Building a web tracking browser information system: the online panel as a research method in internet studies

Abstract

Internet research requires internet-based research methods and tools. Since the commercial adoption and the rapid expansion of internet use in civil society, social scientists have tried to understand the impact and contribution of this technology in the shaping of contemporary human existence. However, academic research has been based mainly in mature and traditional data collection and analysis methods, previously established, like survey research or social network analysis. Some authors suggest that this trend represents a challenge for the social sciences’ ability to champion innovative methodological resources, underlining the need to create also native digital methods. The authors developed, considering this challenge, an online panel of internet users – a method already used in the market research industry to monitor and characterize audiences and consumer behaviour, but not usually explored in social science academic research. Following a case study approach, the current paper presents the information system and technological infrastructure developed to support this online panel.