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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>RE: [Air-l] Science News Online: The Social Net</TITLE>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Interesting question. My sense is that if a
researcher is looking at an archive of discussion, as long as the participants
remain anonymous in the research findings write-up, such analysis is fine and
ethical. My human subjects board would require me to file with them to notify
them that I was doing such archival work, but such research would be exempt from
any formal oversight by the human subjects board. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>~Jenny</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=kgowen@facct.org href="mailto:kgowen@facct.org">Kris Gowen</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=air-l@aoir.org
href="mailto:air-l@aoir.org">air-l@aoir.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 05, 2002 1:14
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Air-l] Science News Online:
The Social Net</DIV>
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<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Would it be
different, ethically, for a researcher to analyze archives on a message board
discussing the same topic?</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Garamond color=#800080>L. Kris Gowen,
PhD</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Garamond color=#800080 size=2>Senior
Research Associate</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Garamond color=#800080
size=2>Foundation for Accountability</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Garamond color=#800080 size=2><A
href="mailto:kgowen@facct.org">kgowen@facct.org</A></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Garamond color=#800080 size=2><A
href="http://www.facct.org">www.facct.org</A></FONT></SPAN></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>