Investigators are increasingly turning to the Internet as to conduct psychological research. The Social Psychology Network, for example, presents hundreds of research studies posted by professionals and students in the field on topics such as personality, interpersonal relationships, and sexuality. To show how prolific Internet research has become, you can Google the key phrase “online research studies” and will discover nearly 50,000 results dedicated to this topic. Of course, a large number of these resources are not affiliated with a reputable research institution or organization. As such, any findings from these sources must be viewed with caution.
The American Psychological Association (APA) has established a number of ethical guidelines that must be followed when conducting research with human participants. Some of these guidelines, such as informed consent and voluntary participation; the use of deception; and confidentiality of information, are presented on pages 31–32 of your textbook. You can also research ethical guidelines for conducting online research. You can either Google the topic or find a short YouTube tutorial on ethics in Internet, or online, research.
The APA provides a great deal of information regarding the unique challenges and advantages of online research. Please read the following article, which provides detailed information on the ethical issues pertinent to the conduct of online research: