Internet Research Tracings: Towards Non-Reductionist Methodology

Abstract

Internet research has become a “field” in its own right in the social sciences, already boasting a number of peer-reviewed journals, a plethora of book titles, and an international association that draws hundreds of researchers from across the globe to its annual conference. This paper contributes to this burgeoning field at a meta-methodological level by considering what is needed to achieve non-reductionist understandings of the Internet. It shows how Internet research perspectives draw upon various established media and technology research traditions. These can be grouped according to their emphasis upon three different aspects of determination influencing media technology outcomes: uses, where the instrumental use of the artifact is brought to the fore; technological, where the form of media technology is focused upon; and social, where the structuring of outcomes by social determinants is central. Consideration of the research traditions emphasizing each of these aspects gives access to previously recognized strengths and weaknesses associated with each. In particular, my critical examination highlights how each perspective can fall into overly deterministic arguments: instrumentalist, technological determinist, and social determinist. As such, I argue that to gain non-reductionist understandings of the Internet, research ideally needs to take into account the complex interplay between multiple constituting elements. I point to a number of existing media technology approaches that can help with this task. However, I also acknowledge the limitations placed on research by resource constraints and recognize that researchers may wish to follow a particular tradition and focus on a single determination. I argue that these researchers must at least recognize the multi-dimensionality of determination, and be reflexive about the limits of their approaches, methods, and findings.