Hi Antonio, My colleague, Natalie Boero, and I are putting the finishing touches on a book manuscript examining 14 (U.S. based) pro-ana mia discussion groups over a course of 2 years. We actually skirted the age issue by only interviewing participants who were 18 or older (or who reported to us they were 18 or older). Many of them had participated on the sites for a number of years, so they shared their memories of being high school students (or even middle school students) participating in pro-ana communities. I know that other researchers when dealing with topics that could render a child vulnerable sometimes make their consent forms more general and less specific. For instance when researching queer youth some researchers write about "identity development in adolescence" rather than "coming out." That of course opens a set of different ethical issues. But it is a course of action some people take. Others have made the argument, to U.S. IRBs at least, that having parental consent would put the child too at risk and thus received waivers for said consent. If you have other questions or ideas I'm happy to chat off list. I'm excited to see what you are writing about! Warm regards, CJ Pascoe ___________________________________________ C.J. Pascoe Assistant Professor Department of Sociology Colorado College Phone: 719-389-6735 Web: http://faculty1.coloradocollege.edu/~cpascoe Dude You're a Fag: http://ucpress.edu/books/pages/10671.html Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11889 On Mar 2, 2010, at 12:33 AM, Antonio A. Casilli wrote:
Hi all,
As part of a research project at the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris), my team and I are running a study on users of pro-ana / pro-mia websites in France and UK. The approach mainly brings together social network analysis and qualitative fieldworks.
We would love to hear from people working on pro-ana blogs, forums and SNS targeting teenagers and young adults. Ethical implications are particularly challenging at this stage of our project, as they overcome the domain of ED-related online communities. Parental consent for younger respondents, for instance, seems to represent a major setback given the biases it might introduce in sample recruitment. Potential consequences for participants (being rushed to out their pro-ED identity to their parents if they want to take part in the study) should also be addressed.
If, in the course of your own resarch, you have faced the same issues, how did you deal with them?
Cheers for now, Antonio
-- Antonio A. Casilli (ANAMIA ANR Project) Centre Edgar-Morin Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Anthropologie du Contemporain (UMR8177 CNRS/EHESS) 22, rue d'Athènes 75009 - Paris France email: antonio.casilli@ehess.fr webpage: http://www.iiac.cnrs.fr/cetsah/spip.php?article26 blog: http://www.bodyspacesociety.eu/
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