Studying identity and control in online worlds: ethnomethodology and categorization analysis and its applicability to virtual space

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThe worlds encountered by players of online games are sociologically important, but attempts to observe and analyze action online has been stymied by methodological limitations. This paper analyzes research done on the online world for the subjects of identity, organization, and social control. It suggests a set of methodological tools for use with online research based on ethnography, ethnomethodology and categorization analysis that relies entirely on the online character for data