Ethics of a student project
One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there. My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results. But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic? Jill Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen + 47 55588431 Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648
Hi Jill, Just off the top of my head, I'm not sure an advisor's feelings about whether they'd feel comfortable participating should necessarily determine whether the research should go ahead - otherwise we'd have very little research into contentious social issues like drug abuse, criminality, etc., never mind medical research. However, I think you're perfectly right to raise possible concerns. In my view these could be mitigated by very clear information about the project when consent is sought, and the introduction of some "exit routes" for participants. For instance, participants could be asked to specify if there is any information that, if found, would lead them to be automatically excluded as participants. As an example, a participant could say that if the researcher found that there was evidence of underage drinking / some other minor misdemeanour (or major misdemeanour for that matter), their participation in the project would end and all data about them would be deleted from the researcher's records. This could also apply at the interview stage, whereby a participant could indicate if they are feeling uncomfortable at any point. Another option might be to involve the participants in the research process more - in other words, invite them to sit with the researcher while the googling/searching is happening. They could then say if they felt anything was making them uncomfortable, and ask the researcher to stop. Of course if this interaction was recorded, this could also lead to valuable data. The downside is this would be quite time consuming... I think the key question for me would be, given there is a risk of harm to the participants (embarrassment, distress etc.), what are the benefits that could/would accrue, either to individual participants or more broadly to society? If there is no clear answer to this question, the research should probably not go ahead. I would think many of us on this list can think of potential benefits, but if one of my students were interested in doing this type of research I would ask them to think this through carefully. Best, Johnny. Dr J W Unger Lecturer and Academic Director of Summer Programmes Department of Linguistics and English Language Lancaster University LA1 4YL e-mail: j.unger@lancaster.ac.uk<mailto:j.unger@lancaster.ac.uk> tel: +44 1524 592591<tel:+44%201524%20592591> Follow me on Twitter @johnnyunger<http://twitter.com/#!/johnnyunger> On 21 Aug 2014, at 13:05, "Jill Walker Rettberg" <Jill.Walker.Rettberg@lle.uib.no<mailto:Jill.Walker.Rettberg@lle.uib.no>> wrote: One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there. My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results. But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic? Jill Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen + 47 55588431 Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org<mailto: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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Your gut is a good guide, but probably informed consent is sufficient, as you mention, so long as the "stalking" is limited to openly accessible information. Some questions to consider, however: How will the data be safeguarded? How much of the data will be revealed in the paper? What will happen to the data after the project ends? How will the participants be involved, and to what degree will they be allowed to "own" their own data after it has been collected? [Note: I am a member of the AoIR Ethics Committee, but this email is not intended to speak for that group.] -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Communication Studies Acting Department Head, Fall 2014 Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 7:05 AM, Jill Walker Rettberg < Jill.Walker.Rettberg@lle.uib.no> wrote:
One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there.
My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results.
But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic?
Jill
Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen
+ 47 55588431
Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt
My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648
_______________________________________________ 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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On 8/21/2014 8:05 AM, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote:
But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic?
I agree that this proposal raises interesting questions. If circumstances - available time, course and program objectives, your comfort level and patience - allow then it may be worth letting this student go forward with this proposed project even if it may not get through your institution's ethics board or find any willing participants. I imagine that your student would learn quite a bit if they have to struggle through those issues e.g., why might an ethics board be uncomfortable with this line of research, why wouldn't anyone acquiesce to participating in this research. You may have to work a bit harder with this student to get through these possible barriers and come up with alternatives but it may be worthwhile work that meets your learning objectives. Kevin
Dear Jill and all, Your question reminds me an article published in The Chronicle, in April. Here's the article <http://chronicle.com/article/Confronting-the-Myth-of-the/145949/>. It starts with a description of a similar activity, conducted by Prof. Eszter Hargittai from Northwestern U with her students. In the first lesson she starts with a "gut check", telling the class everything she knows about them, just from online information in the public sphere. Therefore, these things are done and it might be a good idea to ask her advice about the ethical concerns (as far as I understand, she used this "gut check" without letting her students know before that she is going to do so). I myself never had the gut to do it to my students, although I think it is a brilliant idea (but not to a class of 100+ students, which is the case in my situation). Since we are talking about a research conducted by an undergraduate student, with a limited scope, I'd suggest one precaution in addition to previous suggestions: First, the interviews should not be with other people whom the student knows personally. They must be complete strangers to him. The advantage of this precaution, in my view, is that it replicates the conditions of the internet-sphere, where you are well aware that the information is public, but yet still don't have the notion that you are exposing yourself to familiar people. It also prevents awkward situations that the student will reveal something about a person he knows, that might embarrass them both in the situation of the interview. These are my two pennies, Nathan Stolero Instructor and PhD Candidate The Department of Communication Tel Aviv University Israel On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 3:05 PM, Jill Walker Rettberg < Jill.Walker.Rettberg@lle.uib.no> wrote:
One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there.
My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results.
But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic?
Jill
Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen
+ 47 55588431
Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt
My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648
_______________________________________________ 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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Hi Jill, I have done a version of this in a class exercise where I divided the class into groups and each group had to find out as much as possible about either me or the other instructor. The rules where that they could not carry out any illegal acts but otherwise everything was allowed. The goal was not the actual information but the presentations where they had to interpret the information they found and to judge its reliability. At the time I had a large web presence while the other instructor had less of a web presence. Both of us had unique names, were at the same stage in our careers and about the same age. The project was interesting and most students had fun with it. One problem that we encountered was that many groups took out credit reports on us. This didn't really bother me but I admit I wasn't expecting this move. We also realized that we would have to prevent this in future exercises as taking out a large number of credit reports can impact ones credit rating (at least in Sweden). I think the project can be interesting and informed consent should cover the ethical question but as the situation above illustrates it is difficult to recognize the unforeseen consequences. Mathias On 21/08/14 08:05 am, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote:
One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there.
My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results.
But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic?
Jill
Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen
+ 47 55588431
Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt
My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648
_______________________________________________ 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
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mathias Klang, Associate Professor, University of Göteborg Website: http://klangable.com US Cell: 215 882 0989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This thread sparks a broader issue for me (I think the discussion here has been reasoned and thoughtful) and that is that I worry we are not communicating to students or to the broader public that there is no privacy online. Our data is constantly mined and used by corporations and governments in ways that would appall any research ethics board. How can we, as academics who can see the constant violation of privacy, make people more aware? I know this is a big issue, but just felt moved to say this. SAO On Aug 21, 2014, at 9:23 AM, Mathias Klang <klang@ituniv.se<mailto:klang@ituniv.se>> wrote: Hi Jill, I have done a version of this in a class exercise where I divided the class into groups and each group had to find out as much as possible about either me or the other instructor. The rules where that they could not carry out any illegal acts but otherwise everything was allowed. The goal was not the actual information but the presentations where they had to interpret the information they found and to judge its reliability. At the time I had a large web presence while the other instructor had less of a web presence. Both of us had unique names, were at the same stage in our careers and about the same age. The project was interesting and most students had fun with it. One problem that we encountered was that many groups took out credit reports on us. This didn't really bother me but I admit I wasn't expecting this move. We also realized that we would have to prevent this in future exercises as taking out a large number of credit reports can impact ones credit rating (at least in Sweden). I think the project can be interesting and informed consent should cover the ethical question but as the situation above illustrates it is difficult to recognize the unforeseen consequences. Mathias On 21/08/14 08:05 am, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote: One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there. My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results. But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic? Jill Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen + 47 55588431 Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org<mailto: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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mathias Klang, Associate Professor, University of Göteborg Website: http://klangable.com US Cell: 215 882 0989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org<mailto: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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ Sarah Oates Professor and Senior Scholar Philip Merrill College of Journalism University of Maryland 2100L Knight Hall College Park, MD 20742 Phone: 301-405-4510 Email: soates@umd.edu<mailto:soates@umd.edu> www.media-politics.com<http://www.media-politics.com>
Hi Perhaps rather than the student investigating their respondents, it would be a better solution to have the student get their respondents to research themselves before the student interviews them about what they found. For years now, in teaching privacy/visibility issues in social media classes, I've had the students stalk themselves before class, find out just how much information about them is available online, and consider how much of it is under their control. It always makes for a lively week's discussion and means what they have to say is informed by their own experience — so a similar approach would perhaps lead to some thoughtful and considered interviews for Jill's student. Cheers, gm ----------------------- Professor Graham Meikle Communication and Media Research Institute, Faculty of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster, HA1 3TP, UK Twitter: @graham_meikle Phone: +44 (0)20 3506 8381 LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/gmeikle From: Sarah Ann Oates <soates@umd.edu<mailto:soates@umd.edu>> Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:40 To: Mathias Klang <klang@ituniv.se<mailto:klang@ituniv.se>> Cc: AOIR <air-l@listserv.aoir.org<mailto:air-l@listserv.aoir.org>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Ethics of a student project This thread sparks a broader issue for me (I think the discussion here has been reasoned and thoughtful) and that is that I worry we are not communicating to students or to the broader public that there is no privacy online. Our data is constantly mined and used by corporations and governments in ways that would appall any research ethics board. How can we, as academics who can see the constant violation of privacy, make people more aware? I know this is a big issue, but just felt moved to say this. SAO On Aug 21, 2014, at 9:23 AM, Mathias Klang <klang@ituniv.se<mailto:klang@ituniv.se><mailto:klang@ituniv.se>> wrote: Hi Jill, I have done a version of this in a class exercise where I divided the class into groups and each group had to find out as much as possible about either me or the other instructor. The rules where that they could not carry out any illegal acts but otherwise everything was allowed. The goal was not the actual information but the presentations where they had to interpret the information they found and to judge its reliability. At the time I had a large web presence while the other instructor had less of a web presence. Both of us had unique names, were at the same stage in our careers and about the same age. The project was interesting and most students had fun with it. One problem that we encountered was that many groups took out credit reports on us. This didn't really bother me but I admit I wasn't expecting this move. We also realized that we would have to prevent this in future exercises as taking out a large number of credit reports can impact ones credit rating (at least in Sweden). I think the project can be interesting and informed consent should cover the ethical question but as the situation above illustrates it is difficult to recognize the unforeseen consequences. Mathias On 21/08/14 08:05 am, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote: One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there. My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results. But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic? Jill Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen + 47 55588431 Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org<mailto:Air-L@listserv.aoir.org><mailto: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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mathias Klang, Associate Professor, University of Göteborg Website: http://klangable.com US Cell: 215 882 0989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org<mailto:Air-L@listserv.aoir.org><mailto: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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ Sarah Oates Professor and Senior Scholar Philip Merrill College of Journalism University of Maryland 2100L Knight Hall College Park, MD 20742 Phone: 301-405-4510 Email: soates@umd.edu<mailto:soates@umd.edu><mailto:soates@umd.edu> www.media-politics.com<http://www.media-politics.com> _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org<mailto: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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. 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There was in interesting dust-up over a similar class project at Fordham a couple of years ago -- this was reported in quite a few papers: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/technology/internet/18link.html?_r=0 DLB
Hi Jill, I have done a version of this in a class exercise where I divided the class into groups and each group had to find out as much as possible about either me or the other instructor. The rules where that they could not carry out any illegal acts but otherwise everything was allowed. The goal was not the actual information but the presentations where they had to interpret the information they found and to judge its reliability. At the time I had a large web presence while the other instructor had less of a web presence. Both of us had unique names, were at the same stage in our careers and about the same age. The project was interesting and most students had fun with it.
One problem that we encountered was that many groups took out credit reports on us. This didn't really bother me but I admit I wasn't expecting this move. We also realized that we would have to prevent this in future exercises as taking out a large number of credit reports can impact ones credit rating (at least in Sweden).
I think the project can be interesting and informed consent should cover the ethical question but as the situation above illustrates it is difficult to recognize the unforeseen consequences.
Mathias
On 21/08/14 08:05 am, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote:
One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there.
My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results.
But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic?
Jill
Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen
+ 47 55588431
Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt
My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648
_______________________________________________ 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
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mathias Klang, Associate Professor, University of Göteborg Website: http://klangable.com US Cell: 215 882 0989 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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-- School of Law University of California, Irvine 4500 Berkeley Place Irvine, CA 92697-8000 Voice: (949) 824-9325 Fax: (949)824-7336 bits: dburk@uci.edu
On 08/21/2014 08:05 AM, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote:
But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic?
Bruckman mentions an incident like this when a subject was surprised about their online exposure by way of a researcher [1]. [1]: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/asb/papers/journal/bruckman-information-ethics0...
I am impressed by the wide, thoughtful, and good advice provided already. I don't think anyone asked about the maturity of the student. I'm sure I would be uncomfortable allowing SOME upper-level undergraduate students to do this research. My first thought was to have your student be his own informant first - that is, find out as much as he can about himself on the Internet. That could be eye-opening and inform or change his approach to this research. I am especially grateful for the security suggestions from Tim Libert. I also like Nik's suggestion to have the informants to collect their own data while the student-researcher is present, but can't see the screen. An image jumped into my mind: The researcher asking the informant to search for information on [fill in the blank], and the reaction the researcher might see - obvious shock? Shame? Pride? Befuddlement? Without even knowing the content of the search, observation and a question or two might well uncover the reaction quite accurately. I have to say that the image in my mind is so entertaining that my judgment on the ethics of this approach is clouded. Human subjects research should not be intended to entertain the researcher! Ken -----Original Message----- From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jill Walker Rettberg Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 8:05 AM To: Air list Subject: [Air-L] Ethics of a student project One of our upper-level undergrads would like to write a paper about privacy using a slightly unusual methodology: he wants to find five informants who are willing to let him google them exhaustively in order to find out everything he can about them using legal, public online methods. Then he wants to show each informant the information and interview them, asking things like "did you know this information about you was accessible?" and more in order to find out something about what information people think is available about them, what is actually available about them, and how people feel about all the information out there about them and the possible disconnect between what they think and what is in fact out there. My gut reaction is that I wouldn't want to let a researcher "stalk" me online like that, and if I wouldn't want to be an informant maybe I shouldn't allow the project, right? But I'm also guessing that the project might be approved by the ethics board so long as there is clear, informed consent. And it'd be interesting to see the results. But beyond the ethics board: what do you think about a methodology like this? Do you share my gut reaction or am I overreacting? Would you let a student do it? And what might be better ways for a student to do a small scale research project on this topic? Jill Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen Postboks 7800 5020 Bergen + 47 55588431 Blog - http://jilltxt.net Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt My latest book, Blogging (2nd ed), will be available from Polity from September 20: http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745663648 _______________________________________________ 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 Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (11)
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Dan L. Burk -
Graham Meikle -
Jill Walker Rettberg -
Joseph Reagle -
Kevin R. Guidry -
Mark D. Johns -
Mathias Klang -
Nathan Stolero -
Pimple, Kenneth -
Sarah Ann Oates -
Unger, Johann