1

Internet and Educational Research

Image Geralt at pixabay.com

First used in February 2014

in an MA course

Dr Palitha EdirisinghaInstitute of Learning InnovationUniversity of Leicester105, Princess Road EastLeicester LE1 7LG- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Tel: +44 (0)116 252 3753Mobile: +44 (0)7525 246592Email: pe27@le.ac.uk

Session objectives

1. To raise awareness of the use of Internet for data collection for educational research

2. To be familiar with internet-based tools used for collecting data for educational research

3. To consider links between internet-based data collection methods specific ethical issues

4. To consider how ethical issues relating to Internet research might differ from research in traditional settings.

2

Responses from the class[10 mins]

• Familiarity with / awareness of research projects in which the internet has played some role?

• Familiarity with data collection methods?

• Plans for using the Internet for data collection?

3

Image Geralt at pixabay.com

1. Educational research and the Internet

• The relationship between internet and educational research

• Definition of terms• Internet-mediated

data collection methods

• Rationale for using them

• Issues, ethics4

OpenClips

Caution!‘In thinking about technological innovations in social research, it seems important to steer a path between a number of different positions. Quite obviously one of these is the kind of naïve enthusiasm that is largely a matter of being in thrall to the latest fads. The newness of a method can lead to unthinking application and a distancing of users from the craft aspects of a particular methodological approach. Hine (2005) notes that areas that are new, as the Internet was in the 1990s, tend to attract hype and undiscriminating enthusiasm. One implication here might be that new methods are used, not because they are appropriate to particular situations, but because they are easy, novel and fashionable’

(Lee et al., 2008: 6).

5

Caution!

‘It is important methodologically to assess what we gain and what we lose with any new way of doing things’.

‘Any assessment of Internet methodologies needs to be sober enough to undermine exaggerated claims, but open-minded enough to spot potentially where it exists.’

6(Lee et al., 2008: 6).

Internet in social science research

Examples from / for educational research?

‘A major data resource’ Databases / achieves:http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics)

‘A lens through which to observe the subjects of research and how they construct their identities and communities online’

Leicester Second Life project (MOOSE)

Data that can be obtained from VLEs

Analysis of discussion boards, chatlogs, MOOCs

‘A tool for gathering and analysing social science data on a large scale’

A laboratory for the social sciences [much like astronomers using an observatory to study the sky]

Mechanism for communicating and collaborating with a distributed community of peer researchers (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, blogs)

(Eynon et al., 2008)7

Approaches to gathering internet-based data

Approach Data collection methods used Examples

1. Online methods to gather data directly from individuals

surveys, interviews, focus groups, documents (artefacts)

Pelicans, MOOSE

1. Analysing online interaction within virtual environments

Participant observation, logging and visualising interactions among participants.

Dissertation research project

1. Large-scale analysis of online domains

Emerging! Capture and analysis of digital traces that people leave online (patterns of their search behaviour, text analysis of emails, and hyperlinks)

Learning Analytics MOOCs

(Eynon et al., 2008)8

Researching some aspects of learning / teaching

Methods (offline and online)

Questn’res Interviews Observations Documents Other?

Physical Classroom Printed Q. F2F In physical

settingsPaper-based ?

9

Researching some aspects of learning / teaching

Methods (offline and online)

Questn’res Interviews Observations Documents Other?

Physical Classroom

Printed Q. F2F In physical settings

Paper-based ?

Online Q. Skype ? ? ?

10

Researching some aspects of learning / teaching

Methods (offline and online)

Questn’res Interviews Observations Documents Other?

Physical Classroom

Printed Q. F2FPhysical space / setting

Paper-based ?

Online Q. Skype ? ? ?

Online classroom /

learning

Printed F2F -- Paper ?

11

Researching some aspects of learning / teaching

Methods (offline and online)Questn’res Interviews Observations Documents Other?

Physical Classroom

Printed Q. F2FPhysical space / setting

Paper-based ?

Online Q. Skype ? ? ?

Online classroom /

learning

Printed F2F -- Paper ?

Online Q. Skype Int. Virtual ethnography

Web content analysis

Learning Analytics

12

2. Tools and examples

13

3. Ethical implications

Ethical issues to consider in using internet-based methods for educational research

14

How / why do the ethical issues emerge

Why consider ethical implications?

“You owe a duty to yourself as a researcher, as well as to other researchers and to the subjects of and audiences for your research, to exercise responsibility in the processes of data collection, analysis and dissemination” (Blaxter et al, 1996: 146).

15

To help you ‘leave the field [in such a way] that future researchers are not disadvantaged’

(Eynon et al, 2008: 31).

16

Ethical frameworks

Doing good without qualification

Doing good with qualification

Not dependent on consequences

Dependent on consequences

Inner sense of duty based on principles

Duty done in terms of consequences

Categorical (imperatives judgments)

Conditional or hypothetical judgments

Deontological and consequentialist approaches to ethics (Hart, 2005: p. 280)

17

Deontological Consequentialist

Ethical frameworks

Participant as a research subject

Medical sciencesSocial sciences

Protection of the subject (anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent

Participant/poster as an author

Humanities

Copyrights, fair use

(Ess, 2007: pp. 490-91)

18

Ethics – Stake-holders

• Your institution• Professional associations• Research participants and the wider

population• Profession• The researcher

19

(Punch, 2008: 56-57)20

Internet research methods and ethics

• Debates on ethical issues – on going!• Internet for social researchers –

opportunities!• Link between ethical issues and research

methods and tools (e.g., social and participatory media)

• Consequences of ignoring ethical codes!

21

Ethical issues associated with three approaches

22(Eynon et al., 2008)

(1). Using online methods to gather data directly from individuals

• Online versions of traditional methods. What are they?

• Different ethical challenges to f2f context (Mann, 2003)

23

Ethical challenges?Difficult to assess the risk to participants, reactions to questions

Confidentiality and anonymityInformed consent

Words much stronger when written down, permanent records, …

(2). Analysing online interactions on the Web

• Examples? discussion boards / forums, chat rooms, 3D Virtual Worlds (e.g., Second Life), online games.

• Is online environment public, private or even a ‘third place’ (Oldenburg, 1989)

• How might we treat the interactions occur in a VLE?

• [disclosing identity as a researcher]

24

(3). Large-scale analysis of the online medium

• Possibilities for gathering ‘powerful data … from the surveillance of online populations’ (Eynon et al, 2008: 31).

• ‘Recording, reproducing, and analyzing interactions, especially covertly, are more powerful’ than it is the case with off line world (ibid, p. 31).

• Learning Analytics, Google Analytics.• Ethical issues:

• Methodological (e.g., discourse analysis)

25

Four main areas of ethical principles

(Diener and Crandall 1978, in Bryman 2008: 118)

What might be the source of ethical concern?

The research question The sample The choice of method (e.g., rationale for the

choice of methods not clear, appropriateness of the method, how it is going to be implemented)

Other?

27

1. Harm to participantsPotential problems Examples and implications

Physical harm

Harm to participants development

Loss of self-esteem

Stress

(Diener and Crandall (1978: 19)

28

2. Informed consentPotential problems Examples and implications

Making sure participants have opportunity clarify their questions

Digital signatures?

Getting informed consent from participants from an online community (e.g., a MOOC)

29

3. Invasion of privacyPotential problems Examples and implications

Search and download history

Potential access to information that can be harmful for peers

……

?

30

4. DeceptionExamples of harm to participants

Examples and implications

Revealing your identity as a researcher

The duration of participation (being realistic!)

…

31

A checklist of information to be included in an informed consent form

• Outline of the purpose of the project• Notification to the participants that:

– Participation is voluntary– Participants free to refuse to answer any of the questions (if interviews) – They could withdraw from the study at any time– They could withdraw their data within [specify the time] of the interview /

participation– Interview(s) would be recorded– nobody but the researcher and the supervisor(s) would listen to the interview– small sections might be heard by a few others – but interviewee would not be

identified– transcribed but all identifying information would be removed– parts of the interview might be used in research publication(s)– sign the form to confirm their consent

(Bryman, 2008: 123-24)

32

4. A brief description a research project to be reviewed by participants

Dissertation research and supervision with technology

33

5. Internet mediated qualitative interviews – examples and

critique• Two chapters from Salmons (2012, chapters 8

and 10)• A framework for the critique and analysis

34

Presenting the critique and lessons that can be learned from each case.

[5 mins per group][10 mins]

35

Ethics – professional associations

The association URL

Economic and Social Research Council, ‘Framework for research ethics

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/about-esrc/information/research-ethics.aspx

British Sociological Association, Statement of Ethical Practice

http://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/27107/StatementofEthicalPractice.pdf

Social Research Association (SRA), Ethical Guidelines

http://www.the-sra.org.uk/documents/pdfs/ethics03.pdf

British Psychological Society (BPS), Ethics and Standards

http://www.bps.org.uk/what-we-do/ethics-standards/ethics-standards

British Educational Research Association, Ethics and Educational Research

http://www.bera.ac.uk/category/keywords/ethics

American Sociological Association, Code of Ethics

http://www.asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm

South African?

36

ReferencesBlaxter, L., Hughes, C. & Tight, M. (1996) How to research. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods. 3rd Edn. Oxford: OUP.

Diener, E. & Crandall, R. (1978) Ethics in Social and Behavioural Research, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ess, C. (2007) Internet Research Ethics. In A. N. Joinson, et al., (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eynon, R., Fry, J., & Schroeder, R. (2008) The Ethics of Internet Research. In N. G. Fielding, R. M. Lee, & G. Blank (eds) (2008) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: Sage.

Fielding, N. G., Lee, R.M. & Blank, G. (eds) (2008) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. London: Sage.

Lee, R.M., Fielding, N. & Blank, G. (2008) The Internet as a Research Medium: An Editorial Introduction to The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods. In N. Fielding, R. M. Lee. & G. Blank (eds) (2008). The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, pp. 3-20. London: Sage.

Mann, C. (2003) Generating data online: ethical concerns and challenges for the C21 researcher. In M. Thorseth (ed) Applied Ethics in Internet Research, pp.31-49. Trondheim: NTNU Publications Series No. 1.

Oldenburg, R. (1989) The Great Old Place, New York: Marlowe and Co.

Punch, K, F. (2008) Developing effective research proposals. 2nd Edn. London: Sage.

Salmons, J. (ed) (2012). Cases in Online Interview Research. London: Sage.

37