Dear Jenni, I'd like to echo some points made by L. Wynholds and suggest some other questions that might help you to refine your proposal. I would be less concerned with privacy of the data in transmission, during the interview, and more concerned with protection of the data after the interview. You did not say what program you intend to use to record the interview, but I would suggest selecting one that allows you to download the interview (and as L emphasized, back it up!) then delete the copy stored on someone else's server in the cloud. I terms of the interviewee's privacy, as in the ability to speak freely without being overheard by others, that is hard to ensure in an online interview and all you can really do is spell out what you need from the interview and schedule the interview at a time when the interviewee feels they are best able to participate. I have a couple of other comments.... if I were reading your proposal, I would ask for a rationale explaining why you would use as your communication options one form that is all written (IM) and one that includes audio and visual interaction? The nature of the interactions and the types of data collected will be very different. * * How will you use the webcam? You can see the person-- how will you use those observations? Are you interested in non-verbal signals and affective responses? You will probably need to clearly define how you plan to use visual data. You could choose, for example, to review the recorded interview and use a notation system to record types of non-verbal expressions that are conveyed throughout the interview. Or, you could be looking for other visual information about appearance, the setting, what you can see in the interview. Of course you will have no data of that kind for the IM interviews....how will you address that disparity in the data analysis? If you are choosing Skype to do research that includes visual data, you need to explain it in your research design and in your recruitment/consent documents. If you are simply planning to focus on audio, or even audio with notes in text chat, then you will need to explain how you will bracket your own impressions of the participant in the video window-- or simply use voice only, essentially like a phone interview. You didn't mention whether or how you will use the interviewees' blog posts as data, which is another area for exploration and thinking about ethics... So... there are a number of things to think about as you look at your online data collection methods in the context of your methodology and study purpose, and by carefully exploring what you are doing and why, you'll develop a stronger dissertation proposal. I recently recorded a presentation made at a recent conference that might interest you: Visual & Virtual Interviews http://bit.ly/AcvSlM. Naturally I will also point to my books, *Online Interviews in Real Time*, which had a focus on ethics and an entire chapter on visual research online and *Cases in Online Interview Research*-- both from Sage Publications (see http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book233088) I hope you will make a convincing case for your study so you can conduct some valuable research! Best, Janet *Janet Salmons Ph.D.* *Capella University School of Business and Technology and Vision2Lead, Inc. *Site- http://www.vision2lead.com Follow Twitter at #einterview Now available: Cases in Online Interview Research<http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book235442> PO Box 943 Boulder, CO 80306-0943 jsalmons@vision2lead.com