Ethics and the anthros

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWaI9UZ-LYw

Our class on ethics reminded me of this song. I don't think I can speak (or sing) on the topic as eloquently as Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman so I'll leave it to him.

Good luck on your proposal

PS I will follow-up with a post that is actually based on the weekly readings ASAP :) 

Ethics

My research study would be a starting point for further investigation in public libraries to
involve more participant in the adult programs by reaching out to the community to meet their needs.
Although my research is not design for individuals to pursue their personal concern or interest, but human is the main subject.

Human in my research is a key person who is the main informant of an organization, therefore related organizational objectives and guidelines should be considered and the ethics policies and regulations must be followed.

In Knight, listed pragmatic responses is a good reminding point to prevent accident.

Nahid

Last Hurdle

Wading into the last task of preparing the full project proposal, I finally learnt what it was that was hampering my abilty to think it through all the way. The problem is that my research question/s, end up with a cause/effect situation; I am proposing a link between two phenomena that isn't proven (by objective criteria); and my proposal is based on this unproven link. It's an assumption at a crucial juncture -- between my background literature and my research question! So now I have to retrace some steps, re-think and regroup. Will I be able to do it in the one remaining week? Who knows! At this stage I am not so much putting one foot in front of the other, as closing my eyes and jumping. This is probably not as effective as salsa dancing in managing a research project.

BTW the very helpful and lightening website that gave me the answer to my puzzle is
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/
(found it by way of a Cornell university research course).

D/K if it was one of the links given in another post last week? If so, thanks! If not and anyone else finds it useful please let me know.

good luck to all,
larissa

Ethics Dilemma

The question arose when writing my research proposal as to whether or not I have to consider research ethics for my proposed research. However when I read the Knight reading for this week, I realized that survey research usually does not pose the same ethical questions as face-to-face research as it is less invasive. However, Knight (2002) does state that “…even in survey research, sensitive issues appear to inhibit disclosure.” (p.169) Therefore, in my research I decided to be transparent with the respondents and offer to them exactly what my research will be about and explain why I am interested in the research and why I am asking them the questions in the survey. Nonetheless, since I am not asking personal questions of respondents and it will all be anonymous, they do not have to answer the survey and I will not be speaking directly with any respondents I believe it will be easier to gain ethics approval if it is needed.

tunnel vision

One of the major problems I found with Kushin's article, which I peer reviewed, was that he wanted to find what he was looking for in his data analysis that he saw 'only what is obviously relevant to those perspectives and to miss indications that things might be rather different than those perspectives imply' (Knight, 182). With my own research in mind, I have an idea of what I think I will find going in (or what I hope I will find). I think it would be beneficial to use Knight's tips that he lays out in Chapter 8 for guarding against this type of tunnel vision in quantitative analysis. It is always possible to find out more than you were trying to find in your research project- perhaps something more relevant than the original theory you are testing. I need to keep this in mind both for external and internal validity.

We have been discussing a great deal the use of online vs. offline data when studying online phenomena. I have been thinking about this divide a lot within the context of my research proposal. Due to the fact that it has to do with how identities are constructed on Facebook and whether or not Facebook acts as a supplement or substitution to offline communication, I felt that both online and offline data would be necessary to tackle these questions. Orgad's 'How can researchers make sense of issues' was very helpful in solidifying my choice to use both types of data. In Orgad's study he talks about how the face-to-face interviews conducted on breast cancer patients who participated in online support groups revealed much more complex connections between their online and offline experiences. I am hoping for this to happen with my own research as I am seeking to find out not only how people act on facebook, but their motivations for using the social networking tool in a particular way or for a particular purpose. Clearly this divide between online/offline data depends on your research question, goals and objectives. Orgad talks about how many criticisms of using offline data imply that using online data is not as valid as offline data. For my project, I don't feel the need to privelege one or the other. I am studying an online phenomena, but the offline data I hope to collect will allow me to see how these realms relate.

Elements

After reading chapter seven of Luker, I tried to organize the elements for my research study and I came up with the following elements that I found interesting to add to the public library programme agenda:
Programmes for adult with different abilities
Educational programmes
Training programmes
Technology programmes
Programmes for older adult

Need to say that reading Knight’s chapter eight, made a clear sense of data gathering, although I am still not sure how to develop qualitative data analysis in the case of adult programme in the public library.

Nahid