BrainFail, let me count the ways

[slashpine]

The list below notes some of the huge issues and challenges posed by online research, in contrast to more traditional social research venues. It's from a working document of the AOIR, Association of Internet Researchers (I'm a member; Ithiliana is; other fans probably are, too).

Note the relevance of each item to research in fandom, and especially to the recent pseudo-survey-science.

Congratulations, Dr. Ogas! You have answered each challenge with a FAIL.

1. greater risk to individual privacy and confidentiality because of greater accessibility of information about individuals, groups, and their communications - and in ways that would prevent subjects from knowing that their behaviors and communications are being observed and recorded (e.g., in a large-scale analysis of postings and exchanges in a USENET newsgroup archive, in a chatroom, etc.);
2. greater challenges to researchers because of greater difficulty in obtaining informed consent;
3. greater difficulty of ascertaining subjects' identity because of use of pseudonyms, multiple online identities, etc.
4. greater difficulty in discerning ethically correct approaches because of a greater diversity of research venues (private e-mail, chatroom, webpages, etc.)
5. greater difficulty of discerning ethically correct approaches because of the global reach of the media involved - i.e., as CMC engages people from multiple cultural (and legal) settings.

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_ess.html