1 page within 6 hrs; Ethical Issues in Using the Internet

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Short Essay

One of the outstanding ethical issues that may arise in conducting this research is that of privacy. This is because the information provided by the respondents is highly confidential for use in a survey. Performing a research on such a sensitive issue via the digital platform can be a challenge in ensuring that the privacy of the subjects is not affected (Eysenbach & Till, 2001). Despite the fact that information is purely conveyed from the respondents to the researchers via mail, it can be difficult to guarantee that the information will remain secure since the digital platform is not entirely secure from hackers. Another outstanding ethical concern likely to arise in this research is that of participant’s informed consent (Till, 18 Nov 1997). Obviously, most of the participants in this study are patients that could be incapacitated in various ways. Therefore, some will not be in a position to consent willingly as their guardians may decide for them making it unethical. Non-maleficience is another ethical issue that may arise from this study (McGee, 2008). This refers to avoidance of harm towards the participants in conducting this study. However, it will be difficult to isolate the harm towards the study participants as they are victims of past injuries and the study questions may evoke past memories leading to harm.

The privacy issue is of major concern whenever dealing with confidential information. Similarly, the study participants in this case, will need to provide their confidential information to be communicated to the researcher via mail. Therefore, the researcher can guarantee privacy of the information by using secure domain through which the information can be sent. Rather than using the common platforms that are easily hacked, it is advisable to use a domain as it is difficult for hackers to penetrate.

References

Eysenbach, G., & Till, J. E. (2001). Ethical issues in qualitative research on internet communities. Bmj, 323(7321), 1103-1105.

McGee, P. (2008). Ethical Issues in Using the Internet in Research: Commentary. Research Ethics Review, 4(3), 117–119

Till JE. (18 Nov 1997). Research ethics: internet based research. Part 1: Online survey research. http://members.tripod.com/~ca916/index3.html. (updated, accessed 20 Jan 2001).