Stranger in a Strange Land : the Stranger in a Strange Land : the issues and challenges of cyber-issues and challenges of cyber-

space researchspace research

Carol HaighCarol HaighProfessor in NursingProfessor in Nursing

Manchester Metropolitan UniversityManchester Metropolitan University

The focus of this presentation will be ……The focus of this presentation will be ……

• To explore the potential of the virtual world to contribute to research

• To debate the effects of cyber space on respondents

• To outline the ethical issues that are inherent within techno-research

Research in cyberspaceResearch in cyberspace

• Cyberspace is a potentially useful tool for nursing research because it is;– Generationally appropriate– Allows for large international samples to be accessed– Cost effective– Speedy responses

• But there are specific issues attached to this new research medium…

RepresentativenessRepresentativeness

• Techno-population

• Use of pseudonyms

• Use of Avatars

Virtual persona Vs Hard’ identity

• Identity of participants

• Disinhibition

Verification issues

• De-brief Interviews

• Plagiarism

Associated issues are ethical concerns …..

Analysis of online informationAnalysis of online information

• Copyright status of WWW information

– Publicly archived information– Password protected archives – Site policy – Topic sensitivity

ConsentConsent• Electronically if participants are >18

– Only if risk is low– Step-by-step online consent form– Safeguard e-consent from accidental erasure– Consent process should not be disruptive

• Parental consent <18– Paper format– Verbal acceptable if risk is low– F2F interview for parental consent for online

interviews with minors

Public versus private conversationsPublic versus private conversations

• Cyberspace defies locality

– Is a chat room a public place?– ‘Public’ and ‘private’ are metaphors in

cyberspace (Waskul,1996)– The act of observing disturbs the observed– Virtual reality pseudonyms are as important

as ‘hard world’ identities

Privacy and ConfidentialityPrivacy and Confidentiality

• More stringent personal data security in EU– Protection in instances where data is shared across

national boundaries (AoIR, 2002)

• Subject identity (Bruckman’s 4 levels of disguise)– No disguise– Light disguise– Moderate disguise– Complete disguise

The ethical layers of cyberspaceThe ethical layers of cyberspace

• Cyberspace is multi layered

• There are different levels of ethical concern attached to each cyber-layer

• Deeper immersion in cyber-reality requires greater complexity of ethical consideration

• Like this….

Level Environment Participant ID

Privacy Data Reliability

Research Methods

Ethical dilemmas

1 Public (e.g. web space)

Accessible real world

ID

None Strong Neutral Superficial

2 Semi-public (e.g. e-mail)

Controlled real world

ID

Light Strong Overt participation

Minimal

3 Semi-private (e.g. listserv)

Accessible virtual world ID

Light moderate

Moderate Overt non-participation

Moderate

4 Private (e.g. Chatroom)

Controlled virtual world ID

Moderate Weak Covert participation

Significant

5 Virtual (role-playing)

Complete virtual world immersion

Heavy Unreliable Covert non-participation

Highly significant

Sources of InformationSources of InformationAssociation of Internet Reserachers (2002) Ethical Decision Making and Internet Research. Recommendations from the AoIR ethic working committee. www.aoir.orgBruckman, A (2002) Ethical guidelines for research online www.cc.gatech.edu/-asb/ethics/Haigh, C Jones, N (2005) An overview of the ethics of cyber-spece research and the implications for nurse educators. Nurse Education Today 25 3-8Waskul, D (1996) Ethics of online research: considerations for the study of computer mediated forms of interaction. http://venus.soci.niu.edu/-jthomas/ethics/tis/go.dennis