Research Methods for Studying Virtual Communities tions about the nature of reality. In other words, assumptions are keys to unravel events. One has to make assumptions about the nature of reality because anything that a researcher might do to test what reality is, of necessity, must be based on some understanding of that reality. On the other hand, philosophic assumptions cannot be proved but can be stipulated. These stipulations are postulates. Therefore, an assump- tion positively stated becomes postulate and a set of postulates make a paradigm. Paradigms, like the postulates on which they are based cannot be tested (Maykut & Morehouse, 2003). However, the paradigm provides the largest reliable and verifiable framework within which every research takes place. Furthermore, paradigm is the world- view within which all researchers (be they virtual or traditional) work. Postulates are the individual assumptions that are stipulated to be true. Pertinently, a tradition in research consists of circumstances. At the level of a research study where the researcher has to make a choice con- cerning methods for the study, the researcher has to encounter both the actual applicable methods and techniques and the underlying philosophy regarding their use in the study. In this respect the philosophy will include a theory of when and why to apply, for instance qualitative rather than quantitative method and the awareness of the limi- tations of equally applicable and relevant various methods. The distinction between the three levels in the methodological paradigmatic dimension is represented diagrammatically in Figure 1. The emphases in this respect are that: 1. All Research methods and techniques are task-specific and the task is often defined by the research goal. Different research studies use different research methods and techniques because 2.