The philosophical and methodological guidelines for ethical online ethnography

Hair, N., Akdevelioglu, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5156-6384 and Clark, M. (2023) The philosophical and methodological guidelines for ethical online ethnography. International Journal of Market Research, 65 (1). pp. 12-28. ISSN 1470-7853 doi: 10.1177/14707853221137459

Abstract/Summary

Ethical considerations are increasingly important because new online techniques of research such as online ethnography often have novel ethical challenges. Our research aims to help online ethnographers by providing a moral/philosophical framework to be used in making ethical decisions and guiding them to reflect on how these decisions affect and justify their methodological choices. We draw upon prior research on ethics and online ethnography, and utilize five key dimensions of moral and philosophical principles (autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice and trust, explicability) for our framework. Our research highlights essential ethical questions such as selecting a philosophical basis as your ethical frame and coming to terms with ambiguity, and related methodological guidelines such as avoiding personal prejudice, assumptions and bias, research site entry strategy, researcher’s communication with the participants, protection of data, research site exit strategy and communicating online research findings. This paper contributes to the existing literature by identifying how moral and philosophical guidelines impact our ethical and methodological choices when engaging in online ethnography and what this means in terms of research practice.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/108760
Identification Number/DOI	10.1177/14707853221137459
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Henley Business School > Digitalisation, Marketing and Entrepreneurship
Uncontrolled Keywords	Marketing, Economics and Econometrics, Business and International Management
Publisher	The Market Research Society
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