Thinking about ethics

Questions regarding all areas of research ethics have been central to our recent knowledge exchange seminars and have percolated nearly every discussion network members have had at events or during our twitter chats. Clearly, there are many issues at every stage, from research design, to sampling and recruiting, collecting or generating data, analysing data and reporting results. Yet there is not a set of respected guidelines for good ethical practice to which e-researchers, research supervisors, reviewers, commisioners or editors can turn.

We would like to make a contribution in this area, beginning with an assessment of existing e-research guidelines and resources to identify common themes, divergent views, gaps, and unanswered questions. NSMNSS network member Janet Salmons is taking the lead on this initial stage, and you can contact her to share any thoughts and resources: jesalmons@gmail.com. We hope this preliminary step will serve as a foundation for possible further development of materials, webinars, and/or training.

You can help the NSMNSS ethics project identify and address new and emerging e-research dilemmas! Please share your perspectives, priorities and recommendations in this quick questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/e-ethics. You can take it anonymously or add your name and contact information, so we can share resources and reports as they are developed.

We're looking forwward to hearing from you. Please feel free to share the link with other researchers, you don't have to be a registered network member to participate.