Web Social Science Concepts, Data and Tools for Social Scientists in the Digital Age

Ackland's Web Social Science is unique in being specifically designed for social science researchers. Although written simply enough to be accessible to undergraduates, accomplished scholars are likely to appreciate it too. Reading it taught me quite a lot about a subject I thought I knew rather well. Paul Vogt 20140226

Ackland's Web Social Science is unique in being specifically designed for social science researchers. Although written simply enough to be accessible to undergraduates, accomplished scholars are likely to appreciate it too. Reading it taught me quite a lot about a subject I thought I knew rather well. Paul Vogt
Emeritus Professor of Research Methods and Evaluation at Illinois State University This is a rare and timely entry to the growing body of quantitative Internet research. While most other works on the topic are written by and for scientists, the current book represents social science approach that is more accessible and applicable, with more attention to preparation, processing and interpretation of real-world data. Though primarily for readers in social science, business studies, policy analysts, and alike, the book blends traditional social science and emerging web science into a unique handbook of Internet research.
Jonathan J. H. Zhu
Professor of Media and Communication and Founding Director of Web Mining Lab, City University of Hong Kong This book brings the art and science of building and applying innovative online research tools to students and faculty across the social sciences. Professor William H. Dutton
Oxford Internet Institute and Balliol College University of Oxford, UK This book provides excellent chapters on how to study the Web from a social science research perspective. Specifically the research perspective is valuable because, although there are many books on theorizing the Internet and the Web, only few tackle hands-on research issues. This two-part book (divided in a methods section and example studies) covers a wide range of research designs, tools and data types from a many different social science perspectives (psychology, sociology, media studies, political studies and network science among others). This book is highly recommended for social science studies that want to use the Web to study social phenomena (the Web as a tool) and media studies that focus on the Web itself as a research object.
Maurice Vergeer
Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands