Internet recruitment and e-mail interviews in qualitative studies

In 2004, 111 million adults accessed the Internet looking for health and medical information. Qualitative researchers can apply long-standing principles of recruitment and interviewing to the Internet. The purpose of this article is to examine the theoretical and methodological aspects of Internet recruitment and e-mail interviewing. The authors address issues of appropriateness, adequacy, representativeness, sample bias, data fraud, flexibility and consistency in interviewing, timing, elimination of the need for transcription, oral versus written communication, reliability and validity, and ethical concerns. They include some practical suggestions on a research design for a qualitative study employing both Internet recruitment and e-mail interviewing.