I'm working on a research project that includes a survey of academics in a specific field. One method we've discussed for building a sample frame and obtaining contact information for potential respondents involves using web scraping to automatically obtain email addresses from various University websites. Names would be obtained by downloading citations for papers related to our topic, then we would use a script to search the web for email addresses that match those names. I'm not sure that this is an appropriate method for obtaining contact information, and have found some sources online that suggest my hunch is correct. However, most discussion of these methods relates to marketing research, rather than an academic context.
What do you think? Are there rules or guidance about this that I haven't found (I've read the CASRO and ESOMAR guidelines for research market which suggest that web scraping/email harvesting is not appropriate).
