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IRB, Direct quotes and IRC Postings?

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:28:04 +0100

I've been doing some work as a contributor to documentation for the --- open-source CMS during the past few months. Now, I am getting ready to write something that describes how the network of individuals that contribute to --- docs interact through the various electronic mediums. What I would like to do is to quote examples from their forums, and from the issue queue. Both of these are publicly accessible to anonymous visitors to the site, you only need to log in if you wish to post. I would also like to provide a general description of the interactions on IRC, but I don't think I need to make direct quotes. I'm hesitant about using too much from IRC because even though some of the channels are publicly logged, it would seem a bit shady, since some of the users might not realize there is a record of their discussions. It is important to note that a lot of the people involved aren't acting anonymously, their --- user profiles often link to their blogs, or note their employer. In most cases I can refer to people by a position, or level of experience or activity within the organization that would obscure their identity somewhat. This would not be possible though in a few situations where people hold unique positions. The study does have an interest in the power that individuals have in influencing the discussion, so a reference to the documentation lead cannot be mistaken as anybody other than In a few places I will have to make references to points of conflict. In most cases, these are constructive debates on how best to go about something, but some of the examples are actual full-on arguments with people loosing their tempers and saying unpleasant things. I'll be especially careful with these, but again I can leave their screen names off of the study, but it would not be difficult for a curious person to go back over the forums and find the messages I'm referring to. So my questions are about both how best to deal with the community, and also how to fit this into the IRB form???

Research on Pro-Ana Communities--from Pearse stokes

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:37:59 +0100

There are a number of ways I strive to overcome the ethical difficulties. Firstly, I always emphasise that the research is very important, and that this justifies the means. In essence I am suggesting that while the research may not be completely ethically sound the value of the research far out weighs this... contentious to say the least. With the internet I also did a bit of 'grease monkeying' in that rather than have individual respondents (with physical counterparts) I developed a new respondent - the cacophony of voices (or as I call my research site/respondent 'the technomediaself scape'). Essentially, taking the notion from some scholars of actor network theory, I hypothesised that the network could be my respondent. This meant (and I know I'm pushing this) that I escaped the problem of - ethics (my respondent was not a person and had no 'age' as such) and - reliability of data (the cacophony of voices would not 'lie'). Then, you can compare your research to two real world ethical issues. The first is that you may be engaging in normal conversation. Many people who research youth culture groups like 'roller bladers' or 'skate boarders' interview them in a very informal and 'every-day' way. Secondly, the data you gather may be publicly available (again just like interviewing skaters in skateparks). Finally, you must insure the protection of the respondent. That means keeping them anonymous, but in its widest remit it means conducting valuable and useful research - which again justifies your research's potentially loose ethics ;) You are suggesting that you will share your research with your researched community and everyone will benefit (many people avoid this part of the research). The most crucial ethical consideration for you, as a researcher (outside of insuring your research passes the ethics board) is what you are going to do when you develop a relationship with your respondents and feel you must intervene. Having a set of protocols will make this much much easier. In my research I was doing 'participant observation' and during one particularly long fast (for both me and the respondent) she told me about certain issues in her life. Tainting my research and defying the ethics outlines in one go I intervened as a fellow human being - that is just a foot note in my work which I doubt anyone read! Pearse