[Air-L] research ethics again - students and FB

[Liz Crocker]

I agree that both 1) the criminal aspect is not something I would worry
about and 2) the IRB might actually be perfectly fine with it. A colleague
of mine in grad school created fake accounts to examine selfie posting
behaviors of teenagers and our IRB did not care at all about that ethical
piece of her research.

Whether the study design is ethical, however, is a somewhat different
question and one that you should co-determine with your students. It might
be a fantastic lesson to read about research ethics particularly with a
focus on new media (including something from Kalev Leetaru's list of
articles) and then have a guided discussion about how to construct an
experiment that answers your RQ in an ethical way. They might surprise you
with how thoughtful they can be on this subject considering so much of
their own social lives are engaged via digital communications and networks.

Let us know how it ends up!

Liz

On Thu, Jan 11, 2018 at 11:48 AM, Michael T Zimmer <zimmerm at uwm.edu> wrote:

> Further, the U.S. 9th Circuit just ruled that violating a website’s terms
> of service is not, in and of itself, a crime.
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/01/ninth-circuit-doubles-
> down-violating-websites-terms-service-not-crime
>
>
>
> --
> Michael Zimmer, PhD
> Associate Professor, School of Information Studies
> Director, Center for Information Policy Research
> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> e: zimmerm at uwm.edu<mailto:zimmerm at uwm.edu>
> w: www.michaelzimmer.org<http://www.michaelzimmer.org>
>
> On Jan 10, 2018, at 3:37 PM, Dan L. Burk <dburk at uci.edu<mailto:dburk@
> uci.edu>> wrote:
>
> So, although I am not saying that the study design is ethical, or even
> necessarily a good idea, I would most definitely take issue with either
> the specific assertion that violating an adhesion contract is always
> unethical (it is called an adhesion contract for good reason), and with
> the more general assertion that violations of law are always unethical.
>
> Also, non-trivially, the assertion is a non-sequitur: minors generally
> can't enter into binding contracts, so there is by definition no
> contract for them to violate.
>
> None of that means you should go ahead and do it; only that if you
> decline to do so, it should be for some other reasons.
>
> Cheers, DLB
>
> Dan L. Burk
> Chancellor's Professor of Law
> University of California, Irvine
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 2017-18 Fulbright Cybersecurity Scholar
>
> On 2018-01-10 09:28, Christopher J. Richter wrote:
>
> Dear Charles,
>
> TOS agreements are most often legally binding. Requiring minors (indeed
> any study participant, but especially minors) to violate a legal contract,
> whether online or off, is unethical on the face of it.
>
> Then there is the issue of deception, of whom and how interactions on the
> fake accounts are deceiving.  Deception, by definition, undermines informed
> consent. Will those who are deceived be debriefed? If not, it's problematic.
>
> Christopher J. Richter, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor, Communication Studies
> Hollins University
> Roanoke VA, USA
>
> On Jan 10, 2018, at 4:44 PM, Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess at media.uio.no<mailto:c
> .m.ess at media.uio.no>> wrote:
>
> Dear AoIRists,
>
> What are your thoughts regarding the following?
>
> A research project involves a small number of students, legally minors -
> and requires that they set up fake FB accounts for the sake of role-playing
> in an educational context?
> Of course, fake accounts are a clear violation of the FB ToS.
>
> I know we've discussed the ethics of researchers doing this (with mixed
> results, i.e., some for, some concerned).
>
> But I'm curious what folk think / feel about this version of the problem.
>
> Many thanks in advance,
> - 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>
>
> Postboks 1093
> Blindern 0317
> Oslo, Norway
> c.m.ess at media.uio.no<mailto:c.m.ess at media.uio.no>
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