[Air-l] Research question: interviewing online subjects?

[Marj Kibby]

I'm currently researching downloaded music, and my ethics committee was
very concerned about my uncovering unlawful activity. While they did not
see that I would be obliged to offer the information to authorities,
they did say that I would be obliged to report the activity if asked by
said authorities. 

This seems to be the case for most research here - notifiable offenses
such as child abuse excepted - you have to warn participants that if
they tell you about, or let you observe illegal activities then you
would be obliged to report that to law enforcement if specifically
questioned. Notifiable offences you have to report.

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
>>> Ellis Godard <egodard at csun.edu> 06/02/07 4:56 PM >>>
The repeated message that I got in grad school was to consider any
arguably
illegal or immoral behavior as observed facts to be described and
explained,
not something to be reported beyond the role as researcher. One
oft-repeated
example (from someone whose courses I took but with whom I never worked
closely) concerned having observed a policeman taking money from the
wallet
of a vagrant while nominally checking his ID. He did not report the
theft
either to the policeman's supervisors or to anyone else, though did
report
it as part of his study (and in class discussions of methods and
ethics).

That may be wrong, wrong-headed, unpopular, illegal, unapprovable now,
and/or something else - but is the requirement to report such behavior
now
widespread? Universal?

-eg

Erika Pearson wrote:
> I've been reading the general sociology literature on conducting
> interviews as part of a research project, and some of the literature
> I have come across makes a point of noting that interviewers should
> be warning interviewees that any illegal or immoral behaviours
> uncovered during the course of the research/interview may be reported
> (for example, Adler and Adler, 2003).

_______________________________________________
The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers: 
http://www.aoir.org/