EAGER: Ethical and Methodological Challenges in Social Media Research

据估计，90%的年轻人每天都在使用社交媒体，而且大多数人使用多个平台。大家都说，这是一个探索心理发展、病耻感和社会性的关键空间。然而，人们对他们在社交媒体上的日常参与情况知之甚少。作为一项探索性研究的早期概念拨款（EAGER），该项目探索了在通过社交媒体账户征求招募时进行人体受试者研究的伦理和方法挑战。捕获充斥着识别信息（如照片、屏幕名称、关于位置的帖子、标记了可识别信息的帖子等）的数据的伦理和后勤，在存储数据、分析数据、使其在可公开访问的存储库中可用以及在最终出版物和演示文稿中共享数据方面是一个挑战。这个研究平台对识别信息的删除提出了哪些挑战？在多大程度上，清理数据以保护匿名会影响研究人员传达这些社交媒体领域中发生的事情的多维性和丰富性的能力？保护匿名的过程是否会影响收集/捕获的数字数据的类型和数量？该项目的中心目标是探索在这些私人社交媒体领域进行参与性观察的道德和后勤边界。作为一个旨在了解不断发展的技术动态及其对工作影响的项目，该项目为美国国家科学基金会在人类技术前沿工作方面的投资做出了贡献。德克萨斯州立大学圣马科斯分校的妮可泰勒博士将对50名年龄在18-22岁的男女本科生进行研究。之所以选择这个群体，是因为人们对大学生在网络社交媒体论坛上是如何经历和应对耻辱的知之甚少。研究人员已经证实，大学时期代表着人生几乎所有领域的重大转变时期，它影响着社会、身体和心理的发展，以及未来劳动力的生产力。研究设置服务于种族多样化的学生群体，因此提供了一个机会，以产生一个更可靠的，稳健的，和代表性的研究样本。方法将包括：(1)简短的参与者调查，收集人口统计和社交媒体使用信息；(2)在研究人群最常用的2-3个社交媒体平台内进行参与式观察；(3)对参与者进行半结构化访谈；(4)对参与者及其朋友进行焦点小组访谈。本探索性研究的中心目标是开发和试点一种方法，在大学生中最常用的社交媒体平台上进行参与性观察。泰勒博士将探索在这些更私人的社交媒体领域进行参与性观察的道德和后勤边界，在这些领域，网络邀请必须被邀请和接受。例如，如何以一种既保持参与者匿名性又遵循道德准则的方式获取社交媒体数据，同时又保持年轻人与社交媒体互动的流动性？调查结果将以一种影响公共卫生工作的方式进行传播，这种工作通常基于大规模定量调查，通过深入介绍不同的青年群体如何协商其在线和现实世界社区的交叉点。

An estimated 90% of youth are engaged in social media daily, and most are using multiple platforms. By all accounts, this is a critical space for exploring psychological development, stigma, and sociality. Yet little is known about what their day-to-day engagement within social media actually looks like. As an Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER), this project explores the ethical and methodological challenges of conducting human subjects research when recruitment is solicited through social media accounts. The ethics and logistics of capturing data riddled with identifying information, such as photos, screen names, posts about locations, posts where identifiable information is tagged, etc. is a challenge in terms of storing the data, analyzing it, making it available in a publicly accessible repository, and sharing it in resulting publications and presentations. What challenges does this research platform present for the removal of identifying information? To what extent does cleaning the data to protect anonymity impact the researcher's ability to convey the multidimensionality and richness of what happens in these social media realms? Does the process of protecting anonymity impact the type and amount of digital data gathered/captured? A central goal of this project is to explore the ethical and logistical boundaries of conducing participant observation in these private social media realms. As a project aimed at understanding the dynamics of constantly evolving technologies and their impact on work, this project contributes to NSF's investment in Work at the Human-Technology Frontier. Dr. Nicole Taylor of Texas State University, San Marcos, will conduct research on a sample of 50 male and female undergraduate students aged 18-22. This population was chosen because little is known about how college students experience and negotiate stigma in online social media forums. Researchers have established that the college years represent a period of major transition in nearly all areas of life, which influence social, physical, and psychological development, as well as future productivity in the workforce. The research setting serves an ethnically diverse student population and therefore provides an opportunity to generate a more reliable, robust, and representative research sample. Methods will include (1) a brief participant survey to gather demographic and social media use information; (2) participant observation within the 2-3 social media platforms most commonly used by the study population; (3) semi-structured interviews with participants; (4) focus group interviews with participants and their friends. A central goal of this exploratory research is to develop and pilot a method for conducting participant observation within the most commonly used social media platforms among college students. Dr. Taylor will explore the ethical and logistical boundaries of conducting participant observation in these more private social media realms where network invitations must be invited and accepted. For example, how can social media data be captured in a way that maintains participant anonymity and follows ethical guidelines, while also maintaining the fluid nature of youth engagements with social media? Findings will be disseminated in such a way as to impact public health efforts, which are typically based on large scale quantitative surveys, by offering in-depth accounts of how a diverse group of youth negotiate the intersection of their online and real world communities.