Research Ethics in the Digital Age (eBook)

Farina Madita Dobrick and Jana Fischer are researchers at the Institute of Communication Studies at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany.Prof. Dr. Lutz Hagen is Director of the Institute for Communication Studies and Director of ZMS at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany.

Table of Contents 5
1Introduction 7
References 10
I Keynotes as to Core Issues 11
2Research Ethics in the Digital Age: Fundamentals and Problems 12
1 Introduction 13
2 Fundamental questions concerning research ethics 14
3 Problems in research ethics 16
4 Problems with interdisciplinarity 19
5 The digital age 21
6 Research ethics – an impairment to progress? 22
7 The integrated approach to research ethics in the digital age 23
References 24
3What's Responsible for the Retraction Boom? 27
1 Introduction 28
2 What's Responsible for the Retraction Boom? 29
3 Conclusion 30
References 31
4Data Protection Laws, Research Ethics and Social Sciences 33
1 Introduction 34
2 Data Protection vs. Freedom of Science 34
3 Basic Principles of (European) Data Protection Law 35
3.1 Personal Data 35
3.2 Principle of data minimisation 36
3.3 Legal Basis for Data Processing 37
3.4 Informed Consent 38
3.5 Sensitive Data 39
4 Two Case Studies 40
4.1 The “Tastes, Ties and Time” Project 40
4.2 Behavioural Research on Facebook 44
5 Research Ethics and Data Protection Laws 45
6 Résumé 46
References 47
Laws 48
5Crowd-Based Documentation of Plagiarism: The VroniPlag Wiki Experience 49
1 A short history 50
2 The crowd 52
3 Documentation in VroniPlag Wiki 53
3.1 Tools for plagiarism detection 60
3.2 Non-public documentation 61
3.3 Overview and breakdown of documented cases 62
3.4 How cases are found 63
4 Mass plagiarism in medicine and other misconduct 63
5 Multiple publications of articles 65
6 Incentives for plagiarism 66
7 Dangers of plagiarism 67
References 70
6The Empowerment of Users: Rethinking Educational Practice Online 72
1 Introduction 73
2 Promises of user/learner involvement in online education 74
2.1 Openness: OER, MOOC, etc. 75
2.2 User generation of content 75
2.3 Independence of learning behaviour 76
2.4 Socialization in new community forms – virtual loneliness versus virtual massiveness 76
2.5 Data-based education: online, massive and even physiologically data based analytics 77
3 The need for instructional design methods based on the way the user learns 78
4 The concept of instrumental conflict 79
5 The issue of avoiding instrumental conflicts 82
6 A successful application of the instrumental conflict theory 84
7 Conclusion: toward a better understanding of educational practice online 86
References 87
II Developing Research Standards in a Digitalized World 90
7Perception of Digital Methods' Ethics among Egyptian Researchers 91
1 Recent Ethical situation 92
2 Collecting data 92
3 Privacy 93
4 Anonymity 93
5 Legislations & Ethical Frames
6 Research questions 93
7 Method & Tools
8 Results 94
8.1 Ethical Considerations 94
8.2 Why colleagues may not review privacy policies 95
8.3 Suggested Law features 95
9 Conclusion 96
References 96
8Rural India in the Digital Age 97
1 Introduction 98
1.1 Objective of the Study 98
1.2 Field of the Study 99
1.3 Methodologyof the Study 99
2 Analysis & Conclusion of the Study
2.1 Patterns of Communication in Rural India 100
2.2 Patterns of Access to ICTs in Rural India 100
2.3 Patterns of Access to ICTs on the basis of Caste 100
2.4 Patterns of Access to ICTs on the basis of Gender 101
2.5 Patterns of Access to ICTs among the Youth 101
References 101
9Ethical Issues in Collecting Data from Informant of the Field 102
1 Introduction 103
2 Problem Statement 103
2.1 Phase 1: the Informed Consent Form was administered to all informants 104
2.2 Phase 2: the Informed Consent Form was partially altered or not administered at all 105
References 105
III Digital Publishing 106
10‘Getting What They Deserve’: Digital Media Readers Comment on the Cause of Detroit’s Bankruptcy 107
1 Introduction 108
3 Methods 108
4 Results 108
5 Ethical Challenges and Concerns 109
6 Conclusions 110
References 110
11Journalists on Twitter: Reconfiguring Professional Identity, Reconsidering Research Ethics – The Case of Croatia 111
1 Introduction 112
2 Reconsidering professional identity 113
References 116
12Human Rights and the Regulation of Anonymity. New Challenges to Law and Research 118
1 Introduction 119
2 Some internet statistics 119
3 The problem 121
4 The right to anonymity 121
5 Social and Human Sciences and the ethical challenges on data availability 123
6 Big data and the changes in the human person ontology 124
7 Final considerations 125
References 125
13Online and Offline: The Ethical Considerations of Researching the Use of Social Media by Traditional Journalists in Northern Nigerian Newsroom 127
1 Introduction 128
2 Blurring boundaries: online and offline 128
3 New opportunities, New Ethical Challenges 130
Appreciation 131
References 131
Applying Research Ethics to Different Digital Environments 132
14Media Ethics in Research on Video-Based Mental Health Care 133
1 Introduction 134
2 Method 134
3 Results 135
3.1 Health insurance 135
3.2 The German Medical Association 135
3.3 Therapists 136
3.4 Counselors 136
3.5 Scientists 136
3.6 Ethics committee of German Society for Psychology (DGP) 137
4 Discussion 137
References 137
15Intersecting the Digital Maze. Considering Ethics in Cloud-Based Services’ Research 139
1 Introduction 140
2 Utilization of cloud services 141
2.1 Professional industrial implementations of cloud services 141
2.2 Personal implementations of cloud services 143
3 Privacy concerns regarding cloud services 143
4 The ethics of transparent cloud service information 144
4.1 Improving transparent information on individual cloud service usage 145
4.2 Practicing Responsible Research & Innovation
5 Conclusion 146
Acknowledgments 146
References 147
16Research Ethics in the Doctoral Project “Boundary Management in Social Media Communication” 149
1 Motivation 150
2 Theoretical Background 150
3 Ethical Concerns 151
References 152
17Reflecting on Ethics in the Investigation of Online Communication during Emergencies 153
1 Ethical and methodological considerations 154
2 Reflection on challenges with reference to dissemination 156
3 Conclusion and closing remarks 157
Acknowledgements 158
References 158