The global scale of COVID-19 has constrained academics from conducting much person-facing research. Reactively, trend is increasing for digital-based methodologies capturing already existing online data. Scholars often 'scrape' user-postings from internet forums using coding algorithms and text capture tools, before analysing data, drawing…

While digital tools are often recommended for researchers, there is a lack of evidence around effective social media strategies among researchers to optimise participant recruitment and data collection. However, an 'add Facebook and stir' approach could create extra burden for participants or foil researchers' efforts. Participant recruitment…

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become a major research trend in the fields of education and psychology. However, several risks posed by this technology concerning the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children and adolescents have been identified. While it would be highly useful to have a clear understanding of these…

The Nuremberg Code established ethics for the involvement of humans in research, initially in the area of health and medical research. While aspects of the code have been extended to the social and behavioral sciences, program evaluation does not always implement those policies, procedures, and protocols for protecting research participants,…

The primary purpose of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) is to protect the rights and welfare of human research participants. Evaluation and measurement of how IRBs satisfy this purpose and other important goals are open questions that demand empirical research. Research on IRBs, and the Human Research Protection Programs (HRPPs) of which they…

There is too much that we do not know about COVID-19. The longer we take to find it out, the more lives will be lost. In this paper, we will defend a principle of "risk parity": if it is permissible to expose some members of society (e.g. health workers or the economically vulnerable) to a certain level of "ex ante" risk in…

There is a growing literature that seeks to explore what is 'sensitive' about 'sensitive' research. In order to problematise and interrogate the concept of what may or may not be considered 'sensitive' research, this paper draws on four related projects exploring sex, intimacy and relationships for young people, over 16 years, who have…

The aim of this article is twofold. It describes a long-term relationship with a not-for-profit organisation in the UK, focusing on a particular project that used drama as a tool for building self-confidence and employability. At the same time it reviews autoethnography as a research method, describing its distinctive features and questioning the…

Pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs) are a relatively new methodological approach to the execution of clinical research that can increase research efficiency and provide access to unique data. Some have suggested that the costs and delays associated with obtaining informed consent could make PCTs difficult or even impossible to execute. Alternative…

We briefly review the emergence of internet research ethics (IRE) since 2000 across three stages, showing how the last, IRE 3.0, focuses on ethical challenges and issues evoked by Big Data. We explore specific examples of IRE 3.0 as occasioned by requirements for informed consent -- including Big Data analyses of a closed Facebook group -- as…

This article contests the emphasis that is frequently placed upon child-friendly methods in research with young children. Focusing upon a series of research encounters from a doctoral study of play in an early years classroom, I examine my interactions with the children and their social and material worlds and draw upon these encounters to…

Correspondence testing to research discrimination in the marketplace has become common and the use of internet applications has allowed researchers to send greater numbers of applications. While questions of research ethics always arise when planning a correspondence test, the issue receives relatively little attention in published correspondence…

This article argues that the study conducted by Facebook in conjunction with Cornell University did not have sufficient ethical oversight, and neglected in particular to obtain necessary informed consent from the participants in the study. It establishes the importance of informed consent in Internet research ethics and suggests that in Facebook's…

Published in 2014, the Facebook "emotional contagion" study prompted widespread discussions about the ethics of manipulating social media content. By and large, researchers focused on the lack of corporate institutional review boards and informed consent procedures, missing the crux of what upset people about both the study and…

Owing to unique features of their design, cluster randomized trials complicate the interpretation of standard ethics guidelines. The recently published Ottawa statement on the ethical design and conduct of cluster randomized trials provides researchers and research ethics committees with detailed guidance on the design, conduct, and review of…