My presentation at Ecrea 2012 on research ethics and online research as a specific form of computer-mediated communication (please comment :)

1. Online-Based Research as
Computer-Mediated Communication
Insights from Online Communication Ethics
Nele Heise, M. A.
ECREA 2012, 4th European Communication Conference
October 26, 2012, Istanbul

2. :: Background ::
Master thesis on internet research ethics (2010-2011)
• qualitative interviews with 17 German internet researchers
• application of ethical standards not problematic with conventional
methods
• problems and insecurities occur with genuine online methods (e.g.
avatar-based research), new research objects (e.g. social networks)
and/or due to new practices (e.g. publication vs. conversation)
Arising conflicts due to breaches of norms or standards of
online communication?
Heise | Online Research Ethics 2

3. Online research as [Computer-mediated] Communication
Ziegaus (2009): “dependence of social sciences of their media”
• Social science research relies on communication, social
scientists establish communicative relations
• these relations depend on mutual role expectations and
(technical, social and physical) media
Preconditions of online based research
• (spatial and temporal) de-contextualization
• Disembodiment, virtualization (textuality)
• informational constraints: degree of social presence, anonymity
Heise | Online Research Ethics 3

4. “Hybridity” of online research contexts
• ethical standards of research
• technical / methodological requirements of research
Researcher role • research experience / practices
• technical & social frames of media practices
• characteristics of online communication
hybrid role • terms of use, rights of the providers
• individual ethical argumentation
• fidelity & responsibility
User role • principles of communication ethics
• rules of media use (e.g. netiquettes)
• individual media literacy/competence
Heise | Online Research Ethics 4

5. Ethical principles of online communication
Wolff (2007) Beck (2010)
“Personalität” Comprehensibility
Reciprocity Rightness
Authenticity Thruth
Truthfulness Truthfulness
Heise | Online Research Ethics 5

6. Ethical Principles & Research Practice
Comprehensibility
• mutual understanding (language & culture) as a basic prerequiste of
communication  online based research with kids & teens or the
understanding of specific user cultures (e.g. online gamers), net
competence
“Personalität”
• recognition of the personhood of others, prohibition of
objectification, respecting the communication partner as “an end in
itself” (human dignity)  perception of research participants as
„incoming datasets“; texts vs. actors
Heise | Online Research Ethics 6

7. Ethical Principles & Research Practice
Truth & Truthfulness
• congruency of saying and reality & obligation to speak the truth;
complete and true information about identity and communication
aims/goals, otherwise: failure of communication  informational
constraints for verification (data, user accounts etc.) and
identification/authentication; “visibility" of researchers and
disclosure of research (e.g. “fake profiles”)
Reciprocity
• mutuality of communication
Heise | Online Research Ethics 7

8. Ethical Principles & Research Practice
“As a participant I have greater autonomy (…) so I can leave situations
easier that are unpleasant for me. On the other hand, I am cut off of
information. (…) as a participant I have to trust a bit more, because the
setting might be harder to grasp. If I go to an experiment at a university and
the door sign of the person that invited me says ‘Mr./Ms. X’, also I can see in
which department this takes place (…) so, there I have more hints pointing
to the seriousness of the research. On the internet, this is harder to
understand. Also, it is easier to pretend things or to give false facts. (…).
There is a bigger informational insecurity for participants. At the same
time, they have a greater scope for actions and can drop off more easily
than in a f2f-situation.”
[media psychologist, online games research]
Heise | Online Research Ethics 8

9. Ethical Principles & Research Practice
Authenticity
• to act as you yourself, undisguised and be open-minded, but:
selective authenticity to safeguard privacy  shifting boundaries of
privacy & publicity (data, practices) as well as private and
professional life, and equivalency of context
Rightness or “Richtigkeit”
• Access to online “spaces”
• Recruitment of participants
• Ambivalence of methods (data mining, log file analysis, profiling)
Heise | Online Research Ethics 9

10. Ethical Principles & Research Practice
“it is not just (…) a technology, an infrastructure, which is simply there.
Instead, we are appropriating it and it has a specific meaning for us. If you
are going to MySpace you do different things than on Facebook (…) these
are very different spaces or Lebenswelten, with different functions and
meanings. Once you acknowledge that (…) we as researchers have to take a
certain position: not to sniff around and observe everything because it is
easily accessible, but instead to be aware of the fact that these spaces are
made by people for themselves. (…) Although it is easily technically
accessible in principle.”
[doctoral student, visual analysis of self-representation in SNS]
Heise | Online Research Ethics 10

11. Ethical Principles & Research Practice
“At the very moment at which I'm registered, I accept the rules of the
community, and agree that I will follow them. (…) Not I as a researcher
define: what I am doing, what I'm citing or publishing is unproblematic, no
problem. The complete opposite is true: the group sets the boundaries. (…)
I as a researcher have a kind of ‘Holschuld’, a duty to obtain their consent.”
[research assistant, online observational analysis]
“as social scientists, working with media users, we all know that media
usage is not always rational. I cannot assume that (…) it is a conscious
decision if someone is not using his/her privacy settings. (…) You must give
the users some credit, because you cannot take for granted that you can
use it, only because it is not secured.“
[research assistant, online games research]
Heise | Online Research Ethics 11

12. Some final remarks
• Online communication ethics as a chance to carry out ethical
research in a very dynamic field
• Relevance of online communication ethics due to the ‘hybrid role’
as researcher/user, e.g. selective authenticity to avoid privacy
conflicts
• Implications: prospective approach to ethical consideration,
reflection of communicative settings and strategies, integration in
teaching and methodological discourse
Heise | Online Research Ethics 12

13. Thanks* for your attention!
Nele Heise, M. A.
Hans Bredow Institute, Hamburg
n.heise@hans-bredow-institut.de
@neleheise
http://de.slideshare.net/garneleh
* My ECREA 2012 participation is kindly funded by the DAAD

14. References
AoIR (ethics working committee) (2002). Ethical decision-making and Internet research: recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee. Retrieved
from: www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf (April 30, 2012).
Beck, K. (2010). Ethik der Online-Kommunikation. In W. Schweiger & K. Beck (Eds.), Handbuch Online-Kommunikation (pp. 130-155). Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.
Donk, A. (2010). The sciences they are a-changing: Wie das Internet das Sozialsystem Wissenschaft verändert. Retrieved from: http://www.lisa.gerda-henkel-
stiftung.de/content.php?nav_id=1237&print=true&sessionid=C3Yvv8f6Ebe-pO3-82iz0EkcW61 (July 14, 2011).
Döring, N.(1999). Sozialpsychologie des Internet: die Bedeutung des Internet für Kommunikationsprozesse, Identitäten, soziale Beziehungen und Gruppen.
Göttingen (u.a.): Hogrefe.
Dzeyk, W. (2001). Ethische Dimensionen der Online-Forschung. Kölner Psychologische Studien 6(1), 1-30. Retrieved from: http://kups.ub.uni-
koeln.de/volltexte/2008/2424/pdf/ethdimon.pdf (January 21, 2011).
Eynon, R., Schroeder, R. & Fry, J. (2009). New Techniques in Online Research. Challenges for Research Ethics. 21st Century Society 4(2), 187-199.
Fenner, D. (2010). Einführung in die Angewandte Ethik. Tübingen: Francke.
Fraas, C., Meier, S. & Pentzold, C. (2012). Online-Kommunikation. Grundlagen, Praxisfelder und Methoden. Wien: Oldenbourg Verl.
Hamilton, R. J. & Bowers, B. J. (2006). Internet Recruitment and E-Mail Interviews in Qualitative Studies. Qualitative Health Research 16(6), 821-835.
McKee, H. & Porter, J. E. (2009). The Ethics of Internet Research. A Rhetorical, Case-Based Process. New York u.a.: Peter Lang.
Nissenbaum, H. (2004). Privacy as contextual integrity. Washington Law Review, 79(1), 119-157.
Sandbothe, M. (1996). Medienethik im Zeitalter des Internet. Telepolis. Die Zeitschrift der Netzkultur 0, 35-48. Retrieved from:
http://www.sandbothe.net/32.html (June 23, 2012).
Schmidt, J. (2009). Braucht das Web 2.0 eine eigene Forschungsethik? Zeitschrift für Kommunikationsökologie und Medienethik 11(2), 38-42.
Taddicken, M. (2009). Die Bedeutung von Methodeneffekten der Online-Befragung: Zusammenhänge zwischen computervermittelter Kommunikation und
Datengüte. In N. Jackob, H. Schoen & T. Zerback (Eds.), Sozialforschung im Internet: Methodologie und Praxis der Online-Befragung (pp. 91-107).
Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.
Vanacker, B. & Heider, D. (2012). Ethical Harms in Virtual Communities. Convergence. The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
18(1), 71-84.
Volst, A. (2003). The Focus Is on Me? – Fokus-Gruppe: Von Face to Face zu Online. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie 28(4), 93-118.
Wolff, O. J. (2007). Kommunikationsethik des Internets: eine anthropologisch-theologische Grundlegung. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač.
Ziegaus, S. (2009): Die Abhängigkeit der Sozialwissenschaften von ihren Medien. Grundlagen einer kommunikativen Sozialforschung. Bielefeld: transcript.

15. What‘s the fuss about?
Dilemmas of Internet Research
• technical feasibility vs. ethical acceptability of research (practices)
• The web as „science laboratory“: Comprehensive logging and storage,
easily accessible archive of communication and interaction processes
• Richness of data (“big data”), ease of field access, better conditions for
specific methods e.g. observational analysis
• Blurring boundaries of publicity and privacy (data, “spaces”)
• De-Contextualization and global reach of Research
• Data (Re-)Combination and anonymization, „Googlization of data“

16. A reminder for Internet Researchers
“There cannot be a blanket, whole cloth approach to Internet Research ethics.
Contextual details matter, including: What, exactly, is the object of analysis of the
study – texts, aggregated bits of information, or the persons themselves? What are
the use expectations of the online site and of the online participants? What is the
sensitivity of the information collected? What are the ages, geo-cultural-political
affiliations, and/or technological expertise of the online participants? In what form
are the researchers collecting data, and in what forms are they re-distributing it? Is
the researcher using real names or real user/avatar names, quoting passages,
taking screenshots, etc.? And where will this material appear and to whom will it
be accessible?”
(McKee & Porter, 2009. pp. 7f.)