Internet Research Ethics Questions and Considerations

Abstract

The Internet, as a global research phenomenon, has developed along two parallel lines: as a medium for research (e.g., databases, electronic indexes, online catalogs) and as a field or locale of research (e.g., MUDs, MOOs, online communities, Usenet, listservs, blogs, etc.). This article will discuss this second phenomenon, and the ethical implications that arise with such research endeavors, an emerging field known as Internet Research Ethics (IRE). Specifically, this article will call attention to the major areas of online research ethics, while acknowledging that hard-and-fast “answers” to some of the questions are elusive. IRE fits into a larger framework of research and information ethics, both of which have a longer history and more firmly established research base from which to inform this growing field.