Virtual methods design 0 Pre-print, uncorrected version of:

The Internet, and in particular the World Wide Web (WWW) has enabled social scientists to create a virtual laboratory where data can be collected 24 hours a day, across the globe, without the costs (time, transcription errors and financial) associated with more traditional methods of research. Just as the video camera revolutionized observation methods, so the Internet is fundamentally changing the ways in which we can observe, measure and report on the human condition and societal structures. However, despite the increasing popularity of the Internet as both a methodology and as the object of research, it is relatively rare for these two separate literatures to cross reference each other. In the present chapter, I will argue that an understanding of the social aspects of Internet behaviour is crucial to the effective design of Internet-based methodology. While the need for an appreciation of theorizing about online interaction is clear for qualitative methodologies, it is arguable that online experimental methods should also be seen within the context of a social interaction. First, people tend to respond to computers as social actors (Moon, 2000; Nass et al., 1996), and as such transfer modes of interaction used with other people to their interactions with new socia