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1 Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Ethical Issues in Internet Research: International Good Practice and Irish Research Ethics Documents Author(s) Felzmann, Heike Publication Date Publication Information 2013 Heike Felzmann (2013) 'Ethical Issues in Internet Research: International Good Practice and Irish Research Ethics Documents' In: Cathy Fowley; Claire English; Sylvie Thouësny (Eds.). Internet Research, Theory, and Practice: Perspectives from Ireland. Dublin : Research-publishing.net. Publisher Research-publishing.net Link to publisher's version /Felzmann_80.pdf Item record Downloaded T13:13:42Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above.

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2 Published by Research-publishing.net Dublin, Ireland; Voillans, France 2013 by Research-publishing.net Internet Research, Theory, and Practice: Perspectives from Ireland Edited by Cathy Fowley, Claire English, and Sylvie Thouësny The moral right of the authors has been asserted All articles in this book are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work under the following conditions: Noncommercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works: You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Research-publishing.net has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Moreover, Research-publishing.net does not take any responsibility for the content of the pages written by the authors of this book. The authors have recognised that the work described was not published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis), or that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are Typeset by Research-publishing.net Cover design: Raphaël Savina (raphael@savina.net) Fonts used are licensed under a SIL Open Font License ISBN13: (Paperback, Print on Demand, Lulu.com) ISBN13: (Ebook, Kindle Edition, Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A cataloguing record for this book is available from the British Library. Bibliothèque Nationale de France - Dépôt légal: juin 2013.

3 2Ethical Issues in Internet Research: International Good Practice and Irish Research Ethics Documents Heike Felzmann 1 Abstract This chapter discusses the main research ethical concerns that arise in internet research and reviews existing research ethical guidance in the Irish context in relation to its application to internet research. in this context. Important research ethical concerns in internet research are between researchers, participants and the online materials, and the ethical and ethical requirements regarding the access to and use of online materials, chapter existing Irish research ethical guidance documents are reviewed in relation to the relevance of their guidance for the conduct of internet research. Keywords: research ethics, internet research, privacy, informed consent, How to cite this chapter: Internet Research, Theory, and Practice: Perspectives from Ireland. 11

4 Chapter 2 relation to research ethics review. Internet research can pose new challenges in relation to the ethical conduct of research and research ethics committees be of interest to researchers using the internet as a medium or subject matter for research. the existing Irish documentation will be examined in relation to its application to some prominent issues in internet research. The development of internet research ethics attention began to be drawn to the research potential of this medium. This included a wide range of research concerns, from an interest in understanding the use of the medium and the new possibilities of online activities a novel medium for the recruitment of research participants and a medium 12

5 Heike Felzmann constituted good ethical practice in social science research. Internet research was one emerging area of research and the development of guidelines on ethical issues in internet research soon followed. harm that could arise in research on online interaction of internet-based increasing experience of the new modes of interaction, evidence accumulated described the experience of harm resulting from internet interactions indicated was warranted. This in turn highlighted that internet research itself could not Ms. Magazine article The strange case of the electronic lover, discussed a case A Rape in Cyberspace in the Village Voice context, LambdaMOO ( intense emotional experiences and similar observations have continued with those virtual contexts ( ). were the 1996 special issue of The Information Society (King, 1996), the 1999 Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research on the Internet ( on Ethical decision-making and Internet research: recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee ( 13

6 Chapter 2 identities online, the complexities of obtaining consent, the often exaggerated practice in internet research. Core ethical concerns in internet research The following section will provide a brief introduction to the main research ethical concerns arising in common forms of internet research, with particular emphasis that the basic ethical concerns in internet research can be understood in terms of general research ethical concepts used in social science research (see also requirements is open to debate ( ). The relationship between researchers, participants and online materials The internet allows researchers to reach large numbers of research participants than traditional research approaches ( methodologies in the online medium ( 14

7 Heike Felzmann in traditional research mediums. channels that potential participants do not expect to be used for research. The highlight in relation to qualitative health research, as research activities. ( ). 15

8 Chapter 2 distinction exists in ethical requirements between public and private information. consent, whereas research that collects data outside the public domain is considered private and permission needs to be sought from the originators communications in a wide range of online contexts. other hand, people write their contributions often under the assumption of 1999 Twitter where contributions on public Twitter owners. and claim that the traditional dichotomies between public and private or published and unpublished become each context of interaction, participants have certain expectations about how participants in this context will behave in relation to the use and distribution 16

9 Heike Felzmann In a similar vein, proposes to consider most communications King (1996) conducted a controlled experiment where under the non-announcement condition. list a number of factors that determine whether an public in nature: (i) some form of subscription or registration is required to gain access to the forum, (ii) the number of perceived users of the forum (see also ), (iii) the implicit or explicit group norms, including statements who the target group is and what the purpose of the forum is. With the explosion in the use of Facebook and understanding of average users regarding the control and limitations of 17

10 Chapter 2 functions on YouTube concerns in a quite sophisticated and individualised manner. shows in his discussion of the ethical Facebook. In fact, the Facebook ( ). Informed consent is one of the cornerstones of research ethics. Most research consent to participate in the research, on the basis of a comprehensive process of information about the research project. In order to be able to give meaningful relevant information on the research and its potential implications, (iv) have understood that information, (v) made a conscious decision to participate research methods in an online environment, e.g., the recruitment of participants researcher to ascertain whether the participant is in principle able to consent and has indeed understood the information provided to them ( 1999 and challenges to achieving meaningful consent are present in most research settings ( ). 18

11 Heike Felzmann the research is being conducted. suggests that consent requirements for use of online material might be waived if this material (i) is (for similar positions see also ). ), even requesting consent can participant whose contributions she wanted to include. This individualised, and of researchers to particular populations. In relation to online research, King,

12 Chapter 2 storage. unintentional sharing of information e.g., through shared accounts ( records ( of participants is in most cases hidden to researchers, this does not mean that Twitter names, in reporting on research data is unproblematic (King,

13 Heike Felzmann and and uncertainties regarding the appropriate attitudes towards materials that are not created as research materials. highlights the tension between viewing the originators of such materials as participants in human subject research who deserve protection, or rather as artists or authors who deserve credit and are authorship through individual consent. the main rationale for the requirement of research ethics review. Internet research impairments or disabilities. 21

14 Chapter 2 inclusiveness ( ). This has the those participant groups, which in turn could feed into the improvement of ( Kiesler, 1999 use ( targeting public health interventions. Finn and on self-help groups for survivors of sexual abuse. In the case of most research with vulnerable participants, the researcher is considered to have management of potential problems or participant distress becomes much more 22

15 Heike Felzmann and activities ( such sensitive materials without transparent and explicit consent would pose the and their application to internet research First of all, Irish internet researchers need to be aware that their research might be subject to research ethics review requirements. In comparison ), there are 23

16 Chapter 2 research projects that involve human subjects. outlined in his appear to them to pose obvious ethical problems. transfer and multiplication of electronic data. In the Irish context, the Data Protection Act 1988 and the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003 are the main laws dealing with data protection ( ). These for dealing with personal data. The detailed discussion of legal requirements is outside of the scope of the present chapter, but some general concerns with in the strict sense, and might therefore not be considered to fall under these 24

17 Heike Felzmann more sensitive the data, the more restrictive the requirements regarding access authorised persons. professional ethics codes in the Irish context (for example clinical trials research. Internet-based health research as discussed for example National Consent Policy, Part 3 Research ( targeted towards issues arising in relation to consent in health research and in internet research involving interaction with human participants or the ) the code states, in line with the Irish data commissioner, that the researcher collected, which has implications for electronic data management practices. 25

18 Chapter 2 seems to assume a clear distinction between public and private behaviour and personally of individuals or groups unless clear and, p. 6, emphasis added), which level of intrusion triggers a demand for informed consent, the literature on research in online communities has highlighted that the threshold for perceiving relation to using novel research approaches, as e.g., some approaches to internet, p. 12). Guidance for developing ethical research projects involving children ) and also a comprehensive section Draft National Consent Policy conform to the requirements of the Children First guidelines which state relevant child protection requirements ( ). Two major concerns in relation 26

19 Heike Felzmann realisation of informed consent, which requires the involvement of all relevant during the research ( ). This poses a number of ethical concerns. Informed consent is one prominent concern in this context insofar as children might participate might come to different results if the intended participants are children rather Children First In research with participants whose real identities remain unclear, however, no such response to emerging child protection concerns will be possible. guidance document states, it is also essential protection requirements. 27

20 Chapter 2 research participants than traditional face to face or pen and paper research ( ). The internet as communication medium might access persons with disabilities for whom written communication is a suitable and particular care will be required in planning an ethical approach to using public or private nature of online materials, the moral status of online identities, requirements and suitable practices of informed consent, data management, Irish documents that can provide guidance on issues arising in internet research. guidelines to emerging national and professional guidelines and to ongoing specialist discussions of emerging issues, for example in the journals Ethics and Information Technology or Journal of Information Ethics 28

21 Heike Felzmann characteristics and challenges of the internet as research medium, Irish internet to create a forum of discussion of their research and its challenges. If it appears should bring these to the attention of their professional associations or other representative bodies, to ensure that these issues will be addressed in future statements of good practice and research ethics guidance documents. While this chapter could not do justice to the wide range of internet research methodologies readers an idea of common ethical concerns in internet research that will allow own research. References Guidance to nurses and midwives regarding ethical conduct of nursing and midwifery research people who use drugs. International Journal of Internet Research Ethics, 3 Internet. The Journal of Sex Research, 36 people with disabilities. Social Science Computer Review, 22 doi: Ethical Guidelines for Online Research worlds. Ethics and Information Technology, 9 Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003: A Guide For Data Controllers 29

22 Chapter 2 Children First - National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children. Guidance for developing ethical research projects involving children The Village Voice Ethics and Information Technology, 4 The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee communities. British Medical Journal (BMJ), 323 Social Work with Groups, 17 Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research on the Internet: A report of a Workshop, June 10-11, 1999, Washington, DC research: ethical and methodological issues. International Journal of Internet Research Ethics, 3 The Information Society: An International Journal, 20 30

23 Heike Felzmann European Communities (Clinical Trials on Medicinal Products for Human Use) Regulations, 2004 reporting of results. The Information Society: An International Journal, 12 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13 Guide to professional conduct and ethics for registered medical practitioners National Consent Advisory Group: National Consent Policy. Part 3 Research Disability Research Series 13: Ethical Guidance for Research with People with Disabilities. Washington Law Review, 79(1), Ethics & Behavior, 13 The Psychological Society of Ireland: Code of Professional Ethics Readings in Virtual Research Ethics: Issues and Controversies 31

24 Chapter 2 data. Research Ethics, 2 Doing Internet Research: Critical Issues and Methods for Examining the Net of Internet posts and archives. Qualitative Health Research, 11 doi: Readings in Virtual Research Ethics: Issues and Controversies Ethics and Information Technology, 4 doi: Ethics and Information Technology, 9(2), Ethics and Information Technology, 12 accounts without consent? Michael Zimmer.org 32

The University of Sheffield Research Ethics Policy Note no. 14 RESEARCH INVOLVING SOCIAL MEDIA DATA 1. BACKGROUND

The University of Sheffield Research Ethics Policy te no. 14 RESEARCH INVOLVING SOCIAL MEDIA DATA 1. BACKGROUND Social media are communication tools that allow users to share information and communicate