[Air-l] IRB permissions for online gaming studies?

[Annette Markham]

I don't have a model, but I do have some thoughts to toss out for discussion:

1)  Are the games public access?  Do users use anonymous identities that 
can't be linked to their identities? This is the first hurdle, and I'm sure 
you've already explored this angle.  I'm just curious.

2)  Instead of immediately ruling out children because they are high risk 
(which I perceive to be the norm in US IRB boards), perhaps you should take 
the stance that it is more unethical to NOT include children in the 
study.  (and frame your IRB request in this way).

This is not my idea, of course.  I learned it in an online course, when 
getting updated certification in IRB training.  In certain arenas, 
researchers are required to justify why they're not studying children, 
especially when the situation warrants using children as subjects.  Gaming 
appears to fall into this category.

Has anyone on this list made the argument successfully to their research 
boards that children should NOT be excluded because the topic really 
warrants their inclusion?  Conversely, has anyone been required by their 
research boards to explain why they're not including children in the study?

Annette Markham

At 10:55 AM 10/13/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>Hello - I have a student conducting a thesis on the communicative behavior
>in online games (one will be a U.S. game such as Everquest and another will
>be a Chinese game).  She would like to conduct participant observation. We
>are having difficulties with our IRB (Committee that approves research on
>Human Subjects), primarily because players may be children.  Research that
>involves children requires parental consent. Another problem is that the IRB
>at my university does not have experience with this type of research, and so
>they don't have models to draw on (or to guide us).
>
>I am interested in hearing from anyone who has been able to gain approval
>for this type of research - your help is much appreciated -
>
>mj
>
>Michele H. Jackson, PhD
>Dept of Communication University of Colorado
>Boulder, CO  80309-0270
>303-492-8139     jackson at colorado.edu
>http://comm.colorado.edu/mjackson
>
>
>
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******************************
Annette N. Markham, Ph. D.

Department of Communication
University of Illinois at Chicago
1007 W. Harrison St (m/c 132)
Chicago, IL  60607-7137
amarkham at uic.edu
http://ascend.comm.uic.edu/~amarkham/
******************************