Field Research

[Chad Nilep]

Kathryn Beaver,

Regarding the issue of obtaining consent, I think that distributed emails from the list can be considered public behavior, in which case you probably do not require informed consent to analyze them. On the other hand, it is a good ethical practice to inform people that you are observing their public behavior and to allow individuals to object or to request, for example, that their emails not be analyzed. The email you've sent to the list is a good first step in this regard; repeated mention of the project in future messages to the list may also be appropriate given the fluid nature of such lists. That is, people may join the list later so repeated mention of your project can make them aware of what you are doing.

If you plan to interview individuals or to observe other "non-public" behavior, then individual informed consent becomes more important, but identifying and interacting with the individuals in question also becomes clearer.

Best of luck with your project,
Chad Nilep

-----元のメッセージ-----
差出人: Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group [mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org] 代理人 Kathryn Beaver
送信日時: Friday, January 27, 2012 9:20 AM
宛先: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
件名: [LINGANTH] Field Research

Hello All!  I am an undergraduate student at the University of North Texas, and an Anthropology major (one day hoping to get my PhD in LingAnth).  I am currently taking a course on the Anthropology of Virtual Communication in which I must conduct fieldwork on a group using a form of virutal communication.  I have subscribed to this listserv for a while, and thought who better to observe and study than those I most wish to emulate.  However, I am not sure who to contact regarding the basic information I need to submit my initial proposal to my instructor (ie size of membership).  I am also enlisting your help in finding an appropriate means of obtaining consent to conduct my research.  I will be employing traditional Anthropological methodology such as participant observation and surveys/interviews.  I should say that most of my classmates are focused on the area of gaming, however I thought it would be much more beneficial to study those directly involved or interested in Anthropology.  The research will not start immediately, as I have yet to submit my application to the IRB, but will be initiated soon.  Any and all help will be happily accepted.  Thanks in advance for hearing me out!  Have a great day!

Kathryn Beaver

P.S. The instructor's name is Dr. Christina Wasson, in case anyone wishes to check the validity of the study.