[Air-L] Dissertation

Fri Aug 10 06:00:16 PDT 2007

Hello, Brook,

I am not sure where you are studying and earning your degree, but your first step would be to check with your institution's research review board--if you are in the United States, almost all doctoral granting institutions have institutional review boards.  Depending upon how you structure your study, some boards might designate your research "exempt," but only a board can give that designation, a researcher cannot exclude his or her own study from review.  Also, every institution's treatment of internet-based research is different, so just because a colleague at one institution was exempted doesn't mean another will be.

As Asa Roseberger noted, another key issue is the public/private nature of the blog--yes, all blogs may be publicly available, but does the blogger himself/herself has a perceived sense of privacy that might make their blog less "public" in their eyes?  I'm typing quickly here so I don't have the exact citation, but I remember someone writing (perhaps in Elizabeth Buchanan's excellent collection Virtual Research Ethics) "who is the audience for the blog? and does  it include you the researcher?"  The first aim of ethical research should be to do no harm, and if someone might feel violated by having their blog studied and quoted, then that's a concern, and would, I think, tilt the scales toward seeking informed consent for your research.

Conducting a linguistic analysis that does not include direct quotation and instead, for example, quantifies features of texts, might tilt the scales in the other direction toward not needing informed consent provided there is no way for others (or even the bloggers themselves) to identify anything--but as you probably know from conducting other studies, you might find that partway through your analysis you really do need/want to use direct quotations. If that's the case and you hadn't obtained the necessary consent than that could impede your research.

The blogger you mention who was concerned for readers, particularly those who post comments, is also an issue. If you are studying power interactions between bloggers and readers, than will you be examining comments as well?  If you'll be quoting the comments than you have the same public/private/perceived audience issues to consider as well as how you would be using those comments.

There are so many millions of bloggers out there, my approach would be to seek consent, if someone were to turn me down, then I would move to the next blogger, feeling better with the knowledge that I wasn't studying someone's work against their will if they had been writing with a perceived sense of privacy.  But your first step should be to check with your review board and check with your dissertation committee.

Also, in addition to the AoIR guidelines, the following sources might be helpful.  Some which I've co-authored are in press and I'd be glad to send you the mss.

Good luck,
Heidi

--Banks, Will, & Eble, Michelle F. (2007). Digital spaces, online environments, and human participant research: Interfacing with institutional review boards. In McKee, Heidi A., & DeVoss, Danielle Nicole (Eds.), Digital writing research: Technologies, methodologies, and ethical issues (pp. 27-47). Cresskill: Hampton. [this chapter examines issues of informed consent and gay youth bloggers and expectations of a U.S. IRB]
--Buchanan, Elizabeth A. (Ed). (2004). Readings in virtual research ethics: Issues and controversies. Hershey, PA: Information Science.
--Ess, Charles. (Ed.) (2001). Internet Research Ethics. Retrieved June 20, 2005 from <http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/projects_ethics.html>.
--Frankel, Mark S. & Siang, Sunyin. (1999). Ethical and legal aspects of human subjects research in cyberspace: A report of a workshop. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved June 20, 2005 from <http://www.aaas.org/spp/sfrl/projects/intres/report.pdf>.
--Mann, Chris, & Stewart, Fiona. (2000). Internet communication and qualitative research: A handbook for researching online. London: Sage.
--McKee, Heidi A. (in press) Ethical and Legal Issues for Writing Researchers in an Age of Media Convergence. Computers and Composition.
--Mckee, Heidi A. & Porter, Jim. (in press). The ethics of digital writing research: A rhetorical approach. College Composition and Communication.
--McKee, Heidi A. & Porter, Jim (forthcoming). Feminist Research Practices in Cyberspace. In Schell, Eileen (Ed.), Rhetorica in Motion: Feminist Rhetorical Methods and Methodologies. [this chapter is based on interviews with internet researchers--mostly blog researchers--who discuss their approaches for seeking informed consent etc.]
--Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). (2001). US Department of Health and Human Services. Code of Federal Regulations, 45CFR46. Retrieved June 20, 2005 from <http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm>.
--Sapienza, Fil. (2007). Ethos and positionality in studies of virtual communities. In McKee, Heidi A., & DeVoss, Danielle Nicole (Eds.), Digital writing research: Technologies, methodologies, and ethical issues (pp. 89-106). Cresskill: Hampton.

********
Heidi McKee
Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Digital Writing
English Department
Miami University
Bachelor 364
Oxford, Ohio 45056
513-523-8403 (office)
mckeeha at muohio.edu