What is Page Requests

This chapter discusses validity of units of analysis of Web log data. First, Web log units are compared to the unit of analysis of television to understand the conceptual issues of media use unit of analysis. Second, the validity of both Client-side and Server-side Web log data are examined along with benefits and shortcomings of each Web log data. Each method has implications on cost, privacy, cache memory, session, attention, and many other areas of concerns. The challenges were not only theoretical but, also, methodological. In the end, Server-side Web log data turns out to have more potentials than it is originally speculated. Nonetheless, researchers should decide the best research method for their research and they should carefully design research to claim the validity of their data. This chapter provides some valuable recommendations for both Client-side and Server-side Web log researchers.