blurring the boundaries? ethical challenges in using social media for social science research
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Blurring the Boundaries? Ethical challenges in using social media for social science research
Kandy WoodfieldDirector of Learning
Blurring the boundaries? Social media have blurred the boundaries, leading to a set of linked challenges for researchers: Methodological (volume, scale, nature of data) Collaborative (trans/cross disciplinary teams) Ethical & legal (privacy, ownership, control, power
relations) Capability (requires new skills, tools, frameworks,
infrastructure) Contextual (understanding ‘the social world’) Synthesis (how do new methods supplant, enhance,
augment?)
New Social Media, New Social Science?
InnovationCollaboration
InspirationFresh
thinking Network of methodological innovation Funded by ESRC (via NCRM) initially Now in its third year, self-funded, peer
led, network leads @
Affiliate organisations from academia, govt and voluntary sector
Aims of the networkInnovation
CollaborationInspiration
Fresh thinking On & off line community of practice
Forge links across sectors & disciplines Catalyse debate Address challenges social media present for social
science research Share approaches, tools & experiences of using social
media Identify good practice Co-created content & guidance to be shared with the
wider community
How it works?
Range of platforms Twitter: @NSMNSS, #NSMNSS Blog:
http://nsmnss.blogspot.co.uk/ You Tube:
www.youtube.com/user/NSMNSS
Conferences Knowledge exchange
events Methodological
projects Publishing
InnovationCollaboration
InspirationFresh thinking
Over 18,000minutes of
video watched
3 0nline seminars
2 conferences
7 knowledge exchange seminars
17 twitter chats
140 blog posts
So far…
3,900+ video
views on You Tube
160, 207 blog page views
Ethical guidelines reviewed Social media users &
researcher’s views explored Crowd-sourced, book of blogs
What have we learnt about social media for research? Social media used in most soc sci
disciplines Lots of innovation but disciplinary
silos & divides do still exist and are counter-productive to moving social media methodology(ies) forward
No single methodology for social media research – many approaches, many tools, different epistemological stances
Social media is a fast moving world, platforms, data and users change = computational, ethical and capability challenges
New social media, new social science and new ethical issues! Salmon, J. 2013 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1-gmLw9jo6fLTQ5X0oyeE1aRjQ/edi
What have we learnt? II
Persisting uncertainty about whether we are ‘getting it right’
Ethical dilemmas - lack of consistent, relevant guidance, widely varying practices: ‘analogue ethics in a digital age’
What are the big issues? Avoiding the emperor’s new clothes Understanding differences between
aggregated ‘big data’ and qualitative socme data
Lack of research with users of social media Lack of engagement with commercial
platforms
Elizabeth A. Buchanan, Endowed Chair in Ethics, University of Wisconsin
Ethically unique?
Social media data is: Malleable & ‘mashable’ – created by
many, invented and reinvented Track-able Mineable Greasy - travels across platforms &
borders
New social media, new social science and new ethical issues! Salmon, J. 2013 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1-gmLw9jo6fLTQ5X0oyeE1aRjQ/edi
Key ethical issues?
Privacy & anonymity of participants
Sampling & recruitment
Informed consent
Researcher identity, rapport & relationships
User-generated content (text & images) as data
Date ownership
& data security
What is public & private?What is your responsibility as a researcher?Do ethics differ between ‘public’ platforms/spaces & ‘walled gardens’?What does informed consent look like?Is it wrong if I lurk and observe?
Twitter chats
Qualitative research exploring: How people curate their
digital lives What they understand about
how their online information is used
What they think about their information and posts being used by researchers and in online social media research project?
Exploring social media users views
Beninger, K. et al (2014)
http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/282288/p0639-research-using-social-media-report-final-190214.pdf
Using social media
Used for leisure, social and professional reasons
Familiarity with the platform
Peer activity
Device mobility
Accessibility
Frequency of use
Views about researchCan/do users distinguish between
academics using their data &
government or commercial orgs?
Privacy in SM research
Problematic for researchers &
participants Is the space seen as private by its users?
Are they aware they are being observed? What is the researcher’s role?
Is everything what it seems? Are users who they claim to be? Does it
matter? How do researchers ensure participants are anonymous? IP addresses are (usually) traceable Tweets may contain identifiers … Twitter metadata contains geotags etc.
Informed consent
Terms & conditions of data use may require certain steps
Morally required even if T&Cs state it’s public/reusable?
What about bots/age/capacity? Difficult to verify w/out informed consent
Promotes trust Verify user views haven’t changed, been deleted,
the ‘right to be forgotten’ To publish photos or imagery
Terms of service
Who owns the data created in a social networking site? Facebook claims the rights to any data collected
from applications (including surveys) created within it:
Jaquith (2009): “Facebook’s definition of data ownership does not include the right to export that
data. It’s “mine,” so long as I leave it under Facebook’s control”
Twitter upholds the tweeters IP, insisting you use their Twitter handle and verbatim when quoting in publications
What does this mean in practice?
Twitter Best Practices for Media publication
Show name, @username, unmodified Tweet text and the Twitter bird nearby, as well as a timestamp
If displaying Tweets, make sure they are real, from legitimate accounts and that you have permission from the author when necessary
Real tension with research ethics & anonymity21
Recruitment & Data Collection
Using data posted online
Digital identities & risks for users Who has a right to privacy online? Exclusion of particular groups – whose voice,
whose stories? Even data pools are made up of human
individuals – with geo tags and strong views, distinctive characteristics revivification of identity can be possible
Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s ethical
What does this mean in practice?Collecting qualitative data from users on
socialmedia: Pull rather than push recruitment – attract to
you, caveat -calls for participation can get modified, amended
Approach gatekeepers of communities Be transparent and open about your researcher
role (if doing ethnography, observation) Think about informed consent process –
conversations online draw in other users inadvertently what about their consent
Informed consent needs to be a process, not a one off
24
Researcher identity & wellbeing
Not mentioned by users but researchers were concerned about…
Their own digital identity & footprint
Impact on research outcomes Managing communication w.
participants – safety and disclosure
Credibility and transparency
Analysis & presentation of data
Analysis Third Party Software – who controls the sample,
the feed, owns the data How much is too much? Perils of network
analysis… Validity and representativenessPresentation Traceability of participant data - anonymity
short & long term implications for participants Terms of usage – Twitter and Facebook controls on how
to display data and posts Journals differ in their approach to use of verbatim
posts
Researchers
Is SM the right methodology for your research Q? Don’t make assumptions Review case studies and existing researchRecruitment:
• Transparency in materials
• Learn about privacy terms of the platform used
Collecting/generating data:
• Considering implications of legally permitted vs. intellectual property
• Acknowledge limits of accessing different user types, population groups
Reporting results:
• Test traceability of data, and paraphrase or remove handle
• Reasonably seek consent for use of verbatim/sensitive content
What have we learnt? III‘Getting it right’ is also about methodological quality: What is a robust sample from Twitter or
Facebook? Need to develop methodological courage
and confidence to defend the method Need new quality frameworks?
Scepticism and cynicism persist Digital literacy & methodological skills
gaps Lack of experience and understanding in
institutions, ethics boards and funders
Resolving ethical dilemmas requires “holistic” approach engaging views of many disciplines
Research ethics is one
tile in mosaic of
technological, political,
cultural & individual
complexity
Cultural competencies & flexibility needed when dealing with
multicultural participants
Need for ‘standardization’ of REC approaches?
Social media are plural, no single methods
– ethics decisions must be
context and method specific
Encouragement for researchers
to publish methods/
ethical case studies, failures
& successes
Some final observations…
Multi-disciplinary, multi-method approaches to research ethics are needed, while respecting the influence of disciplinary codes
Ongoing development & dialogue is needed approaches will evolve with changes in tech & usage – static codes won’t work
Must engage those who teach, review & supervise
Continue to support discussion of ethical issues / case studies
Need to start a dialogue about ethics with the software houses
We’re not there yet
.
Thank you!If you want further information or would like to contact the network:
http://nsmnss.blogspot.co.uk/
@nsmnss on Twitter
Kandy can be contacted via LinkedIn or @jess1ecat