Direct contacts with potential interviewees when carrying out online ethnography on controversial and polarized topics: a loophole in ethics guidelines

ABSTRACT

Direct contacts with research participants in online ethnography are an important tool to better understand complex social dynamics in cyberspace. The current ethical approaches guiding academic research, however, can be problematic in this regard, creating unintended tensions leading to potential research biases as well as safety and wellbeing issues for researchers working on controversial and polarized topics. The onus, we argue, ends up being on academics to protect and separate the personal information available about them online from the professional, trying to overcome what seems to be an inevitable blurring of boundaries. In this research note, we present two case studies to highlight what we perceive as a loophole in current ethics guidelines.

KEYWORDS:

• Online ethnography
• interviews
• ethics
• researcher safety
• social media

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank journalist Ilario D’Amato for an insightful discussion on ethical guidelines for journalism.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anita Lavorgna

Anita Lavorgna is Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Southampton (UK). She has an international research track record on and demonstrable expertise in interdisciplinary research drawing together criminology, socio-legal studies, and web/computer science. She has worked extensively on cybercrime and serious and organised crime, and, more recently, on the online propagation of misleading and fraudulent health information.

Lisa Sugiura

Lisa Sugiura is a Principal Lecturer in Criminology and Cybercrime at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth, Themes Strategic Innovation Fellow (TRIF), and the Deputy Director of the Cybercrime Awareness Clinic. Her research focuses on online deviance, and technology facilitated gender-based abuse and sexual violence. She has published on topics including the online pharmaceutical trade, phishing, online research ethics and rape culture online. Her research projects which includes funding from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Home Office involve the language of cybersexism, victims of computer misuse, the use of technologies to assist marginalised women into employment, and extremist and misogynistic behaviours in incel communities.