Using the examples on Internet use and social relations found in Chapter 1, define and describe the difference between quantitative and qualitative methods in social research. How did the researchers' choice of qualitative or quantitative methods strengthen their conclusions? Weaken them? Propose another study of Internet use in which you build on one of the previous studies but using triangulated methods.

What will be an ideal response?

Quantitative methods--numerical data used to report findings as percentages and other statistics that summarize the relationships among variables; quantitative methods often use motive for research such as explanation, description, or evaluation; quantitative methods are usually implemented to generalize to the larger public but does not provide detail on smaller, subgroups; qualitative methods--focuses on actual text and most often uses exploration as a motive; qualitative data give researchers a lot of information about a few people, but the findings cannot be generalizable to the whole population.