Open AccessInternet research ethics and the policy gap for ethical practice in online research settings
Author(s) -
Jaacqueline G. Warrell,
Michele Jacobsen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
canadian journal of higher education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2293-6602
pISSN - 0316-1218
DOI - 10.47678/cjhe.v44i1.2594
Subject(s) - the internet , situational ethics , anonymity , internet research , public relations , information ethics , research ethics , engineering ethics , sociology , political science , internet privacy , law , computer science , world wide web , engineering
A growing number of education and social science researchers design and conduct online research. In this review, the Internet Research Ethics (IRE) policy gap in Canada is identified along with the range of stakeholders and groups that either have a role or have attempted to play a role in forming better ethics policy. Ethical issues that current policy and guidelines fail to address are interrogated and discussed. Complexities around applying the human subject model to internet research are explored, such as issues of privacy, anonymity, and informed consent. The authors call for immediate action on the Canadian ethics policy gap and urge the research community to consider the situational, contextual, and temporal aspects of IRE in the development of flexible and responsive policies that address the complexity and diversity of internet research spaces.