My ethics board does not have any guidelines on how to approach online research ethically when it comes to recruiting for interviews online. I do not want to invade a 'sensitive' space but on the other hand these spaces like Grindr are where I am most likely to encounter the people I need to talk to (I am doing research into sexual scripts of MSM and how they relate to prevention choices). I would like to know what others researcher have done when recruiting online and in apps, what your experiences where with reactions and what you recommend!
If you do it correctly, it is fine and ethical. Also your first sentence is nonsense. There is a ton of writing and research on ethics of online research and significant parts of it include recruiting as an issue. I like to start with the AoIR guidelines, I prefer the first and third versions. They also have bibliographies which are useful Now as to the practicality of the ethics, because you are researching 'scripts' you are probably going to have to apply for ethical clearance for deceptive practice, because if you announce you are a researcher, you will change the script. In the u.s. and Canada, to justify the ethical deception by arguing why the harm done by the deception is significantly less than the benefits of the research. So the question is, can you make that argument? I think you can. However, you could also cause great harm if you don't do the research correctly. if it were me, I would contact the AoIR ethics group as they are willing to advise on these questions.
Thank you for you answer. The 3.0 guidelines from AoIR are very helpful for my considerations. I will write up my central questions and reflections using this guideline and see if the AoIR ethics group can give some specific advice.
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