Delli Paoli A. On the ethics of social research in netnography

Authors: Angela Delli Paoli

Abstract

The paper aims to discuss the ethical challenges in netnography by highlighting the main dilemmas which develop around what counts as public versus private, whether treating digital data as texts or people’s representations, if referring to the authentic embodied self or its digital representation, when sacrificing accuracy to privilege ethics. Such dilemmas refocus our attention on regulatory concepts like privacy, informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality challenging basic regulation terms. The ethical principles emerging from this discussion call for context sensitivity and reflexivity.

Keywords: Netnography, ethics, digital social research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13131/unipi/yh9n-ma53

Notes on contributors

ANGELA DELLI PAOLI is a Researcher (tenure-track) at the Department of Humanities, Philosophy and Education (University of Salerno) where she teaches Sociology, Social Research Methods and Digital Social Research and coordinates the International Lab for Innovative Social Research (ILIS). Her research interests are qualitative and quantitative social research methods, Digital Social Research and digital ethnography. She authored monographic studies, several essays, book chapters and articles published in national and international academic journals on digital social research, digital ethnography, migration, non-normative identities.
Email: adellipaoli@unisa.it