edirisingha ethics unisa2012_12_june2012
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Ethical considerations in researching online learning and teaching
#unisa12
Palitha EdirisinghaUniversity of Leicester
Palitha Edirisingha, 12 June 2012, Unisa, South Africa
Session objectives
• To be familiar with the ethical principles involved in social research
• To consider possible links between research methods / methodological approaches and specific ethical issues
• To raise awareness of the risks to participants, researchers, institutions, profession (research field) by not taking ethical codes seriously
• To consider how ethical issues relating to Internet research might differ from research in traditional settings.
To help you ‘leave the field [in such as way] that future researchers
are not disadvantaged’(Eynon et al, 2008: 31).
Before we begin…
• Debates on ethical issues – on going!• Internet for social researchers –
opportunities!• Link between ethical issues and research
methods and tools (e.g., social and participatory media)
• Consequences of ignoring ethical codes!
Ethics?
“You owe a duty to yourself as a researcher, as well as to other researchers and to the subjects of and audiences for your research, to exercise responsibility in the processes of data collection, analysis and dissemination” (Blaxter et al, 1996: 146).
(Punch, 2008: 56-57)
Ethical frameworks
Deontological ConsequentialistDoing good without qualification
Doing good with qualification
Not dependent on consequences
Dependent on consequences
Inner sense of duty based on principles
Duty done in terms of consequences
Categorical (imperatives judgments
Conditional or hypothetical judgments
Fig. 9.1 Deontological and consequentialist approaches to ethics (Hart, 2005: p. 280)
Ethical frameworks
Participant as a research subject
Medical sciencesSocial sciences
Protection of the subject (anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent
Participant/poster as an author
Humanities
Copyrights, fair use
(Ess, 2007: pp. 490-91)
Ethics – Stake-holders
• Your institution• Professional associations• Research participants and the wider
population• Profession• The researcher
Ethics – professional associations
The association URL
Economic and Social Research Council, ‘Framework for research ethics
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/about-esrc/information/research-ethics.aspx
British Sociological Association, Statement of Ethical Practice
http://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/27107/StatementofEthicalPractice.pdf
Social Research Association (SRA), Ethical Guidelines
http://www.the-sra.org.uk/documents/pdfs/ethics03.pdf
British Psychological Society (BPS), Ethics and Standards
http://www.bps.org.uk/what-we-do/ethics-standards/ethics-standards
British Educational Research Association, Ethics and Educational Research
http://www.bera.ac.uk/category/keywords/ethics
American Sociological Association, Code of Ethics
http://www.asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm
South African?
Activity 1
A review of main data collection methods, distinguishing features, and their ethical
implications
[5 mins]
ResearchingMethods (offline and online)
Questn’res Interviews Observations Documents Other?
learning and teaching (f2f,
correspondence)
Printed F2F in physical settings
Paper ?
Online Q Skype Int. ? ? ?
online learning and
teaching
Printed F2F -- Paper ?
Online Q Skype Int. Virtual ethnography
Web content analysis
Learning Analytics
Internet in the context of online research[2 mins]
In social science research Examples from educational research?
A major data resource
A lens through which to observe the subjects of research (and how they construct their identities and communities online)
A tool for gathering and analysing social science data on a large scale MOOCs
A laboratory for the social sciences [a bit like astronomers using an observatory to study the sky]
i-Spot, Galaxy Zoo
Mechanism for communicating and collaborating with a distributed community of peer researchers (e.g., Facebook Twitter [TB’s session]
(Eynon et al., 2008)
Three main approaches to gathering internet-based data
Approach Data collection methods used Examples
1. Online methods to gather data directly from individuals
surveys, interviews, focus groups, documents (artefacts)
Pelicans, MOOSE
2. Analysing online interaction within virtual environments
Participant observation, logging and visualising interactions among participants.
Media and Comm dissertation project
3. Large-scale analysis of online domains
Emerging! Capture and analysis of digital traces that people leave online (patterns of their search behaviour, text analysis of emails, and hyperlinks)
Learning Analytics MOOCs
(Eynon et al., 2008)
Ethical issues associated with three approaches
(Eynon et al., 2008)
(1). Using online methods to gather data directly from individuals
• Online versions of traditional methods. What are they?
• Different ethical challenges to f2f context(Mann, 2003)
• Ethical challenges?– Difficult to assess the risk to participants, reactions to questions– Confidentiality and anonymity– Informed consent– Words much stronger when written down, permanent records, [stuff
on episodic interviews [reference]
(2). Analysing online interactions on the Web
• Examples? discussion boards / forums, chat rooms, 3D multi user virtual environments (eg. Second Life), online gaming environments.
• Is online environment public, private or even a ‘third place’ (Oldenburg, 1989)
• How might we treat the interactions occur in a VLE?
• [disclosing identity as a researcher]
(3). Large-scale analysis of the online medium
– Possibilities for gathering ‘powerful data … from the surveillance of online populations’ (Eynon et al, 2008: 31).
– ‘Recording, reproducing, and analyzing interactions, especially covertly, are more powerful’ than it is the case with off line world (ibid, p. 31).
– Learning Analytics, Google Analytics.– Ethical issues:
• Methodological (e.g., discourse analysis)
Here is a question!
• You are the tutor / teacher / lecturer, and you are researching your students’ learning. Should you disclose your identity as a researcher?
And another one!
• If you are a blogger or tweeter, and you observe some interesting stuff that fits into your on-going research (and maybe your book). And you might write about that observation later on. Should you have disclosed your identity as a ‘researcher’?
An activity (in pairs, 3s or groups) based on four ethical principles [20 minutes]
Activity 2
Four main areas of ethical principles
(Diener and Crandall, 1978, in Bryman, 2008, p. 118)
The Activity (in pairs, 3s or small groups)
[20 minutes]
What might be the source of ethical concern?
the research question
the sample
the choice of methods (e.g., rationale for the choice of methods not clear, appropriateness of the method, how it is going to be implemented)
Other
1. Harm to participantsPotential problems Examples and implications
Physical harm
Harm to participants development
Loss of self-esteem
Stress
(Diener and Crandall (1978: 19)
2. Informed consentPotential problems Examples and implications
Making sure participants have opportunity clarify their questions
Digital signatures?
Getting informed consent from participants from an online community (e.g., a MOOC)
3. Invasion of privacyPotential problems Examples and implications
Search and download history
Potential access to information that can be harmful for peers
……
?
4. DeceptionExamples of harm to participants
Could this be the case
Revealing your identity as a researcher
The duration of participation (realistic!)
…
….
….
?
The worksheet to be distributed among the participants
Next three slides
• Two brief descriptions of the research projects to be reviewed by participants– Project 1: Dissertation research and supervision
with technology [DiReSTe]– Research Project 2: DUCKLING project
Project 1: Dissertation research and supervision with technology [DiReSTe]
Project 1: Dissertation research and supervision with technology [DiReSTe]
Research Project 2: DUCKLING project
Responses from the participants
A checklist of information to be included in an informed consent form
• Outline of the purpose of the project• Notification to the participants that:
– Participation is voluntary– Participants free to refuse to answer any of the questions (if interviews) – They could withdraw from the study at any time– They could withdraw their data within [specify the time] of the interview /
participation– interview would be recorded– nobody but the researcher and the supervisors would listen to the interview– small sections might be heard by a few others– transcribed but all identifying information would be removed– parts of the interview might be used in the research publication(s)– sign the form to confirm their consent(Bryman, 2008: 123-24)
Concluding remarks
• Planning the research so that you can ‘leave the field [in such as way] that future researchers are not disadvantaged’ (Eynon et al, 2008: 31)
• Other take-home messages from the session…
ReferencesEss, C. (2007) Internet Research Ethics. In Joinson, A. N. et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eynon, R., Fry, J., & Schroeder, R. (2008) The Ethics of Internet Research. In Fielding, N. G., Lee, R. M. & Blank, G. (eds) (2008) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: Sage.
Fielding, N. G., Lee, R.M. & Blank, G. (eds) (2008) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: Sage. Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods. 3rd Edn. Oxford: OUP. Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. & Tight, M. (1996) How to research. Buckingham: Open University Press. Punch, K, F. (2008) Developing effective research proposals. 2nd Edn. London: Sage. Mann, C. (2003) Generating data online: ethical concerns and challenges for the C21 researcher. In Thorseth, M. (ed) Applied Ethics in Internet Research, pp.31-49. Trondheim: NTNU Publications Series No. 1. Oldenburg, R. (1989) The Great Old Place, New York: Marlowe and Co. Diener, E. & Crandall, R. (1978) Ethics in Social and Behavioural Research, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lee, R.M., Fielding, N. & Blank, G. (2008) The Internet as a Research Medium: An Editorial Introduction to The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. In N. Fielding, R. M. Lee. & G. Blank (eds) (2008). The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, pp. 3-20. London: Sage.
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