The philosophical and methodological guidelines for ethical online ethnography

Neil Hair, Duygu Akdevelioglu, and Moira Clark

Ethical considerations are increasingly important because new online techniques of research such as online ethnography often have novel ethical challenges.

Introduction

Ethical principles govern the standards of conduct for online ethnography. Online ethnography (also known as virtual ethnography or digital ethnography) can be broadly defined as an ethnographic research method to study online communities, cultures and other computer-mediated social interactions. Ethical principles of online ethnography are not just requirements written in a code of ethics but they also represent the researcher's philosophical position and values. In the online realm, ethical dilemmas are even more complicated due to the changing nature of online platforms, context and interactions as well as technological advancements (Thompson, Stringfellow, Maclean, & Nazzal, 2021). These technological advancements...

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