The Practice of Social Research
Chapter Seventeen. Reading and Writing Social Research
Using the Internet Wisely
Some Useful Web Sites
Searching the Web
Evaluating the Quality of Internet Materials
Citing Internet Material
In many respects the internet and world wide web represent one of the most
exciting developments for social researchers in recent years. At the
same time, it can be detrimental to inquiry. The web contains a vast
mass of information, and a great deal of it simply inaccurate, either by
the intention of bias or as a consequence of sloppy procedures. As
such, the web represents a huge challenge for a new social researcher with
integrity.
This section of the chapter will provide you with a number of useful and
basically trustworthy web sites that contain social research data of various
types.
Specially attention is focused on the use of search engines as tools of
inquiry, and I've given you some tips on how to evaluate the quality of what
you find.
Finally, I suggested how to cite internet materials in your bibliography.
You should realize that scholars are still experimenting with different
citation formats, but I've offered some beginnings for you.