Obtaining subjects through online mechanisms is full of drawbacks and potential problems. The most obvious problem is sampling bias. Very few people claim to have any truly scientific and reliable demographic data about the types of people who makeup online users. There is no data about whether online users who answer surveys are any different than a typical or usual online user. Without accounting for this bias, any study which relies heavily on subjects obtained through online announcements or advertisements will be suspect.
Survey research is the most common type of research conducted online.
A researcher generally develops a survey in the form of an online questionnaire a user fills out and then submits to the researcher via a Web mechanism or through regular e-mail. Often the results of such a survey are made available on a Web site or through return e-mail. Researchers should be extremely careful in conducting this type of research and drawing any type of conclusions based upon its results. Another obvious drawback to conducting online research is the issue of maintaining subject confidentiality. Often detailed demographic information may be collected from the individual, which is most often than not, transmitted across the Internet without any type of privacy or encryption routines on the data.