Ethical Confusion when Studying the Web

One area of the research process which has struck me as being in need of refinement for studying the Web is the procedure for obtaining ethical approval. Specifically, the ethics of using a social network such as Twitter as a data source for a study.

A general ethics application procedure for a project may question whether the study involves human participants, and if so, whether it will collect “personal data” (data which could potentially identify a participant). Often, it is assumed that if there are no human participants, then personal data will not be collected. If there are humans participating, then issues revolving around sensitive data, risk of harm, deception, consent, and right to withdraw become significant. This makes sense for a psychological lab experiment, for example. For a study on the Web, this causes great confusion.

My Thoughts on Google+

One of the great things about studying the Web is that you can sign up for new social networks and feel like its justified in your quest to understand the Web’s development. I would have signed up for Google+ regardless of whether I was studying Web Science or not, but doing so means that I don’t feel like I’m wasting time trying out something which basically just replicates the features of other services I use, and instead it has got me thinking about the potential disruption it could cause to the current ecosystem of social networks.