The Internet offers a "virtual world" in which to carry out innovative sex
research, but this new world may entail new ethical dilemmas. Ethical issue
s in recruitment, informed consent, data collection, and record keeping are
examined Applying common sense and current ethical codes for conducting se
x research are sufficient in most cases. Special care and procedures may be
required to obtain data from children and to protect the privacy of sensit
ive data and records. Researchers should be aware of; and should report, th
reats to data integrity and potential biases in participants' responses whe
n they respond by computer.