Social Media, Social Science &Research Ethics

Dr Janet Salmons,Kandy Woodfield

Kandy WoodfieldHead of Learning &DevelopmentNatCen Social ResearchNSMNSS Network leader

Janet Salmons, Ph.D.Network memberCapella University Core Faculty,Researcher, Writer & Consultantthrough Vision2Lead. Author,Online Interviews in Real Timeand Cases in Online InterviewResearch.

New Social Media, New SocialScience - Blurring the boundaries?

InnovationCollaboration

InspirationFresh thinkingNetwork of methodological

innovationFunded by NCRMMay 2012-May 2013

Aims of the network InnovationCollaboration

InspirationFresh thinkingOn & off line community of practice

Forge links between academics, practitioners& across disciplinesCatalyse debate - address challenges social mediapresent for social science researchShare approaches, tools & experiences of using socialmediaIdentify good practice: co-created content & guidance tobe shared with the wider community

76%employed34% students

75% HE sector25% other

65% in UK35% worldwide

58% female42% male

461 members

20 disciplinary fields

How it works? InnovationCollaboration

InspirationFresh thinkingNetwork activities across a range

of platforms:Home page: http://www.natcen.ac.uk/nsmnss/Methodspace:http://www.methodspace.com/group/nsmnss/forumTwitter: @NSMNSS, #NSMNSSBlogs: http://nsmnss.blogspot.co.uk/You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NSMNSS

Face to face events

Over 5,322minutes of

video watched

3 0nline seminars4 knowledge exchange

seminars

7 themed twitter chats

66 blog posts

12 months…

1,194 videoviews onYou Tube

37,761 blog page views

2conferences

Ethical issues in socialmedia research

Persisting uncertainty ‘getting it right’ ethicallyEthical dilemmas - lack of consistent, relevantguidance, conflicting opinionsWhat are the key political, ethical, legal issues?Are they different for online to offline research?Do we understand the digital world well enoughto make these choices?

Lack of research with users of social mediaplatforms or engagement with platform providers

Survey of NSMNSS members

N:67

How do you make decisions about researchethics?

68%59% 56%

39%33%

Do you feel the guidelines you useare up-to-date and adequate foronline researchers?

YES

NO

NOT SURE

33%

30%

37%

Issues?

Privacy & anonymityof participants

Sampling &recruitment

Informed consentResearcher identity,

rapport &relationships

User-generatedcontent (text &

images) as data

Date ownership& data security

What is public & private?What is your responsibility as aresearcher?Do ethics differ between ‘public’platforms/spaces & ‘walled gardens’?What does online informed consent looklike?Is it wrong if I lurk and observe?

Twitter chats

Resolving ethicaldilemmas requires“holistic” approachengaging views ofmany disciplines

Research ethics = one tilein mosaic of technological,

political, cultural &individual complexity

Cultural competencies& flexibility neededwhen dealing with

multicultural participants

Need for cross-institutional‘standardization’ of IRBboards?

Social media areplural, no single

methods – ethicsdecisions mustbe context andmethod specific

Encouragementfor researchers topublish methods/

ethical casestudies, failures &

successes

What are the main gaps, areas needingclarification?

“ I think they would all benefit from attention and clarity”

74%75%72%

68%

65%

62%

60%57% 51% 46%

43%

42%

35%32%

32%

What research ethics resources would be mostuseful?

72%

69%

48%

39%

38%

36%

33%

28%

25%

Preliminary observations

Multi-disciplinary, multi-method approaches toresearch ethics are needed, while respecting theinfluence of disciplinary codes and work of associations

Ongoing development is needed as approaches willevolve with changes in technology and usage – staticcodes won’t work

Need to engage those who teach, review & edit: the“gatekeepers.”

Need to encourage scholars to explain & discuss theirmethods, so we can learn from each other about the“how” and “why” of research with online and social mediamethods.

Resources suggested bynetwork members

GovernmentDoing the right thing (DWP guidelines)

Professional Associations

• AOIR

• BERA

• MRS/MRA

Books & articles

Market research•ESOMAR•CASRO

Most mentioned issues & resourcesAOIR Ethics Guidelines(Markham, Buchanan, & Committee,

2012)

British EducationalResearch Association

(Jones, 2011)

Esomar: Market andSocial Research

(ESOMAR, 2008; Phillips et al., 2011)

Collecting data from Tweets, blogs, social media communities:consent or disclosure?

What are public versus private spaces online?

Protecting anonymity when using online quotations inresearch reports

Collecting data from Tweets,blogs, social media communities:consent or disclosure?

AOIR EthicsGuidelines (Markham,

Buchanan, & Committee,2012)

British EducationalResearch Association

(Jones, 2011)

Esomar: Market &Social Research

(ESOMAR, 2008; Phillips et al.,2011)

Collectingdata fromTweets,

blogs, socialmedia

communities:consent ordisclosure?

Because all digitalinformation at some point

involves individualpersons, consideration of

principles related toresearch on human

subjects may benecessary even if it is not

immediately apparenthow and where persons

are involved in theresearch data. (p. 4)

Social networking and otheron-line activities, including

their video-basedenvironments, present

challenges for considerationof consent issues and the

participants must be clearlyinformed that their

participation and interactionsare being monitored andanalysed for research.

If consent has not beenobtained researchers mustensure that they report onlydepersonalised data fromsocial media sources. Ifresearchers are using

automated data collectionservices, they are

recommended to use filtersand controls to remove

personal identifiers such asuser names, photos, links to

the user’s profile, etc.

What are public versus privatespaces online?

AOIR Ethics Guidelines(Markham, Buchanan, & Committee,

2012)

British EducationalResearch

Association(Jones, 2011)

Esomar: Market andSocial Research

(ESOMAR, 2008; Phillips etal., 2011)

What arepublicversusprivatespacesonline?

Individual and cultural definitionsand expectations of privacy areambiguous, contested, andchanging. People may operate inpublic spaces but maintainstrong perceptions orexpectations of privacy. Or,acknowledge that thecommunication is public, but thatthe specific context in which itappears implies restrictions. (p.6-7)

Not addressed. Public social media:This covers the majorityof social media. Itincludes all placeswhere entry is withoutany form of barrier.

Private social media:This covers areaswhere the user or thewebsite do not want thedata to be publicallyaccessible. All requireusername identificationfor access

Protecting anonymity inreporting AOIR Ethics

Guidelines (Markham,Buchanan, & Committee,

2012)

British EducationalResearch

Association(Jones, 2011)

Esomar: Market &Social Research

(ESOMAR, 2008; Phillips etal., 2011)

Protectinganonymity whenusing quotationsin researchreports?

• How are findingspresented?

• What immediate orfuture risk might occurby using exact-quotedmaterial in publishedreports?

• Are individualsadequately protected inpre-publication reports,such as workshops,conferences, orinformal meetings?

• Is the data easilysearchable andretrievable?

In qualitative researchone way to protect

participants is throughnarrative and creativemeans, which might

require the fictionalisingof aspects of the

research or the creationof composite accounts,

such as in vignettes,providing generalizedfeatures based on anumber of specific

accounts

Where [consent] is notpossible their analysismust only be withdepersonalised data.

If researchers wish toquote publicly madecomments they must firstcheck if the user’s identitycan be easilydiscoverable using onlinesearch services. If it can,they must makereasonable efforts toeither seek permissionfrom the user to quotethem or mask thecomment.

Ethics – interim thoughtsAre the ethics of social media researchthat different really?Do we need separate guidelines?Paper written up, including comparisons ofthe codes by the end of the summerWorking with SRA ethics group aroundguidanceMore research with users of social mediato better understand what peoplewant/expect or need in regard to ethics

Thank youIf you want further information orwould like to contact the network:

nsmnss@natcen.ac.ukTweet us @nsmnss