One area of the research process which has struck me as being in need of refinement for studying the Web is the procedure for obtaining ethical approval. Specifically, the ethics of using a social network such as Twitter as a data source for a study.
A general ethics application procedure for a project may question whether the study involves human participants, and if so, whether it will collect “personal data” (data which could potentially identify a participant). Often, it is assumed that if there are no human participants, then personal data will not be collected. If there are humans participating, then issues revolving around sensitive data, risk of harm, deception, consent, and right to withdraw become significant. This makes sense for a psychological lab experiment, for example. For a study on the Web, this causes great confusion.
