Hi Maria, This is just a quick response and I hope others also add to this conversation. There are many guidelines about studying sensitive topics or vulnerable populations written in past decades. These are still extremely relevant to any ethnographic or qualitative study of your topic, even if you're researching through instagram. So these classic texts about social research ethics would be useful to review. Specifically, you might start with: Undertaking Sensitive Research: issues and strategies for meeting the safety needs of all participants. Article by heather McCosker, Alan Barnard, and Rod Gerber http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/983/2142 Doing Research on Sensitive Topics. Book by Raymond Lee https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/doing-research-on-sensitive-topics/book2040... Ethics for anthropological research and practice. Book: http://www.waveland.com/browse.php?t=144 ASA code of ethics has definitions of vulnerability http://www.asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm Most associations associated with an academic discipline will have codes of ethics, or discussions of best practices. These differ by discipline, region, or country. So one way to consider how you might take a proactive and responsible approach is to start learning about what would constitute ethical practice.... I'd start by browsing through google, and look at the different approaches for social research ethics in psychology, sociology, education, and anthropology. Then, I'd take a look at your institution's guidelines. I don't mean to be pedantic, but I don't know how much you know about how ethics guidelines are developed or where they're located. Mark Johns' advice to see the AOIR ethics guide = a good start, too. Finally, I would recommend the work of Katrin Tiidenberg, which is focused specifically on instagram, ethics, and potentially vulnerable populations. hope that helps. cheers, annette ***************************************************** Annette N. Markham, Ph.D. Professor MSO, School of Communication & Culture, Aarhus University Affiliate Professor, School of Communication, Loyola University, Chicago amarkham@gmail.com http://markham.internetinquiry.org/ Twitter: annettemarkham On Thu, May 19, 2016 at 7:50 PM, María González Aguado < mariagaguado@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear members,
I'm writing you asking for ethical advice to conduct ethnography on Instagram. I'll really appreciate if you could let me know if there are any ethical guidelines or publications on how to conduct online research with people undergoing severe mental conditions, and if there is anything specific for Instagram. The only ones I know are the guidelines of the British Psychological Association. In the same way, if any of you are working online on sensitive topics, any advice is welcomed.
Thanks a lot in advance. Best wishes, María
-- María González Aguado Research Fellow- Department of Sociology University of Leicester University Road Leicester LE1 7RH, UK _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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