[Air-L] youth and online recruitment and interviews

[Annette Markham]

Hi Erica,

I was just reading a very interesting special issue of Qualitative Inquiry
on ethics and research practice (2007, april:
http://qix.sagepub.com/content/13/3.toc ).  You might find some useful
concepts/cases/resources to draw on, as your research seems more related to
interviews, youth, and sensitive (LGBT) topics than internet research, per
se (the internet seems only the venue for interviews, as you describe it,
although I may be missing something)

I also recently ran across a very good article in Qualitative Social work:
'Becoming Participant:' Problematizing 'informed consent' in participatory
research with young people in care.   http://qsw.sagepub.com/content/7/4/427
The authors engage in some very refined discussions of the slippery and
problematic notion of 'informed consent.'   The research design
(participatory action design) is also particularly interesting (and very
well done, from what I read into this depiction of it anyway), which might
be of interest to you, in helping to construct a model for how to engage
with the youth you're interested in studying.   These researchers found the
IRB to be a good collaborator (not adversarial, as we mostly hear about) in
helping them determine a good methodology for working with youth.

There are researchers who have made compelling (and persuasive) arguments
to ethics research board committees about the importance of waiving
parental (or documented) informed consent, particuarly for target
populations who need to be studied but who would be potentially harmed if
their parents knew about their behaviors or if their signed/documented
consent was the only link between their personally identifiable information
and the interview data. For example, Kathryn Daley, a doctoral student at
RMIT, writes a great review of her situation in working with her ethics
review boards/university to get approval and supportive mentorship for her
study of youth and illicit drug use.
http://www.academia.edu/1026262/The_ethics_of_doing_research_with_young_drug_users

The challenge is not just to "navigate" the IRB or ethics approval process,
but to create a solid research design, which will improve your chances of
having an ethics board help you figure out how to accomplish your goals,
even though these might not fit the typical scenario.  There is a lot of
precedent for working with youth without gaining informed consent.  There's
also precedent for waiving parental consent or documentation of informed
consent.

I also recommend Raymond Lee's (1993, Sage) Doing Reserach on Sensitive
Topics, which addresses many issues you might confront in your research.

Cheers,

Annette


*****************************************************
Annette N. Markham, Ph.D.
Guest Professor, Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden
Affiliate Professor, School of Communication, Loyola University, Chicago
amarkham at gmail.com
http://markham.internetinquiry.org/
Twitter: annettemarkham


On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 1:05 PM, Erica Ciszek <eciszek at uoregon.edu> wrote:

> Hi all,
> I am looking for resources and advice on recruitment and research with
> youth in online spaces. I am hoping to talk to 13-17 year old LGBTQ youth
> about their experiences with anti-bullying outreach efforts. I'm hoping to
> carry out interviews through Facebook chat, Google chat and email. I
> recognize that getting this study approved by the IRB at my institution
> will be quite the challenge.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions or models for navigating this process?
> Getting parental consent won't work for this project, so I'm looking for
> ways to address issues of anonymity, etc.
>
> I would greatly appreciate it!
>
> All the best,
> Erica Ciszek
> Doctoral Student
> Graduate Teaching Fellow
> School of Journalism and Communication
> University of Oregon
> eciszek at uoregon.edu
> www.ericaciszek.com
>
>
>
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