Well this is it folks - the last time I write in this blog for Dr. G. Tonight was the last night of class - literally. It was the last class meeting for the course as well as the last class I have to officially take. Now (in the words of Andy Famigletti), I am facing down the barrel of my dissertation (and prelims and dissertation proposal, all of which come first).
So what did I think about tonight's class? We met in SL again, but this time with a group discussing ethical research. Some of the ERG members were there as were quite a few new names and digital faces. The question up for discussion was from a person in New Zealand whose IRB is requesting that he gets RL signatures from the individuals he is researching in SL. Seems like an odd request to me and shows that this IRB has little understanding of life in SL. Since so many people use SL on the basis of anonymity, how are he expected to get those RL signatures? Why won't a digital consent form work?
This led to a discussion of what is meant by ethical research in the context of SL. One of the participants mentioned that even though avatar names are not necessarily reflective of RL name, there could be RL consequences if that avatar's name is used in the research. In other words, the research gets published and a SL user reads it then decides to look up this avatar. This could result in a variety of outcomes including the avatar being harassed, etc. In addition, even though SL has acceptable use guidelines, there is still that possibility of an adverse outcome.
My question then is "What happens in a RL ethnography? Do the people need to give consent. I am assuming so, but can they ask to not be identified in the research or require that a pseudonym be used? If so, why couldn't the same procedure occur here? It seems that if the subjects click on an 'Accept" button, they know that they are being observed anyway, so why not ask for a hard copy signature? I realize that the context may vary, and the type of question being asked may cause some people to decline any type of identification. It's a matter of trust. But if it is possible to get RL signatures, why not try? The worst thing that can happen is that the researcher is denied, but proof can be offered to the IRB that getting these signatures is too difficult, possibly swaying them to try another avenue. In addition, it is important to talk with other researchers to find out their IRB policies regarding SL and use that as ammunition to request a change in policy.
Those are pretty much my thoughts at this point. I may use this blog in the future as a gathering place for my thoughts on prelims and my dissertation. Until then - TTFN.
