[Air-L] Online research ethics - my two and 1/4 cents

[Lois Ann Scheidt]

My personal opinion is that if you are debating whether you should or 
should not pursue IRB approval...then you should pursue it.  ESPECIALLY 
if you are a grad student.  It is probably wise to mention that the 
much discussed "academic freedom" does not include grad students under 
it's legal umbrella, and beyond making that statement I will have to 
leave it to experts to explain the finer points of the issue.

One of the things that is often missed about the IRB process in the 
USA, is that once the university has approved the research then you are 
shielded by the universities approval.  Should someone inquire (aka 
gritch) about your research then they can deal with the universities 
systems such as IRB personnel and legal advisers.  If you don't have 
IRB approval then you are on your own...and might have to deal not only 
with the complainer but with the aforementioned university 
professionals.

And don't think that people do not complain about our research.  In 
truth, complaints come in all the time.  Since many of these complaints 
do not rise to the level of online archiving I will point to one large 
example that has been discussed online.  To check it out do a search on 
"phishing experiment" (without the quotation marks) to see the 
spotlight that can be placed on our research, even our approved 
research.  While it isn't often that a university research project gets 
slashdotted, it does happen, and trust me on this, you will want to 
have the attorneys and the media people dealing with it so you can go 
about your business as much as possible.

As for the issue of your IRB's understanding of online research, I 
agree many do not understand, but as educators and members of the 
academic community it is up to us to educate them.  I've done my part 
at IU and I have seen our IRB gain understanding of the unique and not 
so unique issues surrounding this work.  Remember that any new venue 
for research has the same set of underlying issues...you have to teach 
your audience what questions to ask so they understand how to think 
about what they are receiving.

You can educate them by writing up a well reasoned and articulated 
research protocol, by meeting with leaders in the organization, by 
asking to present your research to the full committee, and by becoming 
a member of the IRB.  Remember that most major university boards in the 
USA have graduate student members...you might have to ask the 
application process but they are out there.  No quicker way to educate 
the IRB community about internet research then by working from the 
inside out.

Lois Ann Scheidt

Doctoral Student - School of Library and Information Science, Indiana
University, Bloomington IN USA

Adjunct Instructor - School of Informatics, IUPUI, Indianapolis IN USA and
IUPUC, Columbus IN USA

Webpage:  http://www.loisscheidt.com
Blog:  http://www.professional-lurker.com