How to Navigate the Ethical Challenges and Risks of Studying Toxic Online Cultures
Whiteman, N. Forthcoming. How to Navigate the Ethical Challenges and Risks of Studying Toxic Online Cultures. Sage.
Whiteman, N. Forthcoming. How to Navigate the Ethical Challenges and Risks of Studying Toxic Online Cultures. Sage.
| Title | How to Navigate the Ethical Challenges and Risks of Studying Toxic Online Cultures |
|---|---|
| Authors | Whiteman, N. |
| Description | This guide examines the ethical challenges and risks of researching toxic online cultures, paying particular attention to the possibility of researchers becoming targets of online harassment and abuse. Attention is drawn to both practical and methodological issues that researchers need to consider, and the danger of naivety in such work is emphasized. The guide explores how the relationship between researcher and researched is destabilized by the actions of hostile online groups and emphasizes the need for researchers to consider their responsibilities to all participants, even those that would wish them harm. Practical considerations include how researchers might protect their identities and research material online, and the relationship between identity management and cybersecurity concerns. Examining how scholars might minimize harm to themselves and others when engaging with toxic online material, the guide also considers the role researchers might inadvertently play in amplifying potentially harmful online content through their research. Finally, the guide focuses attention on the way that the labels that we assign to others and ourselves (as hostile, or vulnerable) inform research practice, encouraging the reader to question commonsense notions of who or what is toxic, or deviant online, as well as encouraging reflection on researchers’ own identities as potentially vulnerable. |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 25 Jun 2026 |
| Publisher | Sage |
| Web address (URL) | https://methods.sagepub.com/how-to-guide/how-to-navigate-ethical-challenges-risks-studying-cultures |