[Air-L] Online research ethics

[Derek Hansen]

I have found that the IRB's that I have worked with (and I assume you
will be working with as a student in the U.S.) have not been sources
of good insights on the ethics of online studies, as they haven't
understood the online world. This may not be the case for you, but I
would recommend that you decide what seems ethically responsible
independent of the IRB and then take it to them with your reasoning.

You may want to consider what has been published on the subject. The
two references I know of off the top of my head that are decent and
will help you think through the issues are:
1) http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7321/1103
2) www.apa.org/science/apainternetresearch.pdf

My personal opinion is that it is fine to not get informed consent
when dealing with data that was clearly posted online in a completely
public setting (as opposed to in a community that requires
registration). However, I would think about the sensitivity of the
data and desires of the authors when deciding whether or not to use
actual usernames and direct quotes from the postings. For example, if
the intended audience to the content was clearly a small group of
friends and not the "world at large" then I would likely not use
actual usernames and not use large direct quotes (that would be easily
searchable and tracable to the individual) in publications unless I
had first received permission from the individual. However, if the
content was published to gain recognition and for a large audience
then I would be more inclined to use the actual username and directly
quote from messages.

Derek Hansen
The iSchool at Maryland


On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 11:07 PM, mhward <mhward at usyd.edu.au> wrote:
> My view is that you should approach the committee that will consider your
>  ethics application and ask them for guidance.
>
>  M-H
>
>
>
>
>  On 7/3/08 2:50 PM, "Alecea Standlee" <stan0504 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  > Dear List Members,
>  >
>  > I was hoping I could get some feedback on an ethical
>  > issue that I am trying to work through with my
>  > dissertation commitee.
>  >
>  > I am conducting community and social network research
>  > with a group online. Essentially, the group is a
>  > collection of fiction writer hobbists, who write and
>  > then 'publish" their work online. They publish in a
>  > variety of venues, including personal websites, story
>  > archives and public liveJournals. The interesting data
>  > (for me) is in the form of their authors notes, where
>  > the talk to and about other members of their group and
>  > somewhat in their feedback, which is sometimes posted
>  > with the stories.
>  >
>  > The dilemma is this. How do I consider this group with
>  > regard to informed consent. I have three different
>  > sets of recommendations
>  > 1) One of my advisors argues that the group is posting
>  > on public websites and explicitly states that their
>  > stories are for public consumption, so should be
>  > treated as document data and cited using standard
>  > citation practices for blogs and websites.
>  > 2) A second advisor disagrees and argues that the
>  > group should be considered individual subjects,
>  > including requests of permission to use statements,
>  > pseudonyms for screen names and perhaps even consent
>  > forms of some sort.
>  > 3) A third person says that no, it should be treated
>  > as participant observation, that I should inform
>  > members that I am using data from the authors notes
>  > and feedback but not require consent forms.
>  > Specifically, since the participants use screenames
>  > and thus are unlikely to want to give me access to
>  > their real names. Their "real" names are anonymous, so
>  > I should focus on how to protect or not their screen
>  > names...
>  >
>  > What do you all think about the issue? Should I
>  > contact the authors and not use the feedback, which
>  > sometimes comes from people "outside" the core group?
>  > Should I treat it like document websites? I am really
>  > torn about what the ethical thing to do here is.
>  >
>  > Alecea Standlee MA. MA. PhD Student.
>  > Syracuse University
>  > Maxwell School of Citizenship
>  > Department of Sociology
>  >
>  >
>  >
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