Research Ethics Guidelines For Internet Mediated Research

Research Ethics Guidelines for Internet-mediated Research
Internet-mediated research is defined as "any research involving the remote acquisition of

data from or about human participants using the internet and its associated technologies"
(British Psychological Society, 2013). This may involve a range of methodologies.
Participants may come from a range of countries with different legal systems so care is
required (e.g. see guidelines on research with North American participants).
Particular Ethical Issues:
1. The distinction between public and private spaces
In face-to -face research studies, participant observation can only occur without specific
permission from the individual being observed if it is occurring in a public space, i.e.
somewhere where you might expect to be observed. Opinions differ about whether posts to
online spaces are public or private. Legally, the copyright for personal webpages remains
with the author or the hosting company. This is also true of other material such as that on
social network sites so multiple permissions may be necessary.
Good practice guidelines:
i. If possible seek advice/ permission to access from group moderator or site host. As a
minimum be able to demonstrate that attempts have been made.
ii. If there is some uncertainty whether it is a public domain, researchers should consider
the nature of the material and whether disclosure would potentially be damaging for
participants and if consent is really required, bearing in mind the requirement to
protect research participants which is paramount.
iii. Online questionnaires are required to supply information about the study before
participants undertake it (information sheet equivalent) and how consent is to be
obtained. It can be stipulated in anonymous questionnaires that withdrawal is not
possible and at the very least, the questionnaire should stipulate that pressing the
submit button will be taken as providing informed consent. However, it is considered
good practice to include a tick box to obtain informed consent in the questionnaire for
participants to complete. Participants need to be told that if they elect to withdraw
from the research they simply log off the site and their data will not be kept and that
withdrawal after submission is not possible with data collected anonymously.
iv. Qualitative Studies using data collected from online sources. While all research
participants must be informed about how data will be stored and their anonymity
protected this presents particular issues in qualitative studies. For example by using
search engines, individuals can take quotes from published journal articles,
conference presentations and locate the discussion forum archives they came from
and this may make it possible to identify individuals. Researchers need to assess
whether this exposes the research participants to additional threats to their privacy or
potential harm. Risks must always be weighed against benefits.
v. Researchers must pay particular attention to the anonymisation of qualitative data
obtained from online sources. Paraphrasing of verbatim quotes is often recommended
for example. This is even more crucial if consent for the use of the data has not been
obtained from the individual. While it is unlikely that individuals would ever know
that their online posts had been used as research data, should they discover it, they
have legal rights under the Data Protection Act if the data can be linked to them
personally via search engines for example. They can ask for their personal data to be
withdrawn.
vi. Issues relating to data quality due to the lower levels of control that are possible
compared to those in face-to-face studies. With internet studies, it can be difficult to
be certain who has accessed studies, the conditions under which the data was provided,
and how they felt about doing it. Sometimes in experimental manipulations,
differences in software or hardware may affect the data collected. Where precision in
measurement is required, such as in perceptual studies, care must be taken to assure
that appropriate levels of control are possible or the resulting data may be invalid.
vii. Researchers need to be aware of their social responsibility when undertaking

research so that they actions as researchers do not negatively impact on others. This
may require thinking about the outcomes of the research and any consequences it may
have for others. For example, a researcher deciding to join a special interest group
without disclosing that they are a researcher may impact negatively on the current
group dynamics and once the research is published, it could affect future group
membership as the group will no longer be seen as a 'confidential' space. There have
been examples of this with eating disorders and other specialist support groups.
Balancing the benefits of the research against the risks is always essential. In studies deemed
to have a level of ethical risk such as those on sensitive topics and/or using vulnerable
populations, the decision may be that an internet-mediated study is not appropriate.
The Ethics Guidelines for Internet-mediated Research produced by the British Psychological
Society (2013) were consulted in producing this guidance. These are available at:
http://www.bps.org.uk/system/files/Public%20files/inf206-guidelines-for-internet-mediated-research.pdf

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Research Ethics Guidelines For Internet Mediated Research

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Research Ethics Guidelines for Internet-mediated Research

Internet-mediated research is defined as "any research involving the remote acquisition of

Particular Ethical Issues:

1. The distinction between public and private spaces

Good practice guidelines:

vii. Researchers need to be aware of their social responsibility when undertaking

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