[Air-L] Online research ethics

[coopman at u.washington.edu]

>From a Fellow Grad Student -

Since you are at the mercy of your institution and your committee you have several considerations.

First, if you are dealing with people in any context you will likely need a waiver at least. If you review the forms and conditions on your institutions IRB site it should be fairly clear if your research "could" fit a waiver. For example, I received a waiver to look at publicly archived listservs. If you file for a waiver and they think you need to go through a more complicated process then you can do it - if not - you are home free. Every institution is different - mine is pretty tight. I just made a case that there was no expectation of privacy - in fact - the point for that group was transparency.

Second, what does your Chair say? Ultimately, he/she will have to green light it. And as a matter of course if the chair says ok then the committee will go along. If one member is really twisted up about it then you can always replace them. If you can look at the IRB regs and make the case to your committee that you qualify for a waiver it should not be an issue.

Third, do YOU think there is a reasonable chance of risk or harm to the people involved? What steps could you take to mitigate this yourself other than going through human subjects? In a waiver application demonstrate you have taken steps to mitigate any potential problems.

I agree with those who have stated that such environments have no expectation of privacy. Since anyone can visit them even using pseudonyms will not protect them if you directly quote. IMO, there has been too much hang-wringing and lawyering up over online research - and could make a lot meaningful research impossible. This is particularly ironic in the face of the data collected by businesses. At some point you have to give things over to the professional judgment of the scholar. This is not to say the IRB process is not important - I just think it has gotten WAY out of hand in the social sciences and humanities.

-TED

Ted M. Coopman
Department of Communication
University of Washington