Patent ID: 8065265

Claim:
A method of conducting web-based research on at least one item, the at least one item comprising at least one product and/or at least one service, the method being performed by a first user in a community of consumers, wherein the method comprises acts of: (A) accessing a previously populated research template for the at least one item, wherein the research template is a data structure configured to store data related to a plurality of attributes for evaluating the at least one item, wherein the research template is accessible to and modifiable by users in the community of consumers to facilitate a collaborative researching experience for the at least one item, the template comprising at least one field relating to the plurality of attributes for evaluating the at least one item, the plurality of attributes having been specified by at least one other user in the community of consumers, the at least one field being populated with results of research conducted on the at least one item by the at least one other user in the community of consumers, the results comprising the data collected from at least one website; (B) modifying the research template by modifying at least one of the plurality of attributes; (C) populating, using at least one processor, the modified template with data collected from a plurality of websites; (D) associating with at least some of the plurality of attributes priority information indicating a relative importance among the at least some of the plurality of attributes; and (E) organizing the populated modified template based on the priority information.