Hi, all, Sorry to be late to the conversation. According to the strictest US definition from CFR, blogs are not "human persons." and typically are outside the scope of IRB review. I have seen boards ask for anonymization or pseudynomization of names, sites, etc, but this might not be appropriate according to your methodology. Here is a blurb form a forthcoming paper I have: From a research ethics perspective, in the United States, research conducted using a blog as a data source would not be reviewable by an IRB. For instance, if a researcher used only text from a blog, as part of an analysis, and did not interact with the blog author through, e.g., interviews or surveys, no IRB review or approval would be needed, as it is not considered "human subjects" under the federal definition (45cfr46.102f): “Human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains(1) Data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or (2) Identifiable private information.” “Identifiable private information” is “information about behavior that occurs in a context in which an individual can reasonably expect that no observation or recording is taking place, and information which has been provided for specific purposes by an individual and which the individual can reasonably expect will not be made public (for example, a medical record).” Therefore, if a researcher is getting data from a blog that is public, then it would not meet the criteria for review as set forth in the US regulatory documents. Best, e. Elizabeth Buchanan, Ph.D. Director Center for Information Policy Research School of Information Studies University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 414.229.3973 Principal Investigator, Internet Research Ethics Commons internetresearchethics.org (NSF Project # 0924604) elizabeth@internetresearchethics.org On Oct 17, 2010, at 5:00 PM, air-l-request@listserv.aoir.org wrote:
air-l@listserv.aoir.org
Dear Colleagues and AoIR's friends, This discussion has an interesting value for the AoIR international community as well. What I mean is that in the majority of countries public texts like blogs can be analyzed without asking any permission. This is valid for several European, Asian, African and South American nations, and in the US, under the conditions others have mentioned. Nevertheless, many of us tend to contact the bloggers, declare our research intents, protect contributes ‘anonymity in public contexts, use pseudonymous, etc . What does this current praxis tell us? Are there different praxis in the international community of internet researchers? Should we take a case by case approach? What I mean is, for example: would our praxis change in case the bog is run by an individual or a commercial company trying to do a “viral marketing” operation, and promote musical groups among prospect consumers visiting the blog? My main research interests are in the field of health care , museum and art . Like in the majority of countries we do not need to ask for formal permissions, but I tend to have a "cautious approach", declare my research intentions, etc. In the case of Thomas' students more details about the research aims and design should clarify the issue. If it is the case of a simple "text analysis" of a public blog, I would declare my intentions. If something else is involved and relates to sensible data disclosed in the blog, I would take a more cautious approach. In my experience, it is pretty sad to observe disinhibit unregulated behaviors from business oriented companies that hire freelance "bloggers" and social media "promoters" carrying on viral marketing campaigns, particularly when unaware people are dealing with serious illnesses and search for mutual support and info online. Monica -------------------- Monica Murero , Ph.D. AoIR Exec, 2003-2009; AoIR Treasurer, 2005-2009 AoIR Lifetime Member Director E-Life International Institute Associate Professor in Politics of e-Government and in Sociology of New Technology University Federico II, Italy Consultant, World Health Organization http://it.linkedin.com/pub/monica-murero-ph-d/16/52/606
participants (2)
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Elizabeth Buchanan -
Monica Murero