Field Research

[Miller, Laura]

In the long run, it isn't worth the problems or frictions one creates at your school to ignore local expectations just because we know we are right and can justify it. Let your local IRB waste their time making sure your project is exempt. Most schools have a requirement that you let them decide on this. If you ignore it some mean-spirited people can use your behavior against you in your career at that institution. There are many aspects of university life that are not logical.
________________________________
From: Claire Bowern [clairebowern at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 10:10 AM
To: Miller, Laura
Cc: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Field Research

OK, but ultimately your IRB is charged with complying with the "Common Rule", and I just gave you the resources to provide a clear argument why this project does not fall under the legal definition of research, and is therefore not subject to IRB review.

On Friday, January 27, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Miller, Laura wrote:

At universities where I have worked they required all anthropologists to file IRB for ANY fieldwork or research project, regardless of federal definitions. I wanted to make the point that we also have local rules in place that we may not want to ignore.

________________________________
From: Claire Bowern [clairebowern at gmail.com<mailto:clairebowern at gmail.com>]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 10:02 AM
To: Miller, Laura
Cc: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<mailto:LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Subject: Re: Field Research

This isn't exemption, it's not subject to review in the first place (they are different). Just like you don't have to ask an IRB's permission to go to the library to read archival materials (doesn't fall under their purview), or you don't have to ask them permission to learn a language online. Now, if you aren't absolutely sure that something doesn't come under the legal definition of "research", it's better to ask, because if it does and you don't have approval, that's a problem.
Claire

On Friday, January 27, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Miller, Laura wrote:

A problem is that even when we know our research is exempt, many universities still require us to file an IRB asking for exempt status. In other words, we are not supposed to make the determination about whether our research is exempt or not.

________________________________________
From: Linguistic Anthropology Discussion Group [LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>] on behalf of Claire Bowern [clairebowern at GMAIL.COM<mailto:clairebowern at GMAIL.COM>]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 9:50 AM
To: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<mailto:LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Subject: Re: Field Research

A key point here is the Common Rule requirement for "intervention" in the legal definition of research - if you're observing people doing what they normally do, and not collecting personally identifiable information about them, the project doesn't come under the legal definition of research and is therefore not subject to review. See http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.html for more information.
Claire (LSA Ethics committee former chair)

On Friday, January 27, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Matthew Bernius wrote:

On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 7:43 PM, Chad Nilep <nilep at ilas.nagoya-u.ac.jp (mailto:nilep at ilas.nagoya-u.ac.jp)>
wrote:

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.



>From my own experience doing similar research, I second Chad's comment.

The general way that I've handled this with IRB in the past is to argue
that publicness, on the internet, is tied to the requirements necessary to
view or join the conversation. Any content that can be accessed via a
standard search should be considered public. In the case of other forms of
electronically mediated exchange which are not necessarily archived (such
as chatrooms and listservs), publicness can be determined by the joining
requirements. If, for example, there is no membership process other than
the creation of an email address, which can be freely acquired, then the
space could be argued to be simiiliar to any other public space. The
"openness" of membership, combined with the explicit understanding that the
medium in question, the mailing list, is explicitly one-to-many, makes a
list-serve like this one more-or-less public.

On the other hand, if membership to this list was curated or there were
additional joining requirements or any other practices that suggest a
heightened degree of privacy, then things get a lot more muddy in terms of
permissions.

BTW, Kathryn I see that you (or your professor) refer to this sort of work
as "virtual" communications. I'd urge you to, in your studies, reflect on
that term as none of the communication that takes place on this list is
"virtual" in the commonly accepted sense -- i.e. simulated. I've found its
much more helpful to think about it in terms of mediation.

Good luck!

- Matt

-----------------------------
Matthew Bernius
PhD Student | Cultural Anthropology | Cornell University |
http://anthropology.cornell.edu
mBernius at gMail.com | http://www.mattbernius.com | @mattBernius
My calendar: http://bit.ly/hNWEII