Ethical Dilemmas Using Social Media in Qualitative Social Research: A Case Study of Online Participant Observation

Hennell, Kath; Piacentini, Maria; Limmer, Mark

doi:10.1177/1360780419888933

Cited by 28 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…We build on prior work that recommends researchers take reflexive, context-oriented approaches when using social media data (e.g., Franzke, Bechmann, Zimmer, Ess, & Association of Internet Researchers, 2020; Hennell, Limmer, & Piacentini, 2020; Williams, Burnap, & Sloan, 2017). For researchers struggling with questions of how to use social media data in research, our analysis provides some guiding data on participant concerns and comfort to shape inquiry.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Americans’ Comfort With Research Uses of Their Social Media Data

Gilbert

Vitak

Shilton

2021

Social Media + Society

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Research using online datasets from social media platforms continues to grow in prominence, but recent research suggests that platform users are sometimes uncomfortable with the ways their posts and content are used in research studies. While previous research has suggested that a variety of contextual variables may influence this discomfort, such factors have yet to be isolated and compared. In this article, we present results from a factorial vignette survey of American Facebook users. Findings reveal that researcher domain, content type, purpose of data use, and awareness of data collection all impact respondents’ comfort—measured via judgments of acceptability and concern—with diverse data uses. We provide guidance to researchers and ethics review boards about the ways that user reactions to research uses of their data can serve as a cue for identifying sensitive data types and uses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Americans’ Comfort With Research Uses of Their Social Media Data

Gilbert

Vitak

Shilton

2021

Social Media + Society

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“…Halford (2017) noted several tensions between social media research and formal ethical procedures. Hennell et al (2019) discuss the complex ethical issues involved in the collection of SMD and suggest that researchers maintain a continuous dialogue with relevant ethics committees and other researchers. € Ozkula (2020) believed that one of the central concerns in research ethics in recent years has been how to use the vast amount of data on social media platforms in accordance with ethical norms.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining factors of participants' attitudes toward the ethics of social media data research

Cui

Chen

2021

OIR

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PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the participants' attitudes toward the ethical issues caused by collecting social media data (SMD) for research, as well as the effects of familiarity, trust and altruism on the participants' attitudes toward the ethics of SMD research. It is hoped that through this study, scholars will be reminded to respect participants and engage in ethical reflection when using SMD in research.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted social media users as its research subjects and used Sina Microblog, the world's largest Chinese social media platform, as the example. Based on the 320 valid responses collected from a survey, structural equation modeling was employed to examine the research model.FindingsThe results indicated that altruism, familiarity and trust have significant influences on participants' attitudes toward the ethics of SMD research, and familiarity also influences attitudes through the mediating role of trust and altruism.Originality/valueThis study explored the mechanism underlying the relationship between the determining factors and participants' attitudes toward the ethics of SMD research, and the results demonstrated that the informed consent mechanism is an effective way to communicate with participants and that the guiding responsibility of the platform should be improved to standardize SMD research.

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“…There are also new forms of research which have become very popular over recent years and are difficult to reconcile with informed consent and conventional codes of ethics. These are autoethnography (Ellis, 2004;Jones, Adams, & Ellis, 2016) and online research (Calvey, 2017;Hennell, Limmer, & Piacentini, 2020). In autoethnography, scholars recount events from their own lives in detail and then critically analyse them.…”

Section: Autoethnography and Online Research: Two Research Methodologies That Are Difficult To Reconcile With Overt Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Covert Research Ethics

Marzano¹

2021

Ethical Issues in Covert, Security and Surveillance Research

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Covert research has a mixed reputation within the scientific community. Some are unsure of its moral worth, others would proscribe it entirely. This reputation stems largely from a lack of knowledge about the reasons for choosing the covert method. In this chapter, these reasons will be reconstructed in detail and all the elements that will allow one to judge the level of ethicality of covert research will be laid out for the reader. In particular, the chapter will answer the following questions: What harms can result from covert research to the subjects participating in the research? Is covert research necessarily deceptive? In which cases is it ethically permissible for a researcher to deceive? What is the scientific added value of the covert research, that is, what does covert research discover that overt research does not? What are the risks to researchers acting undercover? Finally, some suggestions will be offered to research ethics reviewers to help in their appraisal of covert research.

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Ethical Dilemmas Using Social Media in Qualitative Social Research: A Case Study of Online Participant Observation

Cited by 28 publications

References 63 publications

Measuring Americans’ Comfort With Research Uses of Their Social Media Data

Measuring Americans’ Comfort With Research Uses of Their Social Media Data

Determining factors of participants' attitudes toward the ethics of social media data research

Covert Research Ethics

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