Doing research online does not excuse a researcher from following ethical protocols or filing IRB applications.
Whether you are doing research online or researching online communities you need to think carefully about what you are planning to do. Ethical issues such as informed consent and protection of privacy arise quickly. Is the community public or private? Are you researching persons or avatars? Can documentation of consent be waived? Is there potential of harm to an individual or the community? Who needs to give consent? When planning to collect data from an internet website/chat room/forum, you need to check on the privacy policy and terms of service for that site. For example, Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says "If you collect information from users, you will: obtain their consent, make it clear you (and not Facebook) are the one collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you collect and how you will use it."
Here are some links that may help you develop ethical online research.
- APA Psychological Research Online: Opportunities and Challenges
- AOIR - Association of Internet Researchers Recommendations from the AOIR ethics working committee (pdf)
- CASRO - Council of American Survey Research Organizations CASRO Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research
- Bruckner, Amy Ethical Guidelines for Research Online
- Jacobson, D., (1999) Doing research in cyberspace (pp. 127-145). Field Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
- Armstrong, Rebecca. "Human Subjects Research and the Internet: Ethical Dilemmas." Office of Research Administration,University of Texas, Research Review, March, 2003
- Weeks, Matthew. (Department of Psychology, Centenary College of Louisiana. ) "Issues in Web-based Research" in Web-Based Research Tools. Project Created by Matthew Weeks and funded by Associated Colleges of the South.
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Eysenbach, G., & Till, J. (2001). Information in practice: Ethical issues in qualitative research on Internet communities. British Medical, 323, 1103-1105.
Online Consent
The Kenyon IRB likes to see the following in an online survey:
- The consent information is presented first. The survey is not served if the subject does not consent.
- If the PI claims the subject does not have to answer anything they don't want to, the survey has to be able to move forward without a question being answered. Another way to do that is to have a "I prefer not to answer" choice for each question.
- When the subject gets to the last response page of a survey, they should be given a last chance to decide if they still want to submit their information. One way of doing this is to present two buttons 1) this is the end, submit your response 2) quit without submitting your responses.
- The submission should be acknowledged. A thank you will suffice, but a debriefing or other information text may be appropriate and respectful.
Here are some samples:
Kenyon Sample Cover Letter for Internet Research
Tips on Online Survey Consent
Online Survey Consent Example (Survey Monkey)
Informed Consent Example (for a Web based study from Social Psychology Network)