| While developments in information technology provide unique opportunities for researchers, they pose many challenges as well. This thesis examines the methodological and ethical issues involved in using the Internet to conduct a naturalistic, qualitative study of an electronic mutual aid/self-help (MASH) group. Field notes, generated by the researcher, were used in conjunction with archived e-mail postings and semi-structured on-line interviews in the analysis of how the Internet influenced both the social setting and the research process.;As a social setting for research, the electronic MASH group was characterized by "fluid" boundaries, and this had implications for theoretical sampling and for participants' experiences of support. Furthermore, the lack of a shared time/space context facilitated and hindered the process of implementing qualitative methodology (e.g. conducting interviews) and necessitated a re-examination of methodological and ethical issues critical to qualitative research (e.g. meaning of boundaries, public/private distinction). |
