Abstract
Social media is a kind of mirror of what is happening in society. Studying social media content is therefore a good way of studying society. This chapter deals with the question of how to deal with research ethics in qualitative online research. It discusses the limits of established research ethics guidelines. The chapter outlines foundations of critical-realist internet research ethics. It provides some examples of how to use a framework. The International Sociological Association's 2001Code of Ethics argues in respect to informed consent: The security, anonymity and privacy of research subjects and informants should be respected rigourously, in both quantitative and qualitative research. Debates on internet research ethics face two extremes. On the one side, research ethics fundamentalism obstructs qualitative online research. On the other, big data positivism lacks a critical focus on qualitative dimensions of analysis.
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