Methodology

Research Objectives:

1. Define trolling. What different types of trolling are there? I have read about two so far, but could there be more? Who trolls, and who are the victims of trolling? When and where does trolling occur? What is the form and content of (the various types of) trolling? Also, is trolling deviant behavior? If so, when?

2. Explain trolling. What are the consequences of trolling? Why do people troll? Specifically, what motivates trolls, and what purpose is fulfilled by trolling? How does the anonymity of the Internet contribute to trolling behavior?

Methodology:

1. Background research. Obviously, there will be a lot of background research involving lots of reading. Some progress has been bade on this front already (see previous literature review and reading reflection posts). A lot of this background research will be in the areas of social psychology and computer mediated communication (CMC) research on online social interaction and deviant behavior.

2. Data and analysis. This is the tentative part of the project; I'm still not 100% sure how I want to do this. Hopefully I will collect information on specific instances of trolling, possibly specific to certain online communities. The advantage of this approach is that I will be able to collect detailed information on trolls/trolling events within the context of a community. The drawback is that focusing on a small number of communities restrict the scope of my research objectives: I may only see limited variation in trolling behavior that is not at all representative. Whatever the focus, I plan to record details of trolling events and possibly even interview some trolls for first-hand accounts. All of this will be done in accordance with research ethics regarding privacy and confidentiality.

Finally, I want to qualitatively compare and contrast the characteristics of trolling events (who/when/where/form/content) and, from this, discuss the potential implications for the purpose and meaning of trolling on the Internet.