Encountering distressing information in online research: A consideration of legal and ethical responsibilities

New Media and Society

Volumn 5, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 249-266

  Stern, Susannah R ^a  

^a BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

Ethics; Internet; Internet and law; Internet research; Law; Legal; Research ethics

Indexed keywords

EID: 0038176691     PISSN: 14614448     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1461444803005002006     Document Type: Article

References (44)

1. Appelbaum, P. and A. Rosenbaum (1989) 'Tarasoff and the Researcher: Does the Duty to Protect Apply in the Research Setting?', American Psychologist 44(6): 885-94.
2. Appleby, G. (2001) 'Interviewing Working-Class Gay Men Over the Internet', Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services: Issues in Practice, Policy and Research 12(3-4): 133-51.
3. Basch, R. (1998) 'Ring Around the Web', Computer Life 4(1): 62-4.
4. Baume, P., C. Cantor and A. Rolfe (1997) 'Cybersuicide: the Role of Interactive Suicide Notes on the Internet', Crisis 18(2): 73-9.
5. Baume, P., A. Rolfe and M. Clinton (1998) 'Suicide on the Internet: A Focus For Urging Intervention', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing 7(4): 131-41.
6. Bloom, J. (1998) 'The Ethical Practice of WebCounseling', British Journal of Guidance and Counseling 26(1): 53-9.
7. Bromberg, H. (1996) 'Are MUDS Communities? Identity, Belonging, and Consciousness in Virtual Worlds', in R. Shields (ed.), Cultures of Internet: Virtual Spaces, Real Histories, Living Bodies, pp. 143-52. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
8. Chandler, D. (1998) 'Personal Homepages and the Construction of Identities on the Web', URL (consulted 21 July 1999): http://www.aber.ac.uk/dgc/webident.html
9. Childress, C. and J. Asamen (1998) 'The Emerging Relationship of Psychology and the Internet: Proposed Guidelines for Conducting Internet Intervention Research', Ethics and Behavior 8(1): 19-35.
10. Collins, P. (2000) 'Eating Disorders: A Multiple-Case Investigation of the Internet E-mail Correspondence of Women's Lived Experience', Dissertation Abstracts International 60, 11A (UMI No. AAI9951513).
11. Dickson, D. (1998) Confidentiality and Privacy in Social Work. New York: Free Press.
12. Ess, C. and Association of Internet Researchers (2002) 'Ethical Decision-making and Internet Research: Recommendations from the AOIR Ethics Working Committee', URL (consulted 25 November 2002): http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf
13. Fleitas, J. (1998) 'Spinning Tales from the World Wide Web: Qualitative Research in an Electronic Environment', Qualitative Health Research 8(2): 283-92.
14. Frankel, M. and S. Siang (1999) 'Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research on the Internet: A Report of a Workshop', American Association for the Advancement of Science, URL (consulted 1 February 2002): http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/projects/intres/main.htm
15. Giese, M. and B. Kaufman (1998) 'Being There: Using Ethnographic Methodology in the Study of Electronic Communities', unpublished paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Baltimore, MD, August (on file with author).
16. Hughes, R. (2000) 'Ethics and Regulations of Cybercounseling', URL (consulted 19 March 2002): http://ericcasss.uncg.edu/digest/2000-03.html
17. Jacobson, D. (1999) 'Doing Research in Cyberspace', Field Methods 11(2): 127-45.
18. King, S.A. (1995) 'Suicidal Ideation in Virtual Support Groups', URL (consulted 25 March 2002): http://www.concentric.net/̃Astorm/suicide.html
19. King, S.A. (1996) 'Researching Internet Communities: Proposed Ethical Guidelines for the Reporting of Results', The Information Society 12(2): 119-27.
20. Leider, S. (1999) 'Sexual Minorities on Community College Campuses', Salt Lake, UT, Salt Lake City Community College (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 427796).
21. Lindlof, T. and M. Shatzer (1998) 'Media Ethnography in Virtual Spaces: Strategies, Limits and Possibilities', Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 42(2): 170-90.
22. Mann, C. and F. Stewart (2000) 'An Ethical Framework', in C. Mann and F. Stewart (eds), Internet Communication and Qualitative Research, pp. 39-63. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23. Miller, J. and K. Gergen (1998) 'Life on the Line: The Therapeutic Potentials of Computer-Mediated Communication', Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 24(2): 189-202.
24. Murray, C. and J. Sixsmith (1998) 'E-mail: A Qualitative Research Medium for Interviewing?', International Journal of Social Research Methodology 1(2): 103-21.
25. National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (1979) 'The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Online Research', URL (consulted 25 March 2002): http://ohrp.osophs.dhhs.gov/humansubjects/guidance/belmont.htm
26. Office for Protection from Research Risks (2000) 'Clarification of Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations Part 46 (45 CFR 46)', Department of Health and Human Services, URL (consulted 29 March 2002): http://ohrp.osophs.dhhs.gov/humansubjects/guidance/decisioncharts.htm
27. Paccagnella, L. (1997) 'Getting the Seats of Your Pants Dirty: A Methodology for Ethnographic Research on Virtual Communities', Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 3(1), URL (consulted 5 March 2002): http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3/issue1/paccagnella.html
28. Pennebaker, J. (1990) Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York: Guilford.
29. Reid, E. (1996) 'Informed Consent in the Study of On-line Communities: A Reflection on the Effects of Computer-Mediated Social Research', The Information Society 12(2): 169-74.
30. Richard, J., J. Werth and J. Rogers (2000) 'Rational and Assisted Suicidal Communication on the Internet: A Case Example and Discussion of Ethical and Practice Issues', Ethics and Behavior 10(3): 215-38.
31. Riva, G. (2001) 'The Mind Over the Web: The Quest for the Definition of a Method for Internet Research', Cyberpsychology and Behavior 4(1): 7-16.
32. Sales, B. and D. Shuman (1996) Law, Mental Health, and Mental Disorder. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
33. Smith, M. and B. Leigh (1997) 'Virtual Subjects: Using the Internet as an Alternative Source of Subjects and Research Environment', Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers 29(4): 496-505.
34. Sosin, D. (1983) 'The Diary as a Transitional Object in Female Adolescent Development', Adolescent Psychiatry 11: 92-103.
35. Stern, S.R. (1999) 'Adolescent Girls' Expression on WWW Homepages: A Qualitative Analysis', Convergence 5(4): 22-41.
36. Stern, S.R. (2002a) 'Sexual Selves on the Worldwide Web: Adolescent Girls' Homepages as Sites for Sexual Self-Expression', in J. Brown, J. Steele and K. Walsh-Childers (eds), Sexual Teens/Sexual Media: Investigating Media's Influence on Adolescent Sexuality, pp. 265-86. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
37. Stern, S.R. (2002b) 'Virtually Speaking: Girls' Self-disclosure On the WWW', Women's Studies in Communication 25(2): 223-53.
38. Thompson, S. (1999) 'The Internet and its Potential Influence on Suicide', Psychiatric Bulletin 23(8): 449-51.
39. Tiles, M. and H. Oberdiek (1995) Living in a Technological Culture. New York: Routledge.
40. Tobin, J. (1998) 'An American Otaku (Or a Boy's Virtual Life on the Net)', in J. Sefton-Green (ed.), Digital Diversions: Youth Culture in the Age of Multimedia, pp. 106-27. London: OCL Press.
41. Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon and Schuster.
42. Waskul, D. and M. Douglass (1996) 'Considering the Electronic Participant: Some Polemical Observations on the Ethics of On-line Research', The Information Society 12(2): 129-39.
43. Yeaworth, R. (2001) 'Use of the Internet in Survey Research', Journal of Professional Nursing 17(4): 187-93.
44. Zhang, Y. (2000) 'Using the Internet for Survey Research: A Case Study', Journal of the American Society for Information Science 51(1): 57-68.