The Ethics of Internet Research: A Rhetorical, Case-Based Process (59) (Digital Formations) - Softcover

"This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the multiple complexities of Internet research ethics.... It will serve as an especially practical and thereby invaluable handbook and guide for researchers seeking to do the right thing as their work confronts them with difficult and often novel ethical challenges." (From the Foreword by Charles Ess, Drury University, U.S.A., and the University of Aarhus, Denmark) "This book attends to the maze of ethical complexities that confront all researchers in this day and age. McKee and Porter offer an approach that can show any Internet researcher in any field how to conceptualize and act on the grayest of ethical areas. And it does so in ways that are sensitive to the contingent and global nature of communication work." (Stuart Selber, Penn State University, U.S.A.) "This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the multiple complexities of Internet research ethics.... It will serve as an especially practical and thereby invaluable handbook and guide for researchers seeking to do the right thing as their work confronts them with difficult and often novel ethical challenges." (From the Foreword by Charles Ess, Drury University, U.S.A., and the University of Aarhus, Denmark) "This book attends to the maze of ethical complexities that confront all researchers in this day and age. McKee and Porter offer an approach that can show any Internet researcher in any field how to conceptualize and act on the grayest of ethical areas. And it does so in ways that are sensitive to the contingent and global nature of communication work." (Stuart Selber, Penn State University, U.S.A.)

Drawing from interviews with Internet researchers from across the globe who work in diverse disciplines and in a wide array of online venues, this book examines ethical issues and questions that Internet researchers may encounter throughout the research process. Although the ethics of Internet research are complex, the aim of the book is to provide a rhetorical, case-based process to aid researchers in ethical decision making. In doing so, the book provides Internet researchers with useful resources and heuristics for engaging in ethical practices, interactions, and problem solving for their research.