The Ethics of Conducting Social-Science Research on the Internet

By JAMES C. HAMILTON

Over the past four or five years, the amount of social-science research conducted on the Internet has increased exponentially. More than 100 World-Wide Web sites now invite visitors to participate in a wide variety of scientific research, or in activities that resemble scientific research, including personality tests, intelligence tests, and opinion surveys.

One example of a site that was developed to carry out legitimate research is maintained by