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

Thu Jan 11 13:32:11 PST 2018

This is such an interesting thread!
Charles, what are you trying to look at? What are the research
questions/hypotheses?

Rasha A. Abdulla, Ph.D.
Professor
Journalism and Mass Communication
The American University in Cairo
www.rashaabdulla.com
Twitter: @RashaAbdulla
<http://twitter.com/rashaabdulla>

On Jan 11, 2018 11:21 PM, "Liz Crocker" <lcrocker at bu.edu> wrote:

> 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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