scholarly journals E-Ethics and Higher Education: Do Higher Education Challenges Make a Case for a Framework for Digital Research Ethics?

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isla-Kate Morris
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Ethical Guidance ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Education Needs ◽  
Online Methods

Ethical guidance and understanding of research methods in Higher Education needs to catch up with the emerging landscape of internet research (BSA 2002, BPS 2013, Bassett, E and O’Riordan K 2002). The internet has become embedded and has had an impact on research in all domains. However, research practices that deploy online methods are not supported by sufficient ethical guidance (Shapiro, R. B. & Ossorio, P. N. 2013). This paper will aim to contextualise Internet Mediated Research (IMR) methods, consider how Higher Education Institutions are currently providing ethical review and guidance for projects using IMR methods, and explore the gap between the demands of research practice and HE ethical guidance. My paper will demonstrate work in progress to construct an argument for a reframing of research ethics for online research and provide discussion points of what this reframing may be.

scholarly journals Reflections on internet research ethics from language-focused research on web-based mourning: revisiting the private/public distinction as a language ideology of differentiation

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 229-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Korina Giaxoglou
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Language Ideology ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Web Based ◽  
James Wright ◽  
Key Aspects

AbstractThe present article addresses ethical issues and tensions that have arisen in the context of language-focused research on web-based mourning. It renders explicit the process of ethical decision-making in research practice, illustrating key aspects of a process approach to research ethics, which calls for reflection on ethical issues as an integral and dynamic part of the project (Markham and Buchanan 2015. Ethical considerations in digital research contexts. In James Wright (ed.) Encyclopedia for Social & Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier Press. 606–613; Page et al. 2014. Researching Language and Social Media: A student guide. Oxon: Routledge). In addition, the article draws attention to some vexing ethical tensions raised in research practice and, in particular, to the uses of the terms private and public in research ethics frameworks and in discipline-specific discussions. Based on Gal’s (2005. Language ideologies compared: metaphors of public/private. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 15 (1): 23–38) semiotic investigation of the private/public opposition, it is shown how the two categories are used as a language ideology of differentiation that discursively contrasts spaces and forms of emotional communication. It is argued that such metaphorical uses of the terms limit their currency in internet research on language, mourning, and death online, which tends to feature the construction and staging of a public self in semi-public contexts. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the issues raised in language-focused research on web-based mourning for research ethics as method (Markham 2004. Method as ethic, ethic as method. Journal of Information Ethics 15 (2): 37–55) and calls for the critical study of the key concepts that underlie research ethics stances as a key step in rethinking – or ‘undoing’ – ethics (Whiteman 2012. Undoing Ethics: Rethinking Practice in Online Research. London: Springer).

scholarly journals Detecting, Preventing, and Responding to “Fraudsters” in Internet Research: Ethics and Tradeoffs

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer E. F. Teitcher ◽  
Walter O. Bockting ◽  
José A. Bauermeister ◽  
Chris J. Hoefer ◽  
Michael H. Miner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Fraudulent Activity ◽  
Internet Research Ethics

Research that recruits and surveys participants online is increasing, but is subject to fraud whereby study respondents — whether eligible or ineligible — participate multiple times. Online Internet research can provide investigators with large sample sizes and is cost efficient. Internet-based research also provides distance between the researchers and participants, allowing the participant to remain confidential and/or anonymous, and thus to respond to questions freely and honestly without worrying about the stigma associated with their answers. However, increasing and recurring instances of fraudulent activity among subjects raise challenges for researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). The distance from participants, and the potential anonymity and convenience of online research allow for individuals to participate easily more than once, skewing results and the overall quality of the data.

'Guilty knowledge': ethical aporia emergent in the research practice of educational development practitioners

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. F. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Educational Development ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Higher Education Development ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Gain Access

Research into the practice of academics serves to inform higher education development (HED) theory and interventions, and is important for the development of the professional knowledge of the HED practitioner. Through such research HED practitioners gain access to what in another context is referred to as 'guilty knowledge'. The complex ethical and methodological challenges faced by HED researchers 'researching in their own backyard' may often be underestimated or overlooked in research proposals and practice. I propose that Heidegger's conceptualisation of aporia may extend our awareness beyond ethical customs and procedures to the underlying ontological nature of research ethics.

Internet Research Ethics Questions and Considerations

2011 ◽  
pp. 397-402
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Information Ethics ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Parallel Lines ◽  
Online Catalogs ◽  
Internet Research Ethics

The Internet, as a global research phenomenon, has developed along two parallel lines: as a medium for research (e.g., databases, electronic indexes, online catalogs) and as a field or locale of research (e.g., MUDs, MOOs, online communities, Usenet, listservs, blogs, etc.). This article will discuss this second phenomenon, and the ethical implications that arise with such research endeavors, an emerging field known as Internet Research Ethics (IRE). Specifically, this article will call attention to the major areas of online research ethics, while acknowledging that hard-and-fast “answers” to some of the questions are elusive. IRE fits into a larger framework of research and information ethics, both of which have a longer history and more firmly established research base from which to inform this growing field.

scholarly journals Internet research ethics and the policy gap for ethical practice in online research settings

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
Jacqueline G Warrell ◽  
Michele Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Ethics Policy ◽  
Internet Research Ethics

A growing number of education and social science researchers design and conduct online research. In this review, the Internet Research Ethics (IRE) policy gap in Canada is identified along with the range of stakeholders and groups that either have a role or have attempted to play a role in forming better ethics policy. Ethical issues that current policy and guidelines fail to address are interrogated and discussed. Complexities around applying the human subject model to internet research are explored, such as issues of privacy, anonymity, and informed consent. The authors call for immediate action on the Canadian ethics policy gap and urge the research community to consider the situational, contextual, and temporal aspects of IRE in the development of flexible and responsive policies that address the complexity and diversity of internet research spaces.  

A Novel Framework for Reflecting on the Functioning of Research Ethics Review Panels

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Macduff ◽  
Andrew McKie ◽  
Sheelagh Martindale ◽  
Anne Marie Rennie ◽  
Bernice West ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Nursing Education ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Health Care Research ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Review Panel ◽  
Ethics Review ◽  
Research Ethics Review

In the past decade structures and processes for the ethical review of UK health care research have undergone rapid change. Although this has focused users' attention on the functioning of review committees, it remains rare to read a substantive view from the inside. This article presents details of processes and findings resulting from a novel structured reflective exercise undertaken by a newly formed research ethics review panel in a university school of nursing and midwifery. By adopting and adapting some of the knowledge to be found in the art and science of malt whisky tasting, a framework for critical reflection is presented and applied. This enables analysis of the main contemporary issues for a review panel that is primarily concerned with research into nursing education and practice. In addition to structuring the panel's own literary narrative, the framework also generates useful visual representation for further reflection. Both the analysis of issues and the framework itself are presented as of potential value to all nurses, health care professionals and educationalists with an interest in ethical review.

Human research ethics committees members: ethical review personal perceptions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Handal ◽  
Chris Campbell ◽  
Kevin Watson ◽  
Marguerite Maher ◽  
Keagan Brewer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Research Ethics Committees ◽  
Human Research ◽  
Human Research Ethics ◽  
Personal Perceptions

The Digi-Table Method as a Tool for Reflecting on Research Ethics

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. 177-177
Author(s):  
Wim Van Der Molen ◽  
◽  
Els Maeckelberghe ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Scientific Integrity ◽  
Societal Impact ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Review Committee ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Ethical Review Committee

"concepts and processes by means of a digitable. It is a tool for familiarizing users with complicated and complex issues, learning content, and addressing the more methodical aspects didactically. In this project, we have adapted the DTM for reflecting on research ethics, i.c. research with human beings and its ethical requirements and the review by the medical ethical review committee (MREC). A MREC reviews research proposals based on various (ethical) requirements and requires researchers to understand the ethical consequences and societal impact of their research. Before writing their own proposals, it is important for students to know and understand these ethical requirements and the process through which research proposals are reviewed. In order to train this, we prepared the digitable to simulate the review of a research protocol by an MREC and adapted it into an existing assignment on research ethics for master students. The students were informed of our aim and the use of DTM as an educational tool, and asked for consent. We invited them to critically assess the activity and we ensured participation would not influence their grade. The students reported a better understanding of the medical ethical review and felt it would improve their own work. From the educator’s perspective, the quality of argumentation of the review was much improved compared to previous years. The DTM as an educational tool is now a standard element in different master courses on scientific integrity. "

scholarly journals Ethical Regulation and Visual Methods: Making Visual Research Impossible or Developing Good Practice?

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Wiles ◽  
Amanda Coffey ◽  
Judy Robison ◽  
Jon Prosser
Keyword(s):  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Visual Methods ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Visual Research ◽  
Ethical Approval ◽  
The Uk

The ethical regulation of social research in the UK has been steadily increasing over the last decade or so and comprises a form of audit to which all researchers in Higher Education are subject. Concerns have been raised by social researchers using visual methods that such ethical scrutiny and regulation will place severe limitations on visual research developments and practice. This paper draws on a qualitative study of social researchers using visual methods in the UK. The study explored their views, the challenges they face and the practices they adopt in relation to processes of ethical review. Researchers reflected on the variety of strategies they adopted for managing the ethical approval process in relation to visual research. For some this meant explicitly ‘making the case’ for undertaking visual research, notwithstanding the ethical challenges, while for others it involved ‘normalising’ visual methods in ways which delimited the possible ethical dilemmas of visual approaches. Researchers only rarely identified significant barriers to conducting visual research from ethical approval processes, though skilful negotiation and actively managing the system was often required. Nevertheless, the climate of increasing ethical regulation is identified as having a potential detrimental effect on visual research practice and development, in some instances leading to subtle but significant self-censorship in the dissemination of findings.

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