 2.0 technologies did not only radically change media use habits and expectations for millions of media users worldwide, they also provide audience researchers with a wealth of exciting – and often overlooked – research tools. In this presentation, we aim to draw researchers’ attention more closely to the potential of these often free and/or open-source tools by demonstrating their practicality and limitations with two case studies. For this purpose, we review several freely available online tools regarding their suitability as qualitative or quantitative research instruments for (1) data collection, (2) data transformation and cleaning, (3) data analysis and (4) data visualization. In the first case study, we will show what researchers can gain by using a web 2.0 content analysis approach to explore developing variations in news broadcasts between weblogs and traditional news media outlets. Utilizing the huge amount of available online information from audiences themselves the second case study analyzes user comments about media offerings to provide deeper insights into audiences’ reception processes. Overall, these case studies are intended to demonstrate how quickly and easy Web 2.0 technology can be used to generate new knowledge and insights that would be extremely expensive, time-consuming or even impossible to gain by using traditional research approaches. The specific advantages and limitations of Web 2.0 research approaches, compared to traditional research methodology, will be discussed.