With its wealth of readily and often publicly available information about Web users' lives, the Web has created new opportunities for conducting online research. Although digital data are easily accessible, ethical guidelines are inconsistent about how researchers should use them. Some academics claim that traditional ethical principles are…

Concerns related to the protection of personal identification information, graphic user interface, patient privacy, and consumer acceptance, to name a few, have plagued the implementation of telemedicine. Advocates of telemedicine have gained the interests of consumers but failed to recognize the true nature of consumer attitudes towards the use…

While qualitative researchers increasingly accept online video interviews as a reliable method, many maintain concerns about rapport and data quality. Drawing on two separate interview projects conducted in private in-person settings, public in-person settings, and privately via Skype, we compare interview contexts with regard to rapport,…

In the denouement of the COVID-19 pandemic, talk of a return to "normalcy" in higher education belies the great challenges and ongoing disruptions that yet lie ahead for many institutions. Public perceptions of the value of postsecondary education continue their downward slide, placing institutions in the position of having to…

The use of electronic case notes carries legal and ethical implications related to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Data from a national survey of over 1,200 school counselors was used in this study to examine their beliefs and behaviors regarding the use of electronic case notes. Strategies for the appropriate use of the…

Just as adults' personal lives and data are increasingly inhabiting online spaces, so are students. While this shift brings many benefits and the possibility of learning tailored to individual students' needs, it is also brings new challenges. Students create an electronic trail of information that creates an obvious concern: How can they enjoy…

The development of location-aware technologies, such as smartphones, raises serious questions regarding locational privacy and the ethical use of geographic data. The degree to which these concepts are taught in undergraduate geographic information science (GISci) courses is unknown. A survey of GISci educators shows that issues of privacy and…

Forsyth County Schools (FCS) is a rapidly growing school district just north of Atlanta, Georgia. It has approximately 45,000 students and is one of the top-ranked school districts in the state with a graduation rate of 94 percent and test scores to match this excellent graduation rate. The district has long been known as a leader in the area of…

Most studies on the use of digital student data adopt an ethical framework derived from human-subject research, based on the informed consent of the experimental subject. However, consent gives universities little guidance on using learning analytics as a routine part of educational provision: which purposes are legitimate and which analyses…

Given the promise that artificial intelligence (AI) holds for economic growth and societal advancement, it is critical that policymakers not only avoid retarding the progress of AI innovation, but also actively support its further development and use. This report provides a primer on artificial intelligence and debunks five prevailing myths that,…

In today's rapidly digitizing society, people place their trust in a wide range of digital services and systems that deliver latest news, process financial transactions, store sensitive information, etc. However, this trust does not have a solid foundation, because software code that supports this digital world has security vulnerabilities. These…

This research seeks to identify the differing national perspectives towards security and the "gigabit race" as those nations transition to their next generation broadband networks. Its aim is to critically appraise the rationales for their existing digital security frameworks in order to determine whether (and what) Australia can learn…

The primary objective of this paper is to help institutions respond to the stipulation of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 by adopting cost-effective academic integrity solutions without compromising the convenience and flexibility of online learning. Current user authentication solutions such as user ID and password, security…

This paper presents a discussion around the question of data protection, privacy, liability and the resultant policy that has developed both in public K-12 education and post secondary education in Canada. With no central regulation of online protection in Canada educators in some provinces face a digital divide caused by more restrictive policy…

While the methods used to study 'elites' are of particular relevance in policy research, to date there has been little examination of the particular challenges associated with 'elite' interviewing in this field. More specifically, the issues associated with interviewing 'elites' while conducting qualitative research in a contested policy domain,…