GS/PPAL 6200 3.00 Section N Research Methods and Information Systems January 20, 2015 Professor Brenda Spotton Visano Office: 130 McLaughlin Voice Mail: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20470 E-mail: spotton@yorku.ca Agenda • Review of last class • Ethics in Information and Research – Information and research ethics – Brief guide to ethical decision making – Definition and scope of research ethics • Questions to guide class discussion of readings Review of Last Class • Introduction to Data Sources – Guest Speaker: Mr. Walter Giesbrecht, Librarian, Scott Library, York University • Introduction to Research Methods (cont’d) – Criteria for Evaluating Research (reliability, validity: construct, internal, external) – Research Orientation (Methods – qualitative: interviews, textual analyses; quantitative: statistical analyses, simulations) – Research Design (experimental, cross-section, longitudinal, case study) – Checklist for Reviewing Research Checklist for Reviewing Research Case study: “Analyzing E-Government Research…” Heeks and Bailur (2006) • Course Objective: Example of how to categorize research and assess its quality • • Article Subject: E-government research Reviewing the article: – Authors’ Research Question: What are the perspectives on and approaches to research on egovernment”? (E-government defined as whatever is published in e-government journals) – Philosophy: considers both positivist and constructionist views – Research Design: content/textual analysis – Data Collection Method: articles published in 2 refereed journals and 1 conference proceedings in “e-government” between 2001-2005 – Data Analysis Method: 25 analytical scales to assess impact, philosophy, theory, method, and practical recommendations of e-government research – Sample Size and Representativeness: unknown, since “leading research outlets” undefined; all sources US and Europe focused – Conclusions: “E-government research is…in a poor state.” Reflects “fragmented adhocracy” [lacking in structure] with no clear prioritization of research problems – Reliability/Replicability: medium to high – Validity: construct [scales] validity tested on half of the papers; internal validity: high if scale attributes reflect relevant attributes; external validity: unknown, since representativeness unknown Information Ethics Information ethics: Standards governing the organization, distribution, and use of information. Questions to motivate thinking about public information: • Why are health records confidential? • Why are tax documents not made public? • What information should be publicly available; what should require individual’s consent? • “Only people with something to hide object to publicly available personal information.” Defining the Boundaries of Information Privacy and Access • What are the benefits of the “public record” and publicly available information? – Class suggestions… • What are the negative consequences of publicly available personal information? – Class suggestions… Guide to Ethical Practices in Distribution and Use of Information • Philosophical criteria: is it morally right/wrong in and of itself? Is it morally right/wrong in consequence? Are individual rights negotiable when confronting collective rights? • Practical criteria: What are the 7 principles of “Privacy” and the 7 principles of “Access” to information according to Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner? Research Ethics • Research ethics: Standards governing the creation of information – the planning, conduct and reporting of research • Includes: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Protection of human and animal subjects Biosecurity Collection, use and interpretation of data Reporting and reviewing research plans, findings Relationships between researchers (authorship, collaboration), researcher and subject/those affected by research, conflicts of interest, whistleblowing Means of responding to disputes • The Tri-Council Framework is concerned with which ethical issues in the conduct of research? How does the York University Senate Policy on Research Involving Human participants relate to the Tri-Council Policy? Level 2: Critical Understanding • Compare and contrast the Tri-Council Framework with the Privacy and Access Principles. Does or can the Tri-Council Framework address issues related to the networking of large-scale data systems? Level 3: Application • As a researcher, you need to conduct inperson interviews. How will you ensure adherence to the Principles of Consent (Ch. 3, Tri-Council Policy Statement). How will you ensure Privacy in the release of your results? Ethics, Public Policy, Law and Research • http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/govdb/fdtf/ pubpol_fdtf.html Level 4: Analysis of complexities and controversies • You want to research a highly controversial issue…if you fully disclose the research to research participants you fear their responses will be altered to mask the behavior you are researching. What should you tell the participants? • Your research involves interviewing public servants. In the process of those interviews, you discover that some have been falsifying signatures to advance public security. As a result of your report, which discloses the practice but retains confidentiality of the respondents, senior officials demand you reveal the confidential respondent information so that the respondents can be brought to justice for their illegal actions. How do you reconcile the conflicting principles (of privacy and publicity) when both are designed to protect the public good?
