Field Research

[Leila Monaghan]

As Chad is the SLA website "Digital Content Editor" he is the most official
person around here and his advice sounds very sensible.  You might want to
develop a tag for your messages that briefly explains your project, which I
think is great.

As I started the list in 1994, I can probably help you with history
questions if you have any.

And say hi to Christina for us!

Leila
Leila.Monaghan at gmail.com


On Thursday, January 26, 2012, Chad Nilep <nilep at ilas.nagoya-u.ac.jp> wrote:
> 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.
>

-- 
Leila Monaghan, PhD
Department of Anthropology
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming