Hi Erica, I was just reading a very interesting special issue of Qualitative Inquiry on ethics and research practice (2007, april: http://qix.sagepub.com/content/13/3.toc ). You might find some useful concepts/cases/resources to draw on, as your research seems more related to interviews, youth, and sensitive (LGBT) topics than internet research, per se (the internet seems only the venue for interviews, as you describe it, although I may be missing something) I also recently ran across a very good article in Qualitative Social work: 'Becoming Participant:' Problematizing 'informed consent' in participatory research with young people in care. http://qsw.sagepub.com/content/7/4/427 The authors engage in some very refined discussions of the slippery and problematic notion of 'informed consent.' The research design (participatory action design) is also particularly interesting (and very well done, from what I read into this depiction of it anyway), which might be of interest to you, in helping to construct a model for how to engage with the youth you're interested in studying. These researchers found the IRB to be a good collaborator (not adversarial, as we mostly hear about) in helping them determine a good methodology for working with youth. There are researchers who have made compelling (and persuasive) arguments to ethics research board committees about the importance of waiving parental (or documented) informed consent, particuarly for target populations who need to be studied but who would be potentially harmed if their parents knew about their behaviors or if their signed/documented consent was the only link between their personally identifiable information and the interview data. For example, Kathryn Daley, a doctoral student at RMIT, writes a great review of her situation in working with her ethics review boards/university to get approval and supportive mentorship for her study of youth and illicit drug use. http://www.academia.edu/1026262/The_ethics_of_doing_research_with_young_drug... The challenge is not just to "navigate" the IRB or ethics approval process, but to create a solid research design, which will improve your chances of having an ethics board help you figure out how to accomplish your goals, even though these might not fit the typical scenario. There is a lot of precedent for working with youth without gaining informed consent. There's also precedent for waiving parental consent or documentation of informed consent. I also recommend Raymond Lee's (1993, Sage) Doing Reserach on Sensitive Topics, which addresses many issues you might confront in your research. Cheers, Annette ***************************************************** Annette N. Markham, Ph.D. Guest Professor, Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden Affiliate Professor, School of Communication, Loyola University, Chicago amarkham@gmail.com http://markham.internetinquiry.org/ Twitter: annettemarkham On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 1:05 PM, Erica Ciszek <eciszek@uoregon.edu> wrote:
Hi all, I am looking for resources and advice on recruitment and research with youth in online spaces. I am hoping to talk to 13-17 year old LGBTQ youth about their experiences with anti-bullying outreach efforts. I'm hoping to carry out interviews through Facebook chat, Google chat and email. I recognize that getting this study approved by the IRB at my institution will be quite the challenge.
Does anyone have any suggestions or models for navigating this process? Getting parental consent won't work for this project, so I'm looking for ways to address issues of anonymity, etc.
I would greatly appreciate it!
All the best, Erica Ciszek Doctoral Student Graduate Teaching Fellow School of Journalism and Communication University of Oregon eciszek@uoregon.edu www.ericaciszek.com
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