Internet researcher jobs consist of professions in which workers mine the Internet for a large variety of reasons, including for academic, economic, or sociological purposes. These jobs also include those positions in which the worker's primary task is to research the Internet itself. There are distinctions between the two. In the first case, virtually any researcher may use online portals to collect, analyze and compare virtually any type of research. In the latter case, academicians, scientists and private companies may also use collective data they gather from researching the Internet to understand demographic and social factors concerning Internet users, as a community.
Jobs entailing scientific and numerical analysis of Internet usage and users fall into various categories. These include the who, what, where, why, and how questions of Internet usage. For example, how many people lack readily available Internet access? How do children interact with the Internet? What motives drive cyber criminals or website traffic?
Internet researcher jobs may span the fields of sociology, communications, emerging technology, and economics. For example, a researcher might seek solutions to expanding Internet access for people who are unable to participate online because of poverty and lack of access to high-speed Internet connections. Other Internet researcher jobs involve computer scientists researching and developing better protections against security breaches, unauthorized intrusions and cyber crime.
There are also Internet researcher jobs that collect data on Internet usage, demographics, and trends. This particular branch of research is of interest to businesses and organizations that use it to reach marketing goals or publicity objectives. Internet research jobs include both qualitative and quantitative approaches to collecting and analyzing data.
Scientists, writers, journalists, sociologists, financial experts, and many other professionals are represented in the ranks of researchers who use the Internet for research purposes. Tools used include data-mining, surveys and questionnaires, online focus groups, and online collaborative activities. Private investigators, employers and collectors also use the Internet for researching a person's reputation, or whereabouts. Skip tracing is an example of the latter; it refers to locating a debtor who has disappeared after defaulting on a debt. Private investigators often have success in tracing a person's whereabouts, if that person has left a trail through use of social media.
Firms hired to prevent degradation to reputations, and to repair reputations of people and companies, employ Internet researchers. A reputation-repair expert may research the Internet for references to a person or company on an ongoing basis. Such research may also follow an injury to someone’s or something’s reputation.
Many consumers research every possible question on the Internet. Unless the researcher has been trained in using professional research techniques, this research may not be valid. In general terms, research gleaned from websites of governments, institutions, and credible media sources are considered to have a higher level of authority. Those working in Internet researcher jobs are trained to assess the quality and credibility of Internet sources.
