Internet Research and Ethics 2.0

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Science, Technology, and Society project investigates research ethics for Internet based studies. Research conducted on and through the Internet has expanded exponentially in the last ten years. Researchers across disciplines make frequent use of such tools as online surveys, engage in forms of participant observation of virtual worlds, and use profiles from social networking sites to analyze behavior and communication patterns. When Internet research is conducted, it is typically reviewed by academic institutional review boards (IRBs). In traditional research settings, the researcher and the IRB assume responsibility for protecting the participants, but online research, especially research conducted through Web 2.0 technologies, confounds standard models of ethics. The risks to participants increase when certain types of data are being collected, such as medical information and thus, greater protections are needed.This project has three major components to assist researchers, research regulators, and research participants in Internet research. First, the investigators are developing the Internet Research Ethics Literature Digital Library, a searchable, online, annotated database and resource center on the Internet research ethics literature; it will be coupled with an Interactive Resource Center, including a collaborative wiki, to centralize and simplify the task of developing practices for making sound ethical decisions. Third, it develops an online ethics study group for sharing information on challenging and emergent online research ethics issues. The project goes beyond traditional research ethics issues while providing sound resources, a solid research base, and expert advice as more researchers and IRBs struggle with the complexities of Internet research. The project promises broad impact for Internet researchers from all disciplines, the foundations of their research ethics practices, and nature of research itself in an ever-connected information environment.