social media research: issues of experience in...

Socialmediaresearch:issuesofexperienceinRECs

2ndMay2017ChelseaSwi>

IntroducAon

•  FocusoncommiCeememberslackofexperienceofsocialmedia

•  Whatarethefactorsinfluencingthis?WhataretheimplicaAonsforbothcommiCeemembersandresearchers?Isitproblem?

•  Drawingondatafrom:–  RECinterviews–  Researcherinterviews

Reviewingsocialmediaresearch

•  Inmostcases,experiencereviewingsocialmediaresearchwaslimitedduetolownumberofproposalscomingthroughforreview

•  LiCleresearchusingSMcomingthroughforreview,whichmeansliCleneedtoconsidertheethicsofthiskindofresearch.

Interviewee14:I'mnotbecausetobehonestI'veworkedonakindofneedtoknowbasisandI‘venotneededtoknowaboutanyofthisstuff.[…]now,I’mstar?ngtoencountersomeoftheliteratureonthiswhichismen?oningguidelinesandsoonbutI'venotgottogripswithanyofthatyetatall.

Lackofpersonalandprofessionalexperience

•  Only4intervieweesstatedthattheyuseSMdataintheirownresearchand14/19statedthattheydidnotuseSMdatainapersonalcapacityeither

Interviewee1:Imightbeinfacttheworstpersontointerviewbut--becauseIdon’thaveanysocialmediaaccount.Ineverusesocialmediaaccount[…]Idon’tevenknowwhatop?onsareavailabletoday;thereislikegazillionofthingsoutthere.Obviously,IknowFacebookandTwiIer--andwhat'sthattheonethatyousharepictures--Instagram.ButkindoflikethosethingsaretheonesthatIonlyknowfromday-to-daylife.Ineveruseanyofthem;Ineverdidanyresearchonthem.

LackofinsAtuAonal/departmentalSMspecificethicalguidelines

•  InaddiAontothethislackofexperience,parAcipantsreportedthatinsAtuAonalguidelinesfortheuseofsocialmediainresearchwereeithernon-existentorintheprocessofbeingdevelopedandimplemented.

•  Thiswaso>endescribedasanongoingprocess,promptedbyariseinthenumberofsuchapplicaAonscomingthroughforreview.

Interviewee11:Ithinkmorelikely,stepbystepthatsomeofthethingsthatwedecidedoncasebycasebasismaybecomemoreformalized,suchthatwecanactuallycangivepeopleadviceofthiswouldbeacceptable,thiswouldn’torhaveyouthoughtaboutsomethingelse.AndIthinkthatjustcomesfromthecommiIeeshavingmoreexperience

FluidityofsocialmediaplaVorms

•  EightparAcipantspointedoutthattheseplaVormsareconstantlychangingandthateachisdifferent.Therefore,anyexperienceislikelytobevalidforonlyashortperiodofAme.

•  Therefore,setguidelinesmaynotalwaysbepracAcalordesirableinsuchfast-changingresearchcontexts

Interviewee1:Andthensomeothersocialmediacomesthenextday,andit'sacompletelydifferentwayofdealingwithitandyoudon'tknow.[…]becauseeventuallyifyouenforcesomething,thenit'sgoingtobecompletelyirrelevantinsomeothercontextandthenit'sgoingtocauseatroubleratherthanhelpyou.Butitmaynotbehelpfulintwoyears,soyoujusthavetositdownandthinkaboutalltheethics;itisgoingtobeveryunnecessaryprocesstome.

ImplicaAons:RECperspecAves

•  ThelackofbothpersonalandprofessionalexperienceofsocialmediahadimplicaAonsfortheextenttowhichcommiCeemembersfelttheyhadsufficientknowledgetoprovideexpertopiniononresearchwhichusessocialmediadata:

Interviewee2:Okay.Ifeelslightly--so,I'mthewrongpersonforyouto--tobeenrolledinthis,really.Ihaveabsolutelynothingtodowithsocialmedia.Interviewee3:Ipersonallydon’tgetinvolvedwithanysocialmediadirectly,butitisused.IhavetosayI’mtooold---I’mnotupwithsocialmedia.Idon’tuseitpersonallyeithersoI’mnotactuallytherightpersoninsomeways.Someofmyyoungercolleagues--

ImplicaAons:RECperspecAves

•  Somealsosuggestedthatthisimpactedontheirabilityasreviewers:

Interviewee10:So,Ithinkthat'scertainlyabigconcernandIjustdon’tknowifIgotanapplica?onfromsomeonewhowantstousethedarkwebIwouldhavetotakeadvice,Iwouldn’tknowquitewhatIwasjudging,butyouknow,IknowIdon’tknowsoit'sakindofaknownunknown.

ImplicaAons:researcherperspecAves

•  Mostresearchersfelttherewasalackofexperiencebuttheextenttowhichthiswasperceivedtobeaproblemvaried.

•  Severalintervieweessuggestedthatresearchers,aswellasthecommiCee,wereresponsibleforthinkingthroughtheissues.Consequently,commiCeesdidnotneedtobeexpertsontheethicsofsocialmediaresearch

Researcher7:Yeah,Ithinkyoucan'tguaranteethatanyresearchethicscommiIeewillhaveexper?seinthekindofresearchyoudo,Ithinkit'skindofnaïvetoexpectthatbutinmyexperience,researchethicscommiIeeswillaskresearcherstoexplain[..]andthenresearcherscanexplainwhytheythinkthisapproachisappropriateratherthanthatapproach,youknow,inthefaceofanykindofissuesthattheethicscommiIeemightbeconcernedabout.

Exampleimage

ImplicaAons:researcherperspecAves

•  However,themajorityoftheintervieweesexpressedreservaAonsaboutRECcommiCees’lackofexperienceandtheirabilitytoreviewresearchwhichusesSMdata

•  ResearcherssuggestedthatcommiCeememberswholackexperiencetendedtobeoverlycauAousandmakeuninformedcomments

Researcher2:thecommiIeethat’slookingatit[theproposal]shouldincludepeoplewithexper?seinsocialmediaresearchoratleastknowledgeoftheissue.Sobecauseit’s--becauseotherwise,youcanendupgeRngcommentsandrequirementsandethicalrequirementsthataremeaninglessorunnecessary,whichhascertainlybeentheexperienceofwell,myselfandcertainlymycolleagues

DoeslackexperienceequallackofexperAse?

•  Findingssuggestthatlackofexperiencecanbeaproblem:–  CommiCeememberslacksufficientknowledgeonwhichtomakeinformeddecisions

–  Lessexperience=morecauAous,limiAngforresearchers•  Fieldinflux-justpartofaprocess/necessarystageinthe

developmentofnewresearchmethods?•  WhatcancommiCeesandresearchersdo?

–  Nothing-plaVormsconstantlyinastateofchangeanyway–  SubjectallSMresearchtoethicalreview–  Engageinadialoguewithresearchersusingsocialmedia-sharingexperAse

QuesAons/discussion?

2ndMay2017ChelseaSwi>