Fact or Fiction

This chapter examines conditions that participants of online qualitative research might give false answers to a researcher. As research was conducted with feminist activists who were online, a number of the responses were highly suspect as to how true they could actually be. Because the researcher was not face to face with these participants, he had to either take the responses as true or discard them. The researcher argues his lack of face-to-face presence made it difficult to generate a good rapport with these participants, and because of this, received answers based on the only social marker that was evident: his name, or that he was male. Interview data is presented to show apparent discrepancies in our electronic conversations. The chapter concludes by suggesting for future online qualitative research, the researcher should have a more reflexive research design and approach to the project.

What If You Meet Face to Face? A Case Study in Virtual/Material Research Ethics

In this chapter, the author argues for a strict interpretation of research ethics when conducting online research, and in the process, discusses these four ethical categories: the presence of the researcher in the researched context, the blurring lines between “public” and “private,” informed consent and confidentiality. In making his argument, he draws on examples from a case study in which he examined an organization that meets both online and face-to-face.

Organizational Research Over the Internet

This chapter presents a framework through which ethical Internet-based organizational research can be conducted. Organizational constraints that promote the use of the Internet for applied research are identified, followed by potential benefits and drawbacks. The chapter then discusses the ethical issues that must be considered when conducting Internet-based organizational research; these include concerns about privacy, confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent and providing a debriefing. A case study illustrates these issues, and the chapter concludes with directions for future research. Numerous tables and figures are used to serve as a quick reference for the key points of the chapter.

The Ethics of Conducting E-Mail Surveys

E-mail is a low-cost and highly effective form of individual contact for primary research. However, researchers who contact strangers for their survey research through e-mail are, in essence, sending them Spam. Some academic researchers might argue that due to the low volume and infrequent nature of their surveys and the general positive perception of academia, their e-mail surveys do not add to the Spam problem. However, this is an insufficient resolution of the ethical problem. This chapter examines one solution to avoid this problem—the use of respondent permission prior to contact. Obtaining respondent permission is tricky and can be costly. But, it may be the only long-term solution. Importantly, using this approach could lead to a loss of randomness in the sampling procedure due to self-selection. Ideas for implementation of a permission-based contact system at the individual researcher and academic field level are provided at the end.

Virtual Youth Research

By presenting findings from research into British online youth culture conducted by the author, the chapter critically evaluates how to study adolescents’ use of the Internet and the ethical considerations facing the researcher. The methodologies applied include data collection with the help of Web server logs, online surveys, e-mail interviews, participant observation in online communities, as well as a “technobiography” of the author designing her own teenage website. Ethical problems discussed in the chapter deal with access to virtual sites of research, parental and informed consent, the role of the researcher, ownership of online data and issues of confidentiality.

Ethics and Engagement in Communication Scholarship

This chapter asserts an engaged research approach that aims to meet the ethical challenges of public, online support group studies. First, the intrinsic ethical orientation of the theoretical framework undergirding this approach is detailed. Second, how this approach may guide qualitative-interpretive analyses of public, online support groups is explored. This section features two excerpts from a larger study conducted of one such group. Third, three additional features of engaged research that bolsters its capacity to address the ethical concerns of public, online support group studies are presented. The chapter with a call and rationale for future engaged research of such sites, stressing the benefits to research and support group communities alike.

Conducting Ethical Research Online

Online research introduces new ethical issues inherent to the medium. In this chapter we provide a case study of online research in action, focusing on the ethical issues of conducting qualitative research within virtual environments. The case study provides an example of how research can be conducted within virtual environments with the consent of research participants and their community, without compromising their confidentiality, violating their assumptions of privacy or infringing upon their copyright entitlements.

Blurring the Boundaries

As use of the Internet has grown, so to has the amount of research concerning various aspects of computer-mediated communication (CMC). In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of research projects dealing with Internet-based, synchronous chat programs. Although timely, this increased research interest in synchronous chat media is problematic due to potential ethical dilemmas regarding data gathering and research publication. This paper examines the ethical problems related to subject identity, privacy and “chat copyright” in synchronous online research. Additionally, it addresses possible strategies for minimizing ethical conflict, while maintaining research integrity.

Conducting Congruent, Ethical Qualitative Research on Internet-Mediated Research Environments

Research practices in Internet-mediated environments are influenced by the dynamic interplay of online, onground and technical research spheres. This chapter illuminates the different ways in which studies can be located within these spheres and explores the resulting implications for researcher-participant relationships. Issues of participant recruitment, data collection, data use and ownership, trust and voice are discussed. The authors suggest that to conduct ethical qualitative research online, the researcher is required to develop and demonstrate awareness of the specific Internet-mediated research contexts, knowledge of technologies used and of research practices congruent with the situatedness of the study.

International Digital Studies

The constant diffusion of online communication technology increasingly allows individuals from different cultural backgrounds to communicate with each other directly and quickly. In its removal of more traditional communication obstacles, such as distance and time, these technologies may amplify cultural rhetorical differences. This situation might be particularly problematic as factors of both culture and media could confound the overall discourse situation. This chapter overviews a research approach—international digital studies—that offers a new method for exploring international online interactions (IOIs). The chapter also presents an argument for why it is crucial to begin studies of IOIs at this particular point in history.