Ethics Issues in Digital Methods Research

Abstract

This chapter addresses issues of ethical research practice in the context of the recently emerging range of methods which use the Internet to support the creation of primary research data — variously referred to as online methods, digital methods and Internet-mediated research (IMR) (here, the latter term will be used). Social and behavioural researchers started devising and piloting IMR methods from around the mid-1990s, with surveys, experiments, interviews and observational studies all being represented in early pioneering attempts (e.g. Hewson, 1994; Bordia, 1996). Since then, IMR methods have flourished, expanding in volume, interdisciplinary reach and range of methodological approaches (as discussed in the introduction to this book). In particular, the emergence of ‘Web 2.0’, as discussed in Chapter 1, has facilitated the recent expansion of unobtrusive methods, including those involving data ‘mining’ or ‘harvesting’ (often requiring the use of complex computer algorithms), which can lead to what have become known as ‘big data’ sets (see Part I, this book). Such unobtrusive approaches, which make use of the digital traces of peoples’ online behaviours (typically, without obtaining consent), have led to debates regarding what is appropriate ethical practice in an IMR context; in particular, a salient issue has been the distinction between what should be considered ‘private’ and ‘in the public domain’ in an online context.