Methodological characteristics of social research on the Internet

In the last years we observed a significant expansion of the access to computers and the use of internet across different socioeconomic groups. This phenomenon allowed social researchers to use this environment as a way for collecting and analyzing a specific kind of data. Academic and market researchers begin to consider internet as an important space for developing social research. Diverse and innovative methodological approaches are being tailored for studying the particular nature of internet and the virtual environments. This paper explores the main characteristics, advantages, and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research for studying online media.