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AzyBarak,OrnaBoneh,andMichalDolev-Cohen
commitmenttogroupparticipationplaysignificantroles,too.Thatis,despitethe
powerfulpotentialoftheprocesseslistedtoendorsepersonalempowermentand
elevatewell-being,users’participationandengagementareofnolessimpor-
tance.Thecurrentsectionfocusesonthesepersonalfactorsascrucialdetermi-
nantsoftheeffectiveness(i.e.,theextentoftheirsuccessintheprovisionof
support)ofonlinesupportgroups.
ResearchoftheInternetingeneral,andofonlinesupportgroupsinparticular,
hasthespecialadvantageofimplementingethnographicmethods.Theabilityto
ethnographicallystudytheactivityofonlinesupportgroups,inadditiontomore
traditionaldatacollectionthroughquestionnairesandinterviews,offersaspecial
benefit:itreliesonparticipants’naturalandspontaneousgroupbehaviorand
obviatesexclusivedependenceontheirreportsthroughinterviewsandquestion-
naires(cf.Garcia,Standlee,Bechkoff,&Cui,2009;Markham,2008).Fivedis-
tinctfactorsmakeethnographicresearchfullynon-reactivesothatitissignifi-
cantlymoreauthenticandlessbiasedintermsofpossibledistortionsbythe
participants:(1)thesettingisinanaturalhabitatandnotinitiallydesignedor
selectedforresearchpurposes;(2)participantsarenotawareoftheresearchset-
ting,asitistheiralreadyexistingenvironment;(3)participantsarenotawareof
theresearchquestionandpurpose,andfrequentlynotevenawarethatresearchis
beingconductedatall;(4)morespecifically,participantsarenotawareofthe
researchquestionsandhypotheses;and(5)participantsarenotawareofthe
measures’manipulability(Fritsche&Linneweber,2006).Thus,theresultsof
suchastudycouldbeconsideredtohaveveryhighexternalvalidity–anaspect
commonlyneglectedinbehavioralandsocialresearch.Thefollowingfindings
regardingparticipationinonlinesupportgroupsarebasedonethnographic
grounds;hence,possiblymorevalidconclusionsandimplicationsmaybedrawn.
DoParticipantsofOnlineSupportGroupsObtainSupport?
Numerouscaseanddescriptivestudies,qualitativeandquantitativeresearch,
andconsequentreviews(e.g.,Baraketal.,2008;Tanis,2008;vanUden-Kraan
etal.,2008b)provideevidenceinsupportofthenotionthatonlinesupportgroups
areeffectiveinachievingtheirgoals;namely,thatparticipantsobtainsupport
throughincreasedpersonalempowermentandfeelingsofwell-being.However,
oneshouldkeepinmindthatresearchgeneralizesfindingsandconclusions;that
is,itreferstothegeneraltrendandtothemajorityofitsparticipants.However,
notallparticipantsgothroughsuchpositiveexperiences;someparticipantsdo
notchange,othersmayevendeteriorate.
