Re: [Air-L] Online research ethics
Together with a colleague of mine, we are doing an autoethnographic research project in SL. Ethics has been a major issue since the very beginning. We are not doing research of other people/avatars, but our own understanding of things and our reflexive processes are inevitably formed in an interactional manner. We have asked for the opinion of the ethics committee in our department/school, and they have argued that since this is autoethnographic, we actually need ethics applications in relation to each other (since our project is collaborative and we share our personal experiences). In my mind, the discussion about ethics in SL is no different from ethics in RL. For instance, would you ask for consent if you do an observation in a public place? Going to public places in SL (even if you require an account to come in) - how is it substantially different in ethical terms than doing an observation in RL? I think these issues are hard to answer and require a case-by-case decision. In environments such as SL, doing any type of research that takes as its subject other avatars and their behavior, requires ethics procedures, in my view. I feel ambivalent however in arguing that you need to ask for permission if you do a content analysis of the posters in SL, or of blog posts. Would you ask for permission if you want to do research on someone's personal correspondence or diary, but would you do the same if that correspondence would be published in a book? On the other side, do bloggers have an expectation that their stuff is 'public' (some do, some may not - so what do you do in such cases?). Delia Dumitrica PhD Candidate Faculty of Communication and Culture University of Calgary
My IRB suggests (at least so far) not to bother attempting to get HSRB for autoethnographies. I agree Delia that this discussion is no different from RL. On Mar 7, 2008, at 7:09 PM, dddumitr@ucalgary.ca wrote:
Together with a colleague of mine, we are doing an autoethnographic research project in SL. Ethics has been a major issue since the very beginning. We are not doing research of other people/avatars, but our own understanding of things and our reflexive processes are inevitably formed in an interactional manner. We have asked for the opinion of the ethics committee in our department/school, and they have argued that since this is autoethnographic, we actually need ethics applications in relation to each other (since our project is collaborative and we share our personal experiences).
In my mind, the discussion about ethics in SL is no different from ethics in RL. For instance, would you ask for consent if you do an observation in a public place? Going to public places in SL (even if you require an account to come in) - how is it substantially different in ethical terms than doing an observation in RL? I think these issues are hard to answer and require a case-by-case decision. In environments such as SL, doing any type of research that takes as its subject other avatars and their behavior, requires ethics procedures, in my view. I feel ambivalent however in arguing that you need to ask for permission if you do a content analysis of the posters in SL, or of blog posts. Would you ask for permission if you want to do research on someone's personal correspondence or diary, but would you do the same if that correspondence would be published in a book? On the other side, do bloggers have an expectation that their stuff is 'public' (some do, some may not - so what do you do in such cases?).
The same is true here as well. However, a team "autoethnography" wouldn't be about the self which is how the issue has been structured in discussions I've had on campus. I can see why the IRB felt that application for approval is necessary. And yes, it is probably overkill BUT again I am talking about application for human subjects approval not about the requirement that the subjects sign statements allowing themselves to be part of the research project. In this case requiring signed consent forms would be massive overkill. Lois Ann Scheidt Doctoral Student - School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington IN USA Adjunct Instructor - School of Informatics, IUPUI, Indianapolis IN USA and IUPUC, Columbus IN USA Webpage: http://www.loisscheidt.com Blog: http://www.professional-lurker.com Quoting Radhika Gajjala <radhika@cyberdiva.org>:
My IRB suggests (at least so far) not to bother attempting to get HSRB for autoethnographies.
I agree Delia that this discussion is no different from RL.
On Mar 7, 2008, at 7:09 PM, dddumitr@ucalgary.ca wrote:
Together with a colleague of mine, we are doing an autoethnographic research project in SL. Ethics has been a major issue since the very beginning. We are not doing research of other people/avatars, but our own understanding of things and our reflexive processes are inevitably formed in an interactional manner. We have asked for the opinion of the ethics committee in our department/school, and they have argued that since this is autoethnographic, we actually need ethics applications in relation to each other (since our project is collaborative and we share our personal experiences).
In my mind, the discussion about ethics in SL is no different from ethics in RL. For instance, would you ask for consent if you do an observation in a public place? Going to public places in SL (even if you require an account to come in) - how is it substantially different in ethical terms than doing an observation in RL? I think these issues are hard to answer and require a case-by-case decision. In environments such as SL, doing any type of research that takes as its subject other avatars and their behavior, requires ethics procedures, in my view. I feel ambivalent however in arguing that you need to ask for permission if you do a content analysis of the posters in SL, or of blog posts. Would you ask for permission if you want to do research on someone's personal correspondence or diary, but would you do the same if that correspondence would be published in a book? On the other side, do bloggers have an expectation that their stuff is 'public' (some do, some may not - so what do you do in such cases?).
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here again I agree with Lois (did I call you another name on-list yesterday, Lois - cant remember - it was probably my sl avatar speaking and she got you mixed up with whoever she was IM ing at that time - I/I/she/he should really stop multi-interfacing eh?;)) In fact - I like to get HSRB approval without actually terming it "auto-ethnography" - I describe it as a study in SL. This sort of thing - when/if it does not involve going into the teen grid on SL actually does not even require "full board" review I was told a while ago. But then- it seems we have a much more human IRB officer here on our campus who talks to us about the nuances of our research and suggests how we might articulate them in the proposal and so on. r On Mar 8, 2008, at 1:24 AM, Lois Ann Scheidt wrote:
BUT again I am talking about application for human subjects approval not about the requirement that the subjects sign statements allowing themselves to be part of the research project. In this case requiring signed consent forms would be massive overkill.
Wow, You have all given me some great feedback and suggestions. Based on your suggestions, I am going to file for IRB Approval. I am going to spend some time figuring out the specifics of my project and how it relates to issues of human subject harm. I will keep you all updated on how my experience goes. Alecea --- dddumitr@ucalgary.ca wrote:
Together with a colleague of mine, we are doing an autoethnographic research project in SL. Ethics has been a major issue since the very beginning. We are not doing research of other people/avatars, but our own understanding of things and our reflexive processes are inevitably formed in an interactional manner. We have asked for the opinion of the ethics committee in our department/school, and they have argued that since this is autoethnographic, we actually need ethics applications in relation to each other (since our project is collaborative and we share our personal experiences).
In my mind, the discussion about ethics in SL is no different from ethics in RL. For instance, would you ask for consent if you do an observation in a public place? Going to public places in SL (even if you require an account to come in) - how is it substantially different in ethical terms than doing an observation in RL? I think these issues are hard to answer and require a case-by-case decision. In environments such as SL, doing any type of research that takes as its subject other avatars and their behavior, requires ethics procedures, in my view. I feel ambivalent however in arguing that you need to ask for permission if you do a content analysis of the posters in SL, or of blog posts. Would you ask for permission if you want to do research on someone's personal correspondence or diary, but would you do the same if that correspondence would be published in a book? On the other side, do bloggers have an expectation that their stuff is 'public' (some do, some may not - so what do you do in such cases?).
Delia Dumitrica PhD Candidate Faculty of Communication and Culture University of Calgary
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participants (4)
-
Alecea Standlee -
dddumitrļ¼ ucalgary.ca -
Lois Ann Scheidt -
Radhika Gajjala