Conceptual Development of Human Subjects in Internet Research Ethics

At the beginning of the application of internet to realize research purposes, it seems that research methods of physical world (or actual world) would be similarly applicable in virtual world. Gradually, the researchers found that some ethical challenges of internet researches could be different of alternative ethical dilemmas of traditional researches or there are developed at least. The aim of this article is studying and analyzing the concept of human subjects as one of the most ethical issues in the traditional researches and it presents a developed concept of human subjects in internet researches.      At the same time with developing internet researches territory, the research human subjects as the most basic of concept in the internet research ethics has become a conceptual development. This development is following concepts of person-based/text-based, research human non-subjects and human subjects harming, so that are concerned for studying ethical issues associated with internet researches. Considering the concept of human subjects to understand the moral conditions of unpredictability in internet research is very important. Hence, the developed dimensions of human subject concept must be applied to analyze and evaluate the ethical situations in internet research holistically.