An Ethnography of Interaction in an Online Romance Novel Community

Principal Researcher, Miriam Greenfeld

I will be conducting research for a course in Communication at Rutgers University. The purpose of the research is to look at how people in an online community interact with one another. This page is provided to give a clear understanding of the research I am doing.

I will study posts starting in the end of February 2007 and continuing through April 2007. I will only be using publicly posted messages, which can be used freely without consent. I will use a coding system to disguise the identities of posters since my interest is in the language of discussion. Nevertheless, any posts from those who are minors or suspected of being so will be left out. At one point I will be asking for members to participate in an interview to gain a further understanding of the community. There will be an additional consent form that will describe the matter further. No one is required to participate in the interview portion of the study.

There are no foreseeable risks to anyone involved. All posters will be coded in order to ensure confidentiality. This way nothing can be traced automatically to an individual poster.

Hopefully this research will shed some light on the way online communities develop patterns of interaction that define them as a community. In addition, it will lead to an understanding of a group's norms, beliefs, and values.

This is a non-funded, student research project and thus there is no financial or other compensation for anyone involved.

I can be reached most easily through my email which is mirigree@rci.rutgers.edu. Any research related concerns may be sent there. If you have any questions about your rights as a research subject, you may contact the Sponsored Programs Administrator at Rutgers University at (732) 932-0150 ext. 2104.