Abstract
The adaptable nature of the Internet to accommodate new behavior lends itself to the need for ethical practices to be flexible. However, current ethical guidelines are not adaptable to an online context and online research has yet to identify principles that are agreed upon across disciplines. Additionally, the current guidelines are not able to address issues related to the use of online panels for Internet research. The increased use of online panels presents questions related not only to traditional concepts of ethics, but also to the exploitation of online work. Issues of appropriate online ethical research are not limited to how they can better serve research, however, as the creation of these guidelines requires the consideration of how too strict of guidelines may hinder future research. Currently, the conservative and cautious nature of the United States’ Institutional Review Board is already being questioned for overreaching in their consideration of what ethical research is. The chapter concludes with proposed steps for developing more viable ethical guidelines in online research.
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Amory, K., Burruss, G.W. (2021). Conducting Ethical Research with Online Populations in the United States. In: Lavorgna, A., Holt, T.J. (eds) Researching Cybercrimes. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74837-1_18
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