I'm not sure if this is relevant, but my study involved setting up blogs for a group of PhD candidates at my own university for me to collect data on their PhD process. I was told to email them a copy of the information sheet that had been approved by the ethics committee. Their emailed replies to me, agreeing to the conditions therein, was sufficient consent to allow their participation. M-H On 1/8/07 9:11 AM, "Kevin Sherman" <kevin.sherman@aut.ac.nz> wrote:
I will be interviewing and observing avatars within Second Life as research for my phd. I have been asked by my ethics board to obtain hard copy signature consent from my participants rather than online digital consent. Can anyone direct me to literature pertaining to the practicalities of informed consent in online virtual worlds (mmogs, mmorpgs, second life, etc..) or discuss their own experience with this?
Thank you, Kevin