[Air-L] Ethical challenges in qualitative research using Facebook

Thu Aug 4 22:08:16 PDT 2016

Hi Todd
Thank you I look in to that
Inbar
On Thu, 4 Aug 2016 at 18:58 Todd O'Neill <Todd.O'Neill at mtsu.edu> wrote:

> Not sure if she is on this list or not but danah boyd (correct
> capitalization) at Microsoft, author of “It’s Complicated,” might have some
> insight on this. Although she seemed to focus on live subjects and
> interviews perhaps Microsoft has already plowed this ground???
>
> Cheers!
>
> Todd O'Neill
> Assistant Professor, New Media
> Electronic Media Communication Department
> College of Media and Entertainment
> Middle Tennessee State University
> todd.oneill at mtsu.edu
> LinkedIn: toddoneill  |  FaceBook: OneillTodd  |  Twitter: mtsunewmedia
>
> > On Aug 4, 2016, at 5:52 AM, inbar michelzon <inbar.md at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi to all
> >
> > Emily, thank you so much for starting this important discussion, which I
> > already learned a lot from.
> >
> > I hope it is o.k for me to add a question to this debate. You have
> mention
> > the term special attention you need to give in researching minors and
> this
> > is my biggest dilemma as a youth research that do digital ethnography.
> >
> > My question is more about the consent in the case of teenagers. Let me
> just
> > say that, I also do a discourse analysis and my research involve
> teenagers
> > (ages 15-19) that I divide in to tow groups: the first one are those I
> > interview face to face, and than ask them if I can follow them on FB and
> > Instagram. If they agree I give them a paper for their parents, that
> > explain about the research and says that if they do not agree that their
> > son/daughter will participate in this research, please inform me.
> > The teens in the second group are friends of the interviewees, to whom I
> > send a follow request with a personal message that explain about the
> > research and link with the same latter to their parents.
> > I know there is a big chance that they will not pass it on to there
> > parents, so I would love to here other suggestion regarding research with
> > youth on line. I should also mention that my main question is about
> gender
> > and class identity and that maybe it will help if I commit not to publish
> > in our language, but only in english, which will make it very hard to
> > identify the participants.
> > Best regards
> > Inbar Michelzon Drori
> >
> > On Thu, 4 Aug 2016 at 05:53 Dan L. Burk <dburk at uci.edu> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi Charles --
> >>
> >> I guess I missed that message? (The one about Australia, having a fair
> >> use policy.) I know they have been debating whether to adopt a fair use
> >> provision (instead of fair dealing), and I thought it got tabled after
> >> opposition from their recording industry. But it sounds like I had
> >> better go check the status, maybe it succeeded after all. Thanks for the
> >> tip.
> >>
> >> See you in Berlin for sure. DLB
> >>
> >> On 2016-08-03 14:05, Charles Ess wrote:
> >>
> >>> Dear Dan, copy to Emily,
> >>> with great regret at taking far longer to get to this than I would have
> >> liked - our daughter is now moved to Canada from Heidelberg, a project
> that
> >> took up a good deal of our collective time and energy these past few
> weeks
> >> as I'm sure you can imagine.
> >>> In any event, just wanted to say thanks very much - between this and
> the
> >> Australian colleague's posting that Australia has a fair use policy,
> this
> >> got cleared up fairly nicely, I think.
> >>>
> >>> Again, many thanks and hope to see you in Berlin?
> >>> best in the meantime,
> >>> - c.
> >>>
> >>> On 27/07/16 09:00, Dan L. Burk wrote:
> >>> Hi Charles -- In any Berne or TRIPs signatory country, copyright will
> >> arise automatically when the text is written. So, yes in most countries,
> >> certainly Australia. Whether that matters, (for example, whether
> Australian
> >> fair dealing might allow the posts to be used or quoted for research
> >> purposes regardless) is a whole other question that I can't answer off
> the
> >> cuff. Cheers, DLB On 2016-07-25 23:14, Charles Ess wrote: Hi Emily and
> >> colleagues, First of all, kudos for your taking such good care at
> looking
> >> into these ethical dimensions of your research. Secondly, a couple of
> >> questions: are the posts drawn exclusively from Australian FB users -
> and
> >> if so, what is the Australian law regarding what appears in a public
> >> context online? In the U.S., last I knew, such postings are considered
> >> automatically copyrighted, and so one ethical-legal issue is, should
> this
> >> be the law in Australia as well, to recognize the posters as copyright
> >> holders. Thirdly, the methodological approach and !
> >> its
> >> affiliated ethical challenges as you describe them are, in my somewhat
> >> limited experience, rather standard. This means that I've seen similar
> >> projects - including ones involving far more sensitive expression -
> receive
> >> IRB and REB approval, so I would not stop with your worst-case scenarios
> >> (though these are clearly and carefully thought out - again, kudos).
> Some
> >> possibilities. In terms of dissemination / publication - would it be
> >> possible to (a) disguise many, if not the majority of posts by way of a
> >> paraphrase and/or aggregate identity (if appropriate), thereby avoiding
> >> direct citations, while (b) using some direct citations when absolutely
> >> necessary - and then requesting permission to do so? While there are
> >> difficulties with requesting such permission, as you point out, in my
> >> experience (i.e., reading about and/or discussing similar cases in a
> >> variety of contexts - the U.S., the E.U., and Scandinavia), these are
> not
> >> insurmountable. To be sure, one needs to exercise caution
> >> regarding identity - though these days, it seems that the vast majority
> of
> >> FB identities are more or less authentic. Ditto in the case of a
> vulnerable
> >> group, beginning with legal minors. But with care, permission can be
> >> requested when necessary in ethically sensitive and responsible ways. Of
> >> course, there will likely be a few instances of "no, thank you" (or less
> >> politely) - but with any luck, having to omit perhaps a handful of
> choice
> >> citations (and relegating them back into more anonymized form if
> possible /
> >> necessary), will not prevent you from having sufficient evidence and
> >> analyses to effectively respond to your research questions. That's at
> least
> >> my first take - and I only offer these as first thoughts, knowing that
> >> there are real experts on this list, including several colleagues in
> >> Australia who will have better information about the Aussie context, as
> >> well as our colleagues Elizabeth Buchanan, Michael Zimmer, Annette
> Markham,
> >> and many others in the northern hemisphe!
> >> re with
> >> extensive experience in these domains as well who will have much more to
> >> add. Hope this helps, then, as at least a helpful start in the
> discussion.
> >> Again, kudos and all best wishes, - charles -- Professor in Media
> Studies
> >> Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <
> >> http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html [1]>
> >> Editor, The Journal of Media Innovations <
> >> https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/TJMI/ [2]> Postboks 1093 Blindern
> >> 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess at media.uio.no <mailto:c.m.ess at media.uio.no> On
> >> Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 7:06 AM, Emily Wolfinger <
> emilywolfinger at hotmail.com
> >> <mailto:emilywolfinger at hotmail.com> wrote: Hi AoIR Community, I am a
> PhD
> >> Candidate and I have run into some ethical issues in my research, which
> I
> >> am looking for some guidance on. I am exploring Facebook user
> perceptions
> >> of sole mother poverty and welfare in Australia, focusing on a period of
> >> welfare debate in which sole parent pension amendments were introduced
> (May
> >> 2012-Janua!
> >> ry 2013).
> >> I'm undertaking a discourse analysis of a subset of comments across four
> >> categories of public pages and groups- media, political parties and
> >> ministers, welfare/charity organisations and sole mother networks- that
> >> were published in response to the amendments. Although Facebook Data
> Policy
> >> considers this information public, Internet research ethics guidelines
> and
> >> other academic papers point to a number of ethical issues around
> publishing
> >> the comments of users without obtaining their consent. As I am doing a
> >> post-structural discourse analysis this is unavoidable unless I consider
> >> paraphrasing or similar techniques that aim to protect the identity of
> >> users, however this strategy raises questions of scientific rigor and
> does
> >> not seem to be one that is widely used or indeed fool proof. There are
> also
> >> issues around contacting users for consent, for example users could be
> >> underage or belong to other vulnerable groups. I am left with two
> options
> >> if I take a worst case scenario approa!
> >> ch to
> >> these dilemmas - either tweak my research question (for example to look
> at
> >> the posts of public figures and organisations such as media outlets) or
> >> consider alternative research methods which do not present the ethical
> >> challenges of discourse analysis or other methods of close analysis, but
> >> allow me to answer my research question (What were the Facebook user
> >> perceptions of sole mother poverty and welfare in Australia between May
> >> 2012 and January 2013?). Any suggestions for readings, tips or advice
> >> regarding ways forward including methods would be most appreciated. Many
> >> thanks in advance, Emily _______________________________________________
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> >> -- School of Law University of California, Irvine 4500 Berkeley Place
> >> Irvine, CA 92697-8000 Voice: (949) 824-9325 Fax: (949)824-7336 bits:
> >> dburk at uci.edu
> >>
> >> --
> >> School of Law
> >> University of California, Irvine
> >> 4500 Berkeley Place
> >> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> >> Voice: (949) 824-9325
> >> Fax: (949)824-7336
> >> bits: dburk at uci.edu
> >>
> >>
> >> Links:
> >> ------
> >> [1] http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html
> >> [2] https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/TJMI/
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