Author: Megan Moreno
Publisher: National Library of Medicine
Publication Year: 2013
Summary: The following article describes how social media websites (SMWs) are easily-accessible and widely-used, making them appealing for researchers and data collectors. Of course, with new avenues of data collection comes new potential for abuse and misuse. In particular, International Review Boards (IRBs) face novel challenges in light of SMW-driven data collection and studies. To encourage data collection from SMWs that satisfies IRB requirements, Moreno describes a set of ethical considerations to keep in mind when scraping data from SMWs for studies and analysis. In the case of observational studies, law and convention states that information posted publicly on SMWs, especially on SMWs that do not require login information to view, is acceptable for data collection and analysis. In interactive research, where login information is required, or permission to view a profile is needed, Moreno notes that data collection is still appropriate. Granted, it is appropriate so long as the analysis and its results pose minimal risk to data subjects. Lastly, for survey and interview research, Moreno argues that consent is key, especially because it is easy to conduct this type of research without interacting with the data subject directly. This makes it easy to accidentally violate reasonable expectations of privacy.