[Air-L] public private

[Marj Kibby]

Our IRB allows 'Trojan Horse' studies when the results that might be
gained from the research are significant and the awareness of the
researcher's presence would have highly negative outcomes.

One example was the study of an online support forum for schoolgirl
sex-workers in Japan. It was thought that announcing the researcher's
presence might make some girls stop using the forum and thereby deny
them the support.

Over the years we have also moved from thinking that online IDs
protected RL IDs, and could therefore be used, to a position where both
online and RL identities must be protected.

Marj



Dr Marjorie Kibby, 
Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture
Faculty of Education and Arts
The University of Newcastle,  Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia
Marj.Kibby at newcastle.edu.au
+61 2 49216604