A method for collecting case study information via the Internet

The Internet is rapidly becoming the communications infrastructure. The global interconnectivity provided by the Internet, and with the standardized electronic mail protocols of the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) and X.400 available over the Internet, it is now possible to conduct case studies and surveys electronically via e-mail without the necessity of holding face-to-face meetings. The documentation pertaining to the case study no longer need be posted or hand-carried to the interviewer, since file transfer over the Internet using the file transfer protocol (FTP) is a suitable and cheaper alternative. The method used by the author for carrying out a series of case studies via the Internet is documented.