Studying migrants with the help of the internet : methods from psychology

Abstract

The article describes how the Internet can be used for research both with migrants and on the psychological impressions others have of migrants. Internet-based research methods are currently one of the hot fields in methodology. Though Internet-based research has only a brief history—around 15 years—the field has seen a massive increase in the number of studies conducted on the Internet, and the collection of tools with which to conduct Internet-based research. This development demonstrates a grass-roots change in how research in the behavioural and social sciences is often conducted. In our paper, we use the example of examining social networking Web pages (in terms both of its quantitative and its qualitative aspects) for markers of biculturalism in migrants to illustrate how this type of investigation can be a fruitful avenue for researchers in the area.