Comments on: Guestpost: Karen Hellekson on research ethics

By: admin

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:11:44 +0000

@ Carrie and Lucy: I had a feeling that others would find this post useful; goodness knows I could have used a few pointers the first time I submitted my proposal to the ethics committee. But I saw how seriously the people on that committee took their work, and I understood why, and now I think we can prevent a lot of frustration on both sides just by informing people. Thanks for visiting!

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:52:42 +0000

Thanks so much for the link to the AOIR guidelines. I’m a researcher in the social sciences, but not this PART of the social sciences, so while I’m familiar with IRB protocols and how to navigate them, some of the particular challenges involving online populations have been difficult. For example, I’m interested in the way users on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth establish, alter and navigate identity through name change processes - but trying to talk about a user’s articulation of identity in 15 characters while maintaining their anonymity and privacy has been very tricky, and I’m working in enough of a vacuum that my frustration is getting the better of me. Glad to see the site and this v. useful guestpost.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:30:08 +0000

This is such a helpful post! I’m just venturing into fannish research and I’ve found that standard university research training barely even acknowledges internet-based research, except as an alternative to paper surveys. This is a great starting point, thanks so much.