Research Ethics & Extant Data
When I discovered this intriguing article, my first thought was: Sage Research Methods Community readers need to learn about this study! "Ethical approval: none sought. How discourse analysts report ethical issues around publicly available online data" is highly relevant given that more of us are conducting research online.
This interview and related article discuss the kind of research that involves collecting extant data, such as social media posts or comments, websites or blogs, documents, and other existing materials.
Are such materials public or private? What is the appropriate, respectful way to use such materials in your research? Based on what Wyke Stommel and Lynn de Rijk found, it is clear that we need to do a better job when it comes to designing ethical studies that include extant data collected online, and being transparent about choices made and why. Wyke Stommel and Lynn de Rijk agreed to talk with me about their stunning research. We discussed the issues at hand and recommendations for researchers and methods faculty, editors and reviewers.
The Association of Internet Researchers Ethical Guidelines we mentioned are freely available online. You will note that there are multiple iterations: each builds on, but does not replace, the earlier set. I encourage you to look carefully at the 2012 and 2019 guidelines to learn more about ethical research with participants as well as extant or Big Data.
Sage Research Methods Community posts about online research
Dr. Stommel brings clarity to the messy world of data collection on social media.
What are some of the issues researchers face, and what are the experiences of online participants? This collection of open-access articles includes diverse examples and perspectives.
How do you know online participants are who they say they are? This collection of articles explores the issues - and solutions.
The wealth of material available online is irresistible to social researchers who are trying to understand contemporary experiences, perspectives, and events. The ethical collection and -use of such material is anything but straightforward. Find open-access articles that explore different approaches.
How to protect data when recording interviews on videoconference platforms.
The public is exposed to news stories about bad academic research behavior online. How can we counter this narrative and build credibility?
There are lots of questions to consider when using videoconference platforms for scholarly interviews.
Suggestions and resources to help you collect data with online interviews.
Throughout your research journey, leveraging digital tools can be advantageous, aiding you from initial planning to final presentation. Whether you lean towards paper-based methods or embrace a hybrid approach combining both digital and traditional tools, this blog post from Kelly Trivedy offers insights to help you explore and experiment with new tools effectively!
Typically, interviewers are accustomed to using words: we ask questions, we prompt follow-up responses, but the same principles of visual communication are true for research exchanges. Find tips and examples in this post.
Decolonizing research methods means rethinking how we look at participants and problems. In the digital world there are even more ways the European West exerts cultural, economic, and political control. At the same time, the digital world allows researchers to conduct studies across the distances.
Storytelling has been a part of our shared life since the beginning of time. Story-based research approaches are especially valuable when studying sensitive issues or collecting data with vulnerable participants. In today’s digital world we have new ways to share and collect stories in a research context.
Hashtags offer online researchers ways to identify popular topics, trace viral messages, and locate influential thought leaders. Learn more about how researchers use hashtags with this multidisciplinary collection of open access articles.
From the moment social media platforms began to welcome user-generated content, researchers have looked for ways to study it. Learn more with open-access articles about social media platforms.
Do you think about research questions as an insider, outsider, or somewhere in between? Why is positionality important in online research?
Qualitative researchers often collect very personal data, whether in interviews or in narratives, diaries, or other records that depict their experiences. One way to protect their identities is by changing their names, and anonymizing the data.
Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby, co-authors of the book Research Design: Why Thinking About Design Matters, discuss how to make decisions about what qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods data to collect and how to do so. This post is the third of a three-part series of posts that feature ten author interviews.
Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby, co-authors of the book Research Design: Why Thinking About Design Matters, discuss how to make decisions about methodology in this collection of video interviews. This post is the second of a three-part series of posts that feature ten author interviews.
How can you use data science in social science research? Find an interview with the Oxford Internet Institute’s Dr. Bernie Hogan and lots of useful resources in this post.
We need to think about research before we design and conduct it.
Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby, co-authors of the book Research Design: Why Thinking About Design Matters, discuss the first three chapters in these video interviews:
Chapter 1 – Research Design: What You Need to Think About and Why
Chapter 2 – Ethical Issues in Research Design
Chapter 3 – Developing Your Research Questions
Learn about connecting the unit of analysis with the qualitative methodology.
These difficult times present challenges for researchers. Find five original posts by Robert Kozinets about using Netnography to study sensitive topics.
Jessica Lester and Trena Paulus co-edited a December 2023 special issue for the Sage journal, Qualitative Inquiry, “Qualitative inquiry in the 20/20s: Exploring methodological consequences of digital research workflows.” Read the articles and watch a roundtable with contributors. This is the second of two discussions of the special issue.
Jessica Lester and Trena Paulus co-edited a December 2023 special issue for the Sage journal, Qualitative Inquiry, “Qualitative inquiry in the 20/20s: Exploring methodological consequences of digital research workflows.” Read the articles and watch a roundtable with contributors. This is the first of two discussions of the special issue.
How can you study digital culture and activism? Watch this interview with Dr. Lyndon Wray.
Some of us feel that technology is everywhere, but that is not the case for everyone. Inequalities persist. What do these disparities mean for researchers?
Learn about ethics and consent for online research from the perspective of an institutional review board member.
Learn about research with online Experiments from Dr. Giuseppe Veltri.
What ethical issues face researchers who study online comments? Paul J. Reilly offers explanations and an open-access research case.
Informed consent is the term given to the agreement between researcher and participant. In this post Janet Salmons offers suggestions about the intersections of the Internet communications, ethics and participants.