[Air-L] consent form for email exchanges

Sun Jan 15 13:33:23 PST 2012

Many thanks to everyone who responded with advice, and for references of books to read.

To answer Janet's question:

>> Finally, I have another question for you: if you have some exchanges that
>> are in-person, synchronous and verbal, and some that are written and
>> asynchronous, the data you collect will be quite different. How will you
>> account for this difference in your research design, and in your analysis?

I am doing oral interviews in person whenever I can. I'm trying to prepare for cases when I can't travel to meet the subject personally, and the subject doesn't want to do a phone or Skype interview. 

If I was studying contemporary users, audiences, or demographically/geographically/politically-defined communities, I would definitely do a uniform format, a survey online or in person. But the people I'm interviewing are participants in historical events, as recent as August 2011 and as far back as the 1960s and 1970s, and they live all over the country. Most interviewees' stories and questions are unique so I'm not sure that uniformity of interview format is crucial here. So far I've assumed interview methods should be flexible depending on the age of subjects and how immersed they are in digital methods of communication. I may be wrong though.

Best,
Elena

Elena Razlogova
Concordia University, Montreal
http://elenarazlogova.org

On 2012-01-11, at 10:29 AM, Jennifer Myers wrote:

> I conducted my interviews using Skype (just audio as video wasn't
> necessary) and recorded using Wiretap (no cloud) and my IRB allowed me to
> send a consent form via email (how I was contacting the participants and it
> was publicly available) and in the form it stated that if they replied with
> their consent that would serve as their signature. I am at a R1 university
> in the US and it would have been inconvenient for my participants
> otherwise. Then again, I don't know the real names of my participants and
> just their online identities and my research is low-risk and exempt. After
> the letter where a signature would normally be it said, *You are consenting
> to be a part of this study if you respond to this email and are willing to
> participate in the interviews. Your interviews will be recorded and the
> digital recordings will be kept until... Once they responded, I asked them
> again if they were consenting and I saved all of the emails. I also asked
> them during the interview so that I had a digital recording and in case
> they had changed their minds. *
> 
> Janet's books are wonderful resources, and I highly recommend them if you
> are conducting research online. They have been a lifesaver as I thought
> through the many ethical issues I've encountered.
> 
> Jennifer
> 
> On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 11:52 PM, Janet Salmons, Ph.D.
> <jesalmons at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> Elena,
>> 
>> I would suggest that the content of your consent agreement, as well as its
>> content, need to be re-thought for online interviews using email.
>> 
>> Remember, consent agreements communicate to participants what they can
>> expect from you, the researcher, and should inspire their trust in the
>> safety and credibility of the study. For one thing, I would think it
>> important to assure your participants of the privacy of your exchanges
>> given the ease of forwarding email. Also, depending on the kind of program
>> you are using, the email exchange may be stored on someone else's server,
>> in the cloud. So I would think you would want to specify some practices
>> such as saving the email to your hard drive and deleting the message on the
>> server.
>> 
>> Additionally-- is it possible that other information about the participant
>> might be evident from the email service, such as in a profile, signature,
>> links. Might that participant have a Twitter/Facebook/site/blog linked to
>> the email?  Do you want the ability to use any of the data the participant
>> may have posted? If so you may want to acknowledge it in the consent
>> letter.
>> 
>> I've created some materials about informed consent, as well as a Survey
>> Monkey form a participant can fill out and return (you can use/adapt the
>> questions if they fit your study). You can find them here:
>> http://bit.ly/rHxVNn. I discuss consent and other ethical issues in depth
>> in *Online Interviews in Real Time*, and one case uses email
>> interviews in *Cases
>> in Online Interview Research* (both from Sage.)
>> 
>> I agree with Robert-- your IRB may have particular guidelines on email
>> interviews. However, I have not encountered a case where IRBs allowed data
>> to be collected from an interview without a separate consent letter, as he
>> indicated. In some of these areas there are not standard procedures used
>> everywhere and you have to decide. If you want to publish findings you may
>> want to err on the more conservative side and obtain consent.
>> 
>> As well, there are other rules about use of digital signatures-- in the US
>> some states do not honor them. In that case you'll need to have a way to
>> obtain an original signature.
>> 
>> Finally, I have another question for you: if you have some exchanges that
>> are in-person, synchronous and verbal, and some that are written and
>> asynchronous, the data you collect will be quite different. How will you
>> account for this difference in your research design, and in your analysis?
>> Have you considered conducting the online interviews using
>> videoconferencing or Skype, which would be more comparable to an in-person
>> in that you can see the participant, the participant has to reply in the
>> moment, you get the non-verbals in terms of emotion and timing, facial
>> expressions etc.
>> 
>> Hope this is helpful and all the best for a successful study.
>> Janet
>> 
>> Janet Salmons, PhD
>> *Capella University School of Business and Technology and Vision2Lead, Inc.
>> *Site- http://www.vision2lead.com
>> Follow Twitter at #einterview
>> Now available: Cases in Online Interview
>> Research<http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book235442>
>> PO Box 943
>> Boulder, CO 80306-0943
>> jsalmons at vision2lead.com
>> 
>> 
>>> Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:11:19 -0500
>>> From: Elena Razlogova <elena.razlogova at gmail.com>
>>> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>>> Subject: [Air-L] consent form for email exchanges
>>> Message-ID: <D339760A-27D4-4315-9A70-71E063C8E88A at gmail.com>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>> 
>>> Dear list members,
>>> 
>>> What are the rules and practices on filling out consent forms for
>>> interviews that are done online or over email?
>>> 
>>> Most of the interviews I'm doing for my research will be conducted
>>> in-person, with a standard consent form to sign. However, some of my
>>> interviewees may be more comfortable with an email exchange rather than a
>>> personal interview. In that case, instead of sending them the form to
>> sign,
>>> scan, and email me back, I would like to include the consent form in the
>>> email together with my questions, for them to fill out and return by
>>> hitting reply, but without the signature.
>>> 
>>> Is that an accepted practice? What are the rules on this?
>>> 
>>> Thank  you,
>>> Elena
>>> 
>>> Elena Razlogova
>>> Concordia University, Montreal
>>> http://elenarazlogova.org
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Message: 4
>>> Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:18:26 -0600
>>> From: "Peaslee, Robert" <robert.peaslee at ttu.edu>
>>> To: Elena Razlogova <elena.razlogova at gmail.com>,
>>>       "air-l at listserv.aoir.org"       <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] consent form for email exchanges
>>> Message-ID: <CB31EA29.6B5F%robert.peaslee at ttu.edu>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>> 
>>> My guess is that there will be some variability on this based on the
>>> predilections of your institutional review board. My practice up to now
>>> has been your former option in order to keep the consent form separate
>>> from the data. But lately my IRB has been eschewing consent forms
>>> altogether for exempt research (research that poses no reasonable risk)
>> in
>>> order to further minimize the possibilities for identification of
>> subjects.
>>> 
>>> I'd check with your IRB coordinator and get some feedback there, since
>>> you'll probably get a variety of answers here.
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> Rob
>>> 
>>> Robert Moses Peaslee, Ph.D.
>>> 
>>> Assistant Professor, Dept of Electronic Media & Communication
>>> College of Mass Communications
>>> Texas Tech University
>>> 
>>> robert.peaslee at ttu.edu
>>> 806 742 6500, x283
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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