[Air-L] Online research ethics

[Steve Jones]

See also the AoIR Ethics Working Group and its recommendations at http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf 
.

Sj

On Mar 7, 2008, at 6:52 AM, Derek Hansen wrote:

> 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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>>
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