Methodological Issues and Ethics

Bassett, E. H., & O'Riordan, K. (2002). Ethics of Internet research: Contesting the human subjects research model. Ethics and Information Technology, 4( 3), 233-247.

Beaulieu, A. (2004). Mediating ethnography: Objectivity and the making of ethnographies of the Internet. Social Epistemology, 18 (2-3), 139-163.

The author discusses the pros and cons of virtual ethnography through a review of the current methodological literature surrounding cyberanthropology and virtual ethnography. In the virtual arena, it is socially acceptable for the researcher to "lurk" undetected, enhancing objectivity. However, interaction and participation are often made easier in online environments. Past research is presented that discredits the quality of computer-mediated communication. Other issues include the rapidly evolving nature of technology, blurred distinctions between the public and the private, lack of human presence, and the overwhelming array of information presented to the researcher. The author stresses that successful virtual ethnography rests on the dynamic, intersubjective and investigative facets of the research, rather than representing a community which bests represents itself as is. She also cautions researchers of the challenge of blogging: a blurred distinction between the field and the writing up.

Boehlefeld, S. P. (1996). Doing the right thing: Ethical cyberspace research. The Information Society, 12 (2), 141 - 152.

Bruckman, A. (2002). Studying the amateur artist: A perspective on disguising data collected in human subjects research on the Internet. Ethics and Information Technology, 4 (3), 217- 231.

Christians, C.G. & Chen, S.S. (2004). Technological environments and the evolution of social research methods. In M.D. Johns, S.S. Chen, & G.J. Hall (Eds.), Online social research: Methods, issues, and ethics (pp. 15-25). New York: Peter Lang Publishers.

The authors first positioned the field of Internet research within the history of social research methods, and went on to discuss the positive qualities of conducting research online. The Internet allows for 24-hour, immediate access, massive sampling populations, logs of all conversations, and the capacity to pinpoint special interest groups. The authors also discussed the bias of technology and the technological imperative, pointing out that the Internet is in some ways less advantageous than other forms of media, without which it could never exist in the first place. They assert that the Internet could never constitute a world of its own because it lacks acoustical symbols, obvious markers of identity, and is dependent on the offline world. However, the article is dated and fails to discuss the novel forms of communication practices and identity performance that are emerging in online communities.

Eysenbach, G., & Till, J. E. (2001). Ethical issues in qualitative research on Internet communities. British Medical Journal, 323 , 1103-1105.

Herring, S. (1996a). Linguistic and critical analysis of computer-mediated communication: Some ethical and scholarly considerations. The Information Society, 12 (2), 153-168.

Hudson, J. M., & Bruckman, A. (2005). Using empirical data to reason about Internet research ethics. Proceedings from ECSCW : European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work . Paris, France.

The authors conducted an empirical study of chatroom user responses to four conditions of declaring research intent. Complications of doing research online are often caused by blurred perceptions of privacy by Internet users due to the ephemeral nature of text, the anonymity of online identities, and the invisibility of the audience. Their results demonstrated that they were four times more likely to be kicked out of a chatroom if they declared any research intent. Their study provides reason to obtain a formal waiver of consent in cases of online research, so long as the study constitutes no harm to the participants.

Keller, H. E., & Lee, S. (2003). Ethical issues surrounding human participants research using the Internet. Ethics and Behavior, 13 (3), 211 - 219.

LeBesco, K. (2004). Managing visibility, intimacy, and focus in online critical ethnography. In M.D. Johns, S.S. Chen, & G.J. Hall (Eds.), Online social research: Methods, issues, and ethics (pp. 63-81). New York: Peter Lang Publishers.

The author conducted research on communication about fat identification on the Internet by participating in a newsgroup and a listserv devoted to fat advocacy and fat lesbianism, respectively. During the first three months of her involvement in each community, LeBesco "lurked", making notes and thematically organizing the posts she read. She then revealed her identity to the communities, as well as her intentions to conduct research. The "person" is viewed not as an individual narrative, but rather as an interactive body. Through sharing her own experiences with obesity and fully participating in these groups, the author seeks to create a critical ethnography that challenges mainstream political and social discourse about fat bodies by observing the everyday communicative practices that make up the larger picture of identity politics.

Walstrom, M.K. (2004). "Seeing and sensing" online interaction: An interpretive interactionist approach to USENET support group research. In M.D. Johns, S.S. Chen, & G.J. Hall (Eds.), Online social research: Methods, issues, and ethics (pp. 81-101). New York: Peter Lang Publishers.

In this study, the researcher was obliged to also have undergone the experiences of those in specific support groups, allowing both a third- and second-person position (analyst and participant-experiencer). Her own participation in an eating disorders support group yielded three central tenets: the formation of a public, group narrative to serve as a collective resource; discursive practices such as politeness to serve as protection of individual/group face; and the co-construction of eating disorder identities. The benefits of this approach are threefold: representing participants' own voices validated their perspective; thick description of shared problematic experiences enhances self-understandings; enabling a critique of dominant discourses that affect the participants' potential for change. An interpretive interactionist approach will enable me to engage with my participants through exploration of the discursive elements and self-other ontology at work in creating popular narratives.