tailieunhanh - Psychological Research Online: Opportunities and Challenges

As the Internet has changed communication, commerce, and the distribution of information, so too it is changing psychological research. Psychologists can observe new or rare phenomena online and can do research on traditional psychological topics more efficiently, enabling them to expand the scale and scope of their research. Yet these opportunities entail risk both to research quality and to human subjects. Internet research is inherently no more risky than traditional observational, survey or experimental methods. Yet the rapidly changing nature of technology, norms, and online behavior means that the risks and safeguards against them will differ from those characterizing traditional research and will themselves change over time. This paper describes. | Psychological Research Online Opportunities and Challenges Robert Kraut Carnegie Mellon University Judith Olson University of Michigan Mahzarin Banaji Harvard University Amy Bruckman Georgia Institute of Technology Jeffrey Cohen Cornell University Mick Couper University of Michigan Abstract As the Internet has changed communication commerce and the distribution of information so too it is changing psychological research. Psychologists can observe new or rare phenomena online and can do research on traditional psychological topics more efficiently enabling them to expand the scale and scope of their research. Yet these opportunities entail risk both to research quality and to human subjects. Internet research is inherently no more risky than traditional observational survey or experimental methods. Yet the rapidly changing nature of technology norms and online behavior means that the risks and safeguards against them will differ from those characterizing traditional research and will themselves change over time. This paper describes some benefits and challenges of conducting psychological research via the Internet and offers recommendations to both researchers and Institutional Review Boards for dealing with the challenges. Send comments and editorial correspondence to Robert Kraut HCI Institute Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15213 412 268-7694 Psychological Research Online Opportunities and Challenges Robert Kraut Judith Olson Mahzarin Banaji Amy Bruckman Jeffrey Cohen Mick Couper The Internet as a research vehicle presents both opportunities and challenges for psychological research. In 1985 only of US households had a personal computer and the Internet as we now know it with its rich array of communication information entertainment and commercial services did not exist. Since then this exotic technology has become domesticated and is now used by the majority of Americans for personal and economic reasons .