[Air-L] public private

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

>
> I don't know where you got just that. The original definition is
>> A human subject is* a living individual* about whom an investigator
>> (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains (a)  
>> data
>> through *intervention or interaction* with the *individual*, or (b)
>> *identifiable* private information

yes, that was what i was referring to.
> the devil is in the details. "A living individual" IMHO disqualifies
> imaginary personas and as long as you can't rule them out, you  
> write off
> your entire work (even if we talk of just one in a hundred.).

I'm not sure I understand where you are going here?   I don't need  
'real' people to talk about the things that I need, I just need the  
results to be created by either humans or created by something that  
human creates.   It is perfectly valid, but then I'm not dealing  
explicitly with human subjects either.

> On the
> first note you certainly need a specific someone to intervene on or
> interact with , since you need to be able to distinguish between pre-
> and post- interaction / intervention states. On the second note you
> can't identify private information which is unconfirmed.

yes, that is fine.
>>>> A subject should be a *unique someone* in one's research, a single
>>>> person and not a single persona (unless of course your research  
>>>> design
>>>> specifically addresses this issue of multiple personas). While the
>>>> opinions expressed in a blog like Jeremy's can be attributed
>>>> relatively
>>>> safely to him, opinions in a forum or behaviors in an online world
>>>> cannot be attributed to any single person. In my book, failing to
>>>> convincingly address the issue of web anonymity is sloppy  
>>>> research. A
>>>> signed consent form goes some way (but not all the way) in  
>>>> addressing
>>>> this very real problem.
>>>
>>
>> which problem?  that your research needs identifiable individual
>> subjects?   in that case, you are very likely going to have the
>> ethics issues noted earlier, which will then be resolved in some way
>> like a consent form.
>>
> Name one field of research which does not "need" identifiable  
> individual
> subjects. I'm not aware of any.

sociology, anthropology, musicology, literary studies, anything that  
does not require methodological individualism, which is most fields  
of research.   Even some topics of research that do no sometimes  
require methodological individualism don't require identifiable  
subjects.  In fact, I'd say those that ''need'' identifiable  
individual subjects are probably in the minority in terms of research.
>
> George Floros, MD
> MSc Medical research methodology,
> Thessaloniki , Greece.
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Jeremy Hunsinger
Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research,  
School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  
(www.cipr.uwm.edu)

Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a  
thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions,  
think. --Byron