It's usually best practice to at least include a clause in any consent forms noting that you're under obligation to report illegal activities to proper authorities should they come up during the interview. If you're working with some type of at-risk group where this is likely to become an issue, it's also worth mentioning elsewhere, especially at the start of the interview. I treat online research practices the same as offline in this regard, though - and like Paul, would avoid being a watchdog for immoral rather than illegal behavior :) Joshua Joshua Raclaw - PhD student Department of Linguistics Culture, Language & Social Practice Women and Gender Studies University of Colorado at Boulder http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~raclaw/ ---- Original message ----

Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 12:00:26 +1000 From: "Paul Teusner" <paul.teusner@rmit.edu.au> Subject: Re: [Air-l] Research question: interviewing online subjects? To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org>

Hey Erika,

As someone who's also in the social work field, I believe it is important to include this policy in your research program and make it clearly know to your participants, in that it allows them NOT TO DISCLOSE information. A policy like this I think is above all empowering - it facilitates trust between researcher and researched because the participant knows exactly where you stand. I wouldn't use the word immoral though, just illegal. We all engage in immoral activity from time to time, based on someone's definition of the word. (Would you report someone who was engaged in extra-marital, consensual sex? Who would you report it to?)

With regard to "Who would you report it to?" - It can be a bit of a non-question, in that the policy itself can prevent disclosure and therefore the need to report. If I need to report something, I would report it to the Australian Federal police (because my research is based in Australia, and the AFP can act on reports involving people outside the jurisdiction of other police organisations in this country).

The big issue would lie in research across borders - would you report someone who's profiting from pirated music sales in Thailand or a country where there are no copyright laws? Or would you report a twenty-one year old for having sex with a seventeen year-old in Victoria, Australia (it's legal here)?

paul teusner

-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Erika Pearson Sent: Friday, 18 May 2007 11:24 To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Research question: interviewing online subjects?

Hello all

I've been reading the general sociology literature on conducting interviews as part of a research project, and some of the literature I have come across makes a point of noting that interviewers should be warning interviewees that any illegal or immoral behaviours uncovered during the course of the research/interview may be reported (for example, Adler and Adler, 2003).

My questions in regards to this are: 1) Are those who have or are conducting online interviews or even interviews about internet issues making a point of such cautions? ( I suspect the two approaches have two separate answers). What are others' experiences of this as practice?

2) If so, what is the benchmark for classifying acceptable and unacceptable behaviours? (i.e.: the laws and norms of the interviewers context? Those of the physical jurisdiction of the interviewee, if known? The norms of the virtual group, network, or community under study?)

I browsed through the AoIR Ethics Committee document on Internet research, and (as I read it) there seemed to be an implication that the physical jurisdiction of the research subject was the prime candidate for setting a legal or ethical standard more generally in regards to proper treatment of research subjects, but that was just my sense on a first reading. I would be very interested to hear the thoughts and experiences of others on this matter. I admit, as I was reading this, my first thought was 'who would I report it to anyway!'

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

with thanks erika

~~ Erika Pearson Dept. of Media, Film and Communication. University of Otago P.O. Box 56 Dunedin 9054 Aotearoa/New Zealand Ph: (+0064 3) 479-8680 E-mail: erika.pearson@otago.ac.nz

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