OFFICIAL USE ONLY
SURNAME:
URNAME:
REF. NO.:
ARCHIVE:
7
25 
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
ETHICS REVIEW COMMITTEE (HUMAN RESEARCH)
INITIAL APPLICATION FORM (Version 1 November 2005)
APPLICATIONS MUST BE TYPED OR WORD PROCESSED. HAND WRITTEN
APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
ALL RESEARCHERS MUST COMPLETE SECTIONS 1–13
DO NOT COMPLETE OR ATTACH APPENDICES UNLESS RELEVANT TO
YOUR APPLICATION
Double Click the Yes, No, or N/A check box to indicate your answer.
For further information on how to complete this form, view the Guidelines for Application
Form Version 1 – 01/11/05
SECTION 1: PROJECT SUMMARY AND ADMINISTRATION DETAILS
1.1
Project Summary
(a)
Full project title
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A VIRTUAL ONLINE SOCIAL WORLD.
(b)
If this research is being conducted as a teaching project, provide the unit
code and name
ANTH801, Methodology in Local and Community Studies
(c)
Short name by which the project will be known (if appropriate)
An ethnography of a virtual online social world
(d)
Name of Chief Investigator
Dr Lisa Wynn
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
1
1.2
Previous Ethics Clearance/ Clearance from other Institutional Ethics
Committees (IECs)
(a)
Has this project been previously approved by Macquarie University’s Ethics
Review Committee?
NO
(b)
YES
Are you applying for a new clearance because the previous ethical clearance
for this work has expired? (ie: it has been 5 years or more since the original
clearance was issued)
NO
(c)
YES
Will this project be submitted for approval to any other institution or
ethics committee?
NO
(go to Q1.3)
1.3
YES
Type of Research (please tick the most appropriate):
i. This application is being submitted for staff research
purposes
ii. This application is being submitted by staff and/or
students for teaching purposes
iii. This application is being submitted by a student enrolled
in a degree program
Type of degree undertaken (please tick one)





Doctorate
Masters
Post Graduate Diploma
Honours
Other – please specify
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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1.4
Duration of study
(a)
Indicate the proposed date of commencement of the project (Researchers
are reminded that projects may not commence without the written approval
of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC)).
Date
(b)
21 August 2008
Proposed completion date of the project:.
Date
15 December 2008
(Note that approval is given only for a 12-month period which may be renewed upon
application for up to 5 years (using the Progress Report Form). After 5 years from the
original approval date you will need to submit a Final Report for the work and a new
application for approval if you wish the project to continue. The 5 year time limit enables
the Committee to fully review research in an environment where legislation, guidelines
and codes are always changing.)
1.5
Indicate where the research will be undertaken. Please specify all location(s)
and venues (including the URL for Web based studies).
All research will take place online, in an animated multiplayer virtual world,
Second Life: http://www.secondlife.com/
1.6
Investigator Details
List the details of the Chief Investigator, and any Co-Investigators, Associate
Investigators, Supervisors, Research Assistants or Research Co-ordinator
Chief Investigator
Name:
Title:
Staff:
Staff/student
no.
Qualifications
Positions held:
(if student,
specify degree
and course in
which enrolled)
Full mailing
address:
Lisa L Wynn
Dr
Student:
20072935
PhD
Associate Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
Tel No. (W):
Tel No: (H):
Mobile No:
Fax number:
E-mail address:
Lisa Wynn
Department of Anthropology
Macquarie University
NSW 2109
02 9850 8095
02 9868 4896
0424 852 816
02 9850 9391
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au
Co-Investigator
, Associate Investigator
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
, Supervisor
,
3
Research Assistant
Name:
Title:
Staff:
Staff/student
no.
Qualifications:
Positions held:
(if student,
specify degree
and course in
which enrolled)
Full mailing
address:
, Research Coordinator
(please tick one)
students in ANTH 801 (not yet named)
Student:
**Please note: This is one of 4 optional research projects for
students of ANTH 801, and students will self-select the
research topic they wish to investigate by the second week of
the course (Semester II, mid-August 2008). After students
have selected the project they wish to work on, Dr Wynn will
provide their full contact info to the Ethics Secretariat, along
with specific information about which project each student has
chosen to work on.
Students enrolled in ANTH801, the core methods course of the
Masters of Applied Anthropology program (but some students
in other programs may be taking the course as an elective)
Tel No. (W):
Tel No: (H):
Mobile No:
Fax number:
E-mail address:
1.7
Nominated Contact Person (nominate one person from Q1.6 above who will
be the first point of contact for the ERC (HR) regarding this protocol)
Name:
Dr Lisa Wynn
1.8
Funding Details
(a)
Is this a funded project or do you intend to apply for funding?
NO
(go to SECTION 2)
YES
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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SECTION 2: NATURE OF RESEARCH
2.1
The nature of this project is most appropriately described as involving: (please
tick the relevant box or boxes - more than one may apply)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
action research
observation
documentary (film, audio and/or video)
questionnaire(s)
on-line data collection (please ensure you have read the guidelines for on-line
research available at:
http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/onlineresea
rch)
f. focus groups or interviews
g. experiments
h. physiological investigations(s)
i. clinical studies
j. biomechanical devices(s) or invasive devices or procedures
k. blood, tissue, recombinant DNA, gene therapy, or biohazardous material
(APPENDIX E must be completed if you tick this item)
l.
behavioural genetics, genetic screening and/or genetic related
epidemiological studies
(If you tick this item please refer to Section 16 of the National Statement On
Ethical Conduct In Research Involving Humans before proceeding with the
completion of the application or call the Research Ethics Officer on (02) 9850
7854).
m. exposure to ionizing radiation
(APPENDIX F must be completed if you tick this item)
n. the administration of illegal drugs, legal drugs (eg, alcohol, nicotine) and/or
medication that is NOT part of a clinical trial
(APPENDIX G must be completed if you tick this item)
o. a clinical trial of drug(s) or device(s)
(APPENDIX H must be completed if you tick this item)
p. other (please provide details)
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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SECTION 3: RISKS AND BENEFITS
3.1
Could the research induce any psychological or physical stress in the
participant, or in any other way adversely affect participants?
NO
(go to Q3.3)
3.2
YES
What procedures/facilities/trained personnel are available to deal with such
problems?
n/a
3.3
Will the true purpose of the research be concealed from the participant(s)?
NO
(go to Q3.4)
3.4
Does the research require any physically invasive, or potentially harmful
procedures (e.g. drug administration, needle insertion, rectal probe,
pharyngeal foreign body, electromagnetic stimulation, chiropractic
manipulation)?
NO
(go to Q3.5)
3.5
YES
YES
If you are doing research on patients, list the procedures/techniques which
would not form part of routine clinical management.
NA
3.6
Please list any drugs/devices to be used, and their approval status both
overseas and in Australia.
NA
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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3.7
What are the expected benefits of this research, including any direct or
indirect benefits to participants? (This does not refer to financial or other
remuneration for participation in the study).
This research project is being used as a student exercise to teach them about
anthropological research methods. The goal is to give graduate students
hands-on experience doing research “in the field” i.e. out of the classroom
environment. It will help develop their interview, observational, and
analytical skills and bring the study topic alive in very concrete ways. This
particular research project (one of 4 optional projects for ANTH 801) prompts
students to think methodologically about how one can study the sociality of
virtual worlds and the extent to which traditional anthropological methods
are useful for this.
Beyond the goals of pedagogy, this research project will contribute to
anthropological understanding of cybersociality, i.e. what kinds of social
relations are taking form in online environments like Second Life. As these
environments are extremely popular (with tens of thousands of users and
millions of dollars of economic transactions taking place in a given month,
according to Boellstorff 2008), it becomes anthropologically important to
take them seriously and try to understand how they are similar to and
different from forms of social life in the real world.
There are no direct benefits to participants of this research project, but the
research involves normal social interactions within the virtual world, and
since social interactions are what SL residents seek, and since they can
easily avoid interacting with any of the student researchers if they do not
wish to participate in the research, I believe that the general benefits to
research outweigh any potential risks (which would be restricted to
annoyance).
Reference:
Tom Boellstorff, 2008. “Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist
Explores the Virtually Human.” Princeton: Princeton University Press.
3.8
Does this research involve the direct investigation of any illegal behaviour or
have the potential to elicit information about illegal behaviour?
NO
(go to SECTION 4)
YES
If you answered YES, please provide the following details:
(a)
Has this illegal behaviour already been dealt with by the criminal
justice system
YES
(go to Section 4)
UNSURE
(b)
Describe the types of illegal behaviour that are the subject of this
research or might be identified in this project.
(c)
Is it possible to link the identity of participants and information about
illegal activity?
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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NO
YES
If you answered NO, what steps have been taken to ensure that participants
cannot be identified?
If you answered YES, please assess the risk to participants and provide a
justification for exposing participants to this risk.
(d)
Are any of the participants in this study likely to be perpetrators, victims
and/or witnesses of the illegal activity?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide further details.
(e)
Do any of the illegal activities involve minors?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide further details.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
8
SECTION 4: DESCRIPTION OF PARTICIPANTS
4.1
What is the age range of participants involved in this study?
18 years and older. Note that the Second Life Grid is restricted for adults only
(18+). There is a Teen Second Life which is strictly for teens age 13-17.
Linden Labs does not allow anyone under 18 years old in the adult world of
Second Life, and likewise they do not allow adult Residents (18+) on the
mainland of Teen Second Life. Both of these worlds are separate from each
other, and they do not allow in-world travel or communication between them.
NOTE: IF YOUR STUDY INVOLVES YOUNG PEOPLE UNDER THE AGE OF 18
(excluding university students) YOU MUST COMPLETE APPENDIX C.
4.2
Are the participants who are the focus of this research/teaching project:
(Please tick the boxes that apply to the participants involved in your research.
More than one category may be applicable)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
in a teacher–student relationship with the
researchers or their associates ?
in an employer–employee relationship with the
researchers or their associates ?
in any other dependent relationship with the
researchers or their associates ?
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander?
(if you tick this box APPENDIX A must be
completed)
Residing in countries outside Australia
(if you tick this box APPENDIX B must be
completed)
wards of state ?
prisoners or detainees ?
refugees or asylum seekers?
members of the armed services ?
mentally ill ?
intellectually impaired?
physically disabled?
unconscious or critically ill patients ?
in a carer-client relationship with the researcher
(e.g., medical practitioners, social workers,
psychologists, legal practitioners, etc)?
in a carer-client relationship with other
professional workers(e.g., medical practitioners,
social workers, psychologists, legal practitioners,
etc)?
If you ticked any of the above, please give details.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
9
SECTION 5: RECRUITMENT OF PARTICIPANTS
5.1
How many participants will be involved in this study?
Each student of ANTH 801 who selects this topic for their research project (I
estimate that between 3 and 5 students will choose any given topic) may
interact with perhaps 200 Second Life residents and may interview up to 30
during the course of this research project. I base this estimate on the
experience of Tom Boellstorff, an anthropologist at UC Irvine who recently
published an ethnography of Second Life.
5.2
Recruitment of participants
(a)
Specify how potential participants will be identified.
Participants will be any virtual individual, or avatar, that student researchers meet
online in Second Life. No particular sampling strategy will be used, except
that researchers will direct their participant observation towards areas where
the kind of activity they are interested in studying takes place. Snowball
sampling (in the form of being introduced to the virtual friends of individuals
previously met) may occur.
(b)
How will contact with participants be made?
Participant observation will take place in the form of normal social interactions in
this virtual world, where it is commonplace to walk up to (or fly to) a person
and simply say hello and start a conversation.
For formal interviews, the student’s avatar (animated representation of self) will
approach an avatar and, using one-on-one chat, introduce him/herself and
hand the other avatar a “note” (to use the computer program’s terminology)
introducing the research project and seeking the person’s consent to
participate in an interview (a copy is included at the end of this application).
(c)
Who will be involved in the recruitment of participants?
Students in ANTH 801
(d)
If recruiting will be done through an organisation, specify how
consent from the organisation will be obtained. Please provide
copies of relevant correspondence with the organisation.
n/a
(e)
Will participants be involved in any related studies?
NO
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
YES
10
5.3
Does recruitment involve a direct personal approach from the researchers to
the potential participants?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, what precautions will be taken to minimise any
pressure (real or perceived) on individuals to enrol?
Since it is quite easy to avoid interacting with any of the student researchers if
they do not wish to participate in the research (one can simply ignore a
message sent, or walk, fly, or instantly teleport away from another avatar), I
believe that the pressure to enroll in the research project is minimal.
However, students will be instructed during an in-class discussion of research
ethics that they must not exert any pressure on participants to enrol in the
study.
I would like to note that Tom Boellstorff found, in his ethnography of Second Life,
that not only were most individuals he approached interested in being
interviewed (which is perhaps not surprising since social interactions are
what SL residents seek in going online), but that he faced having a long list
of people who wanted to be interviewed, and many people he had previously
interviewed continued to seek him out asking to be interviewed again
(Boellstorff 2008:77).
5.4
Does recruitment involve the circulation/publication of an advertisement?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, provide a copy of the advertisement. (Please refer to
Section 7 of the Guidelines for information on advertisement content.)
I’m not exactly sure what to answer here – as the student researchers’ avatars
circulate in Second Life, their avatar profiles will contain information about
the research project, and anyone can view these profiles. I have provided a
copy of the text to be used in this profile at the end of this application.
5.5
Will participants receive any financial or other benefits as a result of
participation?
NO
5.6
YES
Is the research targeting any particular ethnic or community group?
NO
YES
(go to SECTION 6)
If you answered YES, which group is being targeted?
The research targets players of Second Life.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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5.7
Will recruitment be conducted in consultation with a representative of this
group?
NO
(go to (a))
YES
(go to (b))
(a)
If you have not consulted a representative of this group, please
provide your reasons for not undertaking any consultation.
(b)
If you have consulted a representative, with whom have you
consulted? How do they represent this group?
According to Tom Boellstorff (an anthropologist who has conducted extensive
research in Second Life using the avatar name “Tom Bukowski” and who
generously shared his research ethics protocol with me to assist me in the
preparation of this ethics application), Linden Labs, which created and owns
Second Life, allows researchers to conduct research in Second Life if they
first obtain ethics approval from their own institutions.
On 20 June 2008, I submitted the following request to the Support Center of
Second Life, ticket number 4051-4940856:
“I am Dr Lisa Wynn, a lecturer at Macquarie University Department of
Anthropology in Sydney, Australia. I am trying to design several class
research projects for ANTH 801, a methods course that I teach for our
Masters of Applied Anthropology Students. One optional project that I
would like to offer students is a study of cybersociality in SL.
“I am currently writing a protocol for our institution's human research ethics
committee, following the protocol originally developed by Tom Bukowski /
Tom Boellstorff, the UC Irvine anthropologist who recently published an
ethnography of SL (Tom was kind enough to share his research ethics
protocol with me).
“Of course, in addition to seeking my institution's approval for the research
project, I also seek the permission of Linden Labs for my students to
conduct research in SL, strictly following the guidelines I have established
for ethical research practice.
“Who should I talk to at Linden Labs about obtaining permission for such a
research project? (Please forgive me for being naive about SL; I am not very
familiar with it, but am making the effort to get to know it for the sake of my
students.) I would be glad to provide the ethical research protocol that I
have developed for Linden Labs to review when considering my request.
Thank you,
Lisa Wynn”
As soon as I receive further correspondence from Linden Labs about this
research project, I will submit it to the ethics committee, and no research will
take place unless a representative of Linden Labs gives permission for the
research project to take place in Second Life.
I also have given students the option of doing this research project in another
massively multi-player online game (MMOG) such as Sim City or World of
Warcraft. However, I have not sought permission from the makers of either
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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of these software systems, and so students are instructed in the course
outline (a portion of which is attached with this application) that they may
not undertake research in another MMOG unless they first obtain the written
consent from the owner of that game for such research to take place, and
then provide a copy of that consent to the Ethics Committee.
SECTION 6: PRIVACY AND PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
6.1
Is there a requirement for the researchers to obtain information of a personal
nature (either identifiable or potentially identifiable) about individuals:
YES
NO
a. from Commonwealth departments or agencies?
b. from State departments or agencies?
c. from other third parties, such as universities,
hospitals, schools, private practices, business etc?
IF YOU ANSWERED “YES” TO ANY OF THE ABOVE ITEMS YOU MUST
COMPLETE APPENDIX D. THIS IS A REQUIREMENT OF STATE AND
COMMONWEALTH PRIVACY LEGISLATION.
6.2
Will you be recording any part of your study on audio tape, film/video, or
other electronic medium?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, what is the medium, what will be recorded and what are
the circumstances under which this recording will be undertaken? For what
purposes is the recording required? Does the proposed research activity
involve the secretive use of any photography, video recording, audio
recording or other recording method?
Communication in Second Life takes place through typing on various kinds of
instant messaging screens (there are one-on-one chats, group chats which
can only be read by those in that group, and “local chats” when any avatar
within a certain radius of others can read what is being typed). Everything
that people “say” in Second Life in the presence of another person is saved
in a “history” that can then be pasted into a password-protected data file.
This is the method that will be used for recording normal social interactions
that take place as part of researchers’ participant observation.
There are many researchers already doing work in Second Life, as well as a
number of journalists who produce magazines in Second Life. (For example,
you can read the Second Life Herald online without entering Second Life
itself.) Thus, players in Second Life are always familiar with the idea that
people are studying Second Life and that what they “say” in a public chat
situation can be read by anyone in the vicinity.
Each person in Second Life has a “profile” giving background information about
themselves. Student researchers will all write their profile to make it clear
that they are students conducting research about Second Life for an
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
13
anthropology class. (I would like to note that it is common when meeting
someone for the first time on Second Life to read that person’s profile. For
example, in the limited number of times that I have logged on to SL to see
how it works, I have noticed that people often comment on the fact that I live
in Sydney, which is a piece of information I have included in my profile.)
In sum, the fact that researchers will identify themselves as such in their profiles
and as appropriate in any social interaction, combined with the fact that
Second Life residents are aware that what they write in public chats is
publicly readable (and the fact that they can switch to private instant
messaging when they don’t want what they say to be known), constitute a
nonsecretive recording of data (the real world analogy would be if we lived in
a society where everyone walked around with recording devices on their
body that could record any noise within a 20-foot radius of their bodies, and
it was well-known that any individual could, at the end of the day, download
to a computer what they recorded during that day – then we would not
consider it secretive recording to do so).
Combined with the measures that will be taken to conceal the identity of anyone
written about in this research project, I believe it is appropriate for
researchers to be permitted to save the text of any local chats that occur
during the course of participant observation in order to analyze and write
about them later. It would not be appropriate, given the norms of social
interaction in Second Life, for researchers to walk around repeatedly
broadcasting the fact that they might be saving anything typed by the people
around them (that will effectively be taken care of by including the
information in their profiles). However, student researchers will respect any
requests to NOT save the text of any chats, and this will also be noted in the
profile information (see the end of this application for the text to be included
in each student researcher’s profile).
When conducting formal interviews, participants will be given a “note” (to use the
lingo of Second Life) containing information about the research project and
the fact that the interviewer will be recording the text of the conversation
(see the end of this application for the text to be included in this note). No
formal interview will take place unless the participant first reads this and
then consents by typing a message to the researcher stating that “I agree to
participate in your study.”
Finally, researchers may use the “screen capture” function to save an image of
the animation they see on their computer screen, for illustrative purposes in
any publication resulting from this research.
6.3
How will the results of the study be disseminated (publication and presentation
of the research results)?
Students will use the results in their final papers for ANTH 801 and will submit the
results for publication to an academic journal or magazine of their choice.
Dr Lisa Wynn will describe the general results of this class exercise and the other
class research projects on Culture Matters, the Anthropology Department
blog, and in a paper to be submitted for publication to a journal on
pedagogy.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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6.4
Do you intend to present data relating to specific individuals (eg. Quotes, video
clips, audio excerpts) in presentations or publications?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide details below.
If students use quotes from specific individuals in their research papers, they will
be used in de-identified form and with no identifying details included.
When Dr Wynn describes the project on Culture Matters or in a publication, the
project will be described as a whole and without identifying individual
students, unless they choose and consent to be identified (and consent will
be sought at that time from students).
6.5
How will the confidentiality of data collected/disseminated, including the
identity of participants, be ensured (this includes data referred to in 6.2
above)?
There are two layers of confidentiality that will be involved in this study. First, all
players of Second Life use “screen names” within Second Life, and it is rare
for a player’s profile to contain their real life name, so researchers will not
know the real names of Second Life players. Further, when writing about
Second Life, students will not use those screen names, but will use
pseudonyms. They will also change identifying information to protect
confidentiality, following standard anthropological practice: for example,
they would never write “Person X, who in Second Life owns a disco on the
island called Kane.” In sum, there is almost no potential risk for a breach of
confidentiality or invasion of privacy.
6.6
Give details of how feedback or results will be made available to individual
participants or, if relevant, to other groups. If no feedback is planned, a
justification for this must be provided.
Results of the class exercise will be described on Culture Matters and this will be
noted in the I/C note for participants and in the researchers’ profiles.
6.7 Are you planning to retain the data for the minimum period of 5 years from
the most recent publication of the research?
NO
YES
If you answered NO please explain why not.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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6.8
Provide details about where the data will be securely stored while the project
is ongoing and after it is completed (eg. will it be stored in a locked filing
cabinet in the researcher's University office, in a locked cabinet in the
researcher's home office?).
Students will be instructed to retain all digital data on password-protected
computers or computer disks/drives.
6.9
Who will have access to the data (eg. Researcher, supervisor, other
researchers not stated on the application, any other third party)?
Students who are conducting this research project (their names will be submitted
to the Ethics Secretariat by August 15th, after they have decided which
research project they want to do for this class). Supervisor Dr Lisa Wynn
may access the data on request.
6.10 Is there any possibility that information of a personal nature could be revealed
to persons not directly connected with this project?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide details.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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SECTION 7: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION AND CONSENT
7.1
Will written consent be obtained?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, attach a copy of the Information and Consent Form.
(Note that two copies of the consent form must be signed, with the
participant and the investigator each retaining one of the copies.)
7.2
Will the consent of minors participating in the research be obtained?
Note: In projects involving children, parents should be asked to discuss the study
with their children/child before signing the consent form, and researchers should
obtain verbal consent from the child at the time the research is undertaken. For
studies involving adolescents, written consent should normally be obtained from a
parent/guardian and children. Researchers should also ensure they have read the
guidelines, “Guidelines For Obtaining Consent In Research Involving Child Or
Adolescent Participants” located at:
(http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/consentadolesc
entschild).
NO
7.3
YES
NA
(go to Q7.3)
In the case of participants for whom competence in English is not adequate for
informed consent, what arrangements have been made to ensure
comprehension of the Participant Information & Consent Form?
Interviews will be conducted only in English, unless the student researcher
speaks another language and encounters someone else in Second Life who
is using that language and they decide to converse in that language. The
lingua franca of Second Life is English.
7.4
(a)
Please indicate whether the following details have been provided in your
Information Statement and Consent Form.
YES NO
N/A
i. A short title for the project
ii. A brief statement of the aims of the research
iii. The names of the researchers, their Department affiliations
and contact telephone numbers. If you intend to provide
participants with your home phone number, please indicate
why this is necessary in the space provided in 7.4 (b) below.
iv. Acknowledgment that the research is “being conducted to
meet the requirements for the degree of (name of degree)
under the supervision of (Supervisor’s name, contact
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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telephone number and Department affiliation)”
v. An explanation of what each participant is expected to do
and an estimate of the time commitment involved
vi. An acknowledgment of any recording using audio-tapes,
videotapes, or photographs and explanation of how this
material will be used
vii. An objective statement of any risks or discomforts
viii. Any payment of money or other remuneration, e.g. course
ix.
x.
xi.
xii.
credits
Information about how confidentiality of the data will be
maintained, i.e. how privacy will be maintained, who, if
anyone, will have access to the data other than the
researchers/supervisor and for what purpose, the form in
which the data will be published.
Any plans to make the data available in de-identified form to
other researchers (other than those listed on this application
form) in the future.
Information about how participants can obtain feedback
regarding the results of the research.
An acknowledgement of any sources of funding for the
research, including commercial or other sponsors.
YES NO
xiii. A statement indicating that participation is voluntary and
guaranteeing participants the right to withdraw from further
participation at any time without having to give a reason
and without adverse consequence
NOTE 1. The statement about withdrawal is N/A for studies
using anonymous questionnaires.
NOTE 2. Macquarie University students who receive course
credits for their participation must be assured in writing in the
consent form that they will not forfeit their course credits if they
choose to withdraw from the research
N/A
xiv. A signed statement of agreement to participate in the
research, e.g., “I agree to participate in this research," with
the consent form signed and dated by the participant and
signed and dated by the investigator or other witness.
xv. A statement indicating that the participant has been given a
signed copy of the consent form to keep.
xvi. A footnote regarding complaint procedures as follows:
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the
Macquarie University Ethics Review Committee (Human
Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about any
ethical aspect of your participation in this research, you may
contact the Committee through the Research Ethics Officer
(telephone [02] 9850 7854, fax [02] 9850 8799, email:
ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in
confidence and investigated, and you will be informed of the
outcome
(b)
If you answered NO to any of the above please provide details below:
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It is not at this time possible to virtually sign a consent form. However, the
information “note” to be given to each participant will state, “You can keep
the “notecard” on which this information sheet appears. Because there is
currently no way to sign a notecard in Second Life, by typing
_______[student researcher’s avatar’s name]___ a message saying ‘I agree
to participate in your study,’ you are saying that you understand this
information and consent to participate.”
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SECTION 8: POSSIBLE CONFLICT OF INTEREST
8.1
In undertaking this research do any “conflict of interest” issues arise? (For
instance, is the researcher in a dual role such as researcher/teacher,
researcher/carer, researcher/employer? Does the researcher have access to
personal files/databases as a condition of employment rather than as a
researcher?).
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide details of the conflict of interest and
considerations or mechanisms in place to address these issues.
8.2
Will this research be undertaken on behalf of (or at the request of) a
commercial entity, or any other sponsor?
NO
8.3
Do the researchers have any affiliation with or financial involvement in any
organisation or entity with direct or indirect interests in the subject matter or
materials of this research?
NO
8.4
YES
Do the researchers expect to obtain any direct or indirect financial or other
benefits from conducting this project? (Note that such benefits should be
included in the Information Statement and Consent Form).
NO
8.5
YES
YES
Have conditions been imposed upon the use, publication or ownership of the
results including the review of data, manuscript draft or scientific
presentation by any other party than the listed researchers?
(Note: The Committee is unlikely to approve arrangements that involve the
censorship of research findings in publications.)
NO
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20
SECTION 9: OTHER ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
9.1 Are there any further ethical considerations that you wish to raise?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, detail what these considerations are.
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SECTION 10: DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
10.1 Describe the aims and objectives of the project and the methods to be used.
Include a description of the participant sample, and tasks, measures, and
procedures. Write in plain English using no more than two pages (font size not
less than 12 point).
This application seeks conditional approval from the ethics committee for graduate
research project to be completed as a requirement for ANTH 801, Methodology in
Local and Community Studies, convened by Dr Lisa Wynn. The purpose of the
assignment is to ground the theoretical texts we will be reading in class with a
hands-on project that will help students to concretely understand anthropological
methodologies by implementing them in their own research.
Attached to this application are the relevant pages from the course outline, the entirety of
which is available online at
http://www.anth.mq.edu.au/maa/unit_pages/801/ANTH801-syllabus-revised-0608.pdf. We will spend the first two weeks in class extensively discussing the ethics
of human subjects research with an in-class presentation by Dr Wynn of some of
the complicated issues pertaining to informed consent.
As soon as students select a research project from the four suggested research projects,
which they will be required to do by Week 2 of the course (14 August), I will
submit to the Ethics Secretariat a list of student names and which project each will
be undertaking. All students who opt to undertake one of these research projects
will be required to write their own ethics application form which I will review.
This is to give them experience in the process of ethics applications for human
research, and it will also give me something to assess their comprehension of the
ethical issues involved in their particular research project.
I have deliberately kept the parameters of this research project as open as possible within
certain constraints meant to guide ethical research practice. This is so that students
can take the research project in their own direction, depending on their research
interests. What may therefore appear to be a very broad research design in this
application will subsequently be narrowed down considerably by individual student
researchers. In their mock ethics application that they submit to me, they will
submit a list of questions that they intend to use to guide interviews. I will submit
these interview questions to the Ethics Committee along with the students’ names.
Students will use sample information sheets and scripts for including in their avatar
profiles, which I have included in this application. No research will begin until the
Ethics Committee has approved the lists of questions provided by the students.
If, in their mock ethics application that they submit to me, students propose any
modifications to the research project as it has been described here, then I will
submit an amended ethics application form reflecting these changes, and no
research will be undertaken until approval has been received from the ethics
committee for the modifications.
Below is a short description of the proposed research project. More details, including
references, can be found in the course outline.
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A VIRTUAL ONLINE SOCIAL WORLD
Tom Boellstorff (2008) poses this question: “How is everything from identity and
community to property, place, and politics shaped the fact that human beings can how
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live parts of their lives in virtual worlds?” Some of the potential research questions
raised by cybersociality in online virtual worlds like Second Life include the following:
- How are social norms enforced and violated, and how does that contribute to a sense of
community?
- What does identity mean in a massive multiplayer online role playing game when
people can have alts (secondary accounts not linked to their primary avatar, or animated
representative), or more than one person can control an avatar?
- What does embodiment mean in Second Life, where you can change your gender, body
type, skin color, and even species at will, where other players can even *give* you a
new body type to “wear,” and you can buy a penis to use for cybersex? Do people
change certain aspects of appearance (such as clothes or hair style ) more than others
(such as body shape or gender)? How often to people change their appearance? To
what extent does an avatar’s appearance influence how people interact with that avatar?
- What religious or cultural rituals do people engage in, in cyberspace?
- What are the social norms for gift-giving and reciprocity in cyberspace, and how does
this contribute to community and sociability in cyber worlds?
- Are there coercive exchanges, and how are they handled or talked about?
- How does partnering occur in Second Life? Do virtual partners know each other in real
life, and if not, how does it impinge on their real life worlds? What is the interface
between Second Life and “real life”? Without probing this specifically by asking
people about their offline personas (to avoid violating their privacy), this can be studied
by paying close attention to whether people talk about their offline lives (and how
often).
Methods and Informed Consent: This topic will be studied through a combination of
participant observation and interviews or focus groups. Student researchers will
create an avatar and spend time in the Second Life world, engaging in typical
activities (walking and flying around, meeting people and chatting, attending events
such as concerts and lectures, going to malls, etc.). As they participate in these
worlds, researchers will examine how social relations are being formed and in what
ways they differ from social relations in the real world. After they have gained
rapport with other individuals through participant observation, they will invite
individuals to participate in interviews and focus groups for targeted discussions of
specific research issues. Elsewhere in this application (sections 6.2 and 6.5), I have
described the mechanisms in place to protect people’s privacy and ensure informed
consent in participant observation, interviews, and focus groups.
Privacy / Confidentiality: In interviews and focus groups, researchers may inquire about
broad demographic characteristics of the real-life people behind the avatar such as
gender, age, and country where they live (to understand how far from reality people
tend to deviate when creating their avatar), but their real life names, addresses, or
any other identifying information will not be sought, and if interviewees prefer to
not discuss their “real life,” then that will be respected by the researcher. When
interviewing, researchers will use Second Life’s “chat” function so that no one else
will see what is being typed, and in focus groups, the “group chat” function will be
used, which restricts visibility of what is being typed to the designated group.
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SECTION 11: SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION
11.1 Have you included the following support documents with your application?
YES
NO
NA
a. copies of any correspondence with other institutions
or ethics committees
b. a copy of the contract if this is contracted research
(refer Q1.2 (d)
c. copies of relevant pages of your grant application
(refer Q1.8 (e)
d. copies of Information and Consent Forms (Note that
the consent form is to be printed on Macquarie
University (or other appropriate) letterhead only
AFTER it has been approved
e. copies of any interviews, questionnaires, or surveys to
be used
f. copies of any participant recruitment advertisements
[here I have included the text to be included in the
profiles of student researchers]
g. APPENDIX A
h. APPENDIX B
i. APPENDIX C
j. APPENDIX D
k. APPENDIX E
l. APPENDIX F
m. APPENDIX G
n. APPENDIX H
In reference to response “No” for “e. copies of any interviews …to be used”:
Please note: once students who select this research project have come up with
their own list of questions (guided by the broader research questions that I
have included here), I will forward these to the Ethics Committee for
approval before research begins.
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT THE APPENDICES THAT ARE RELEVANT TO YOUR
RESEARCH. IF THEY ARE NOT RELEVANT TO YOUR RESEARCH DO NOT
COMPLETE THEM AND DO NOT INCLUDE THOSE PAGES IN YOUR APPLICATION.
REMOVE THOSE PAGES BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION. IF IN DOUBT
CONTACT THE RESEARCH ETHICS OFFICER, on ethics.secretariat@vc.mq.edu.au
or phone (02) 9850 6848.
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SECTION 12: CERTIFICATION
12.1 To the best of my belief the proposed project conforms in all respects with the
National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans.
Information about and links to legislation, guidelines and codes governing
research with humans is available at:
http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/forms
Signed:
Name (block letters):
Date:
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Relevant sections from ANTH 801 course outline
(outline in its entirety is available online at
http://www.anth.mq.edu.au/maa/unit_pages/801/ANTH801-syllabus-revised-06-08.pdf :
WEEK 1 – INTRODUCTION
7 August 2008
Introductions and talking about course projects. One of the major goals I have as a
teacher is to see my students publish. There are countless journals out there (Sage alone
publishes 470 journals!), and a requirement of this course is that you do an original
research project and submit your final paper for publication somewhere. You can write a
paper as an individual or a group. You don’t have to get it published, but you do have to
submit to get full credit on your paper! We’ll talk about journals, about social science
writing and publishing, and make concrete plans to work toward that goal. See the end of
this course outline for suggested research projects.
Human Research Ethics
To do a research project involving human subjects, you will need to get approval from
the university’s human ethics review panel. If you are doing a project that does not
involve protected subjects (including but not limited to children, the mentally
incapacitated, the incarcerated, and Aboriginal Australians) or investigation into any
illegal activity, then this is typically a quick review and can take as little as a month to
receive approval. Otherwise it can take somewhat longer.
If you choose your own research project, you’ll need to work quickly to get human ethics
review board approval for your research project in this class. One way around this is to
make your research project for this class connect with your thesis project. If you’ve
already gotten ethics approval for your thesis, then you can use it for this research as long
as you’re not doing anything substantially different than what you outlined in your
original application for ethics approval. Even if you are planning on doing something
different, as long as it still ties in with your thesis project, you can simply file an
amended application. Otherwise, you will need to submit your ethics application to me
by the SECOND WEEK OF CLASS.
If you decide to do one of the pre-approved, suggested research topics, then there will be
less lag time waiting for ethics approval before you can start your research. We’ll discuss
research topics and the human research ethics approval process in class.
JOURNAL: Write a description, 1-2 pages long, of your research topic. In it, you should:
1) briefly describe the project and some broad theoretical questions that relate to it. (For
example, you could ask: What is the interface between “real life” and virtual social
worlds in online social games? How do new technologies such as cell phones extend
or modify existing cultural norms and social networks?) See the list of suggested
research project topics at the end of this course outline for some ideas.
2) Specifically, you should identify: What is the value of this research? What will it tell
us that is new?
3) What are the specific methods that you anticipate using to study this research project?
If doing interviews, how will you approach research participants? 1 and 2 should
basically be a draft of section 10.1 from the ethics review application form – see
http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics
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4) Are there any risks to your informants? How will you ensure the confidentiality and
safety of yourself and your research informants? This relates to concrete practices:
how will you protect their identities as you do your research (in terms of how you
store the data and using pseudonyms for transcribing interviews or writing fieldnotes)
and when you write up the final results in a paper (in terms of not just pseudonyms
but changing any identifying feature)? Where will you interact with your informants?
(e.g. will you keep interactions in public spaces and a cell phone with you at all
times?)
5) How will you ensure informed consent of your informants? In particular, think about
how you can do this if one of your methodologies is participant observation of your
own every day life (for example, if you’re researching the social implications of cell
phone use) – at what point do you bring up your research topic with your friendsinformants, how do you minimize pressure on them to feel like they have to cooperate
with you in pursuing your research agenda, and what will you do if they don’t want
you to write about them? Will you used signed informed consent sheets? Or is there
some compelling reason why it would be preferable to obtain oral, rather than written,
consent?
6) Finally, you should draft a list of sample questions that you plan to ask your
informants, either informally as you interact with them in everyday life, or in a formal
interview context. Come up with a list of at least 10 questions.
Be concise and think through the ethical research implications of your research project.
What you should aim for is a research project that poses no risks to your research
participants/ informants beyond slight annoyance. If you think that your project carries
greater risk than this, you should come talk to me about it and we can write a separate
ethics application that takes these special circumstances into account.
Next week: a draft of your human subjects ethics application is due (electronic
format!)
WEEK 2 – DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES AND ETHICS: WHAT DISTINGUISHES
ANTHROPOLOGY FROM...?
14 August
Readings:




Rena Lederman, “Introduction: Anxious borders between work and life in a time
of bureaucratic ethics regulation,” and
Rena Lederman, “The perils of working at home: IRB ‘mission creep’ as context
and content for an ethnography of disciplinary knowledges.” American
Ethnologist 33(4): 477-491 (November 2006).
Daniel Bradburd, “Fuzzy Boundaries and Hard Rules: Unfunded Research and the
IRB.” American Ethnologist 33(4): 492-498 (November 2006).
American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics
Class discussion: led by ______________________&___________________________
JOURNAL: By this week, you should have formulated your research project or site and
submitted a draft of your ethics application to me (for those of you who have picked an
independent research project). This should be in electronic, NOT paper, format. During
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the week, I will read these and return with edits, comments, and suggestions for revision.
A finalized version must be submitted by Week 3 (again in electronic format).
Class discussion:
1) Research topics – from broad rubrics to an actionable research project
2) PowerPoint presentation: Two ways of looking at “informed consent” (ppt
presentation and background readings, by Brooke Ronald Johnson and Francine
van den Borne, will be available on Blackboard)
Section of course outline that discusses research project:
1. AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A VIRTUAL ONLINE SOCIAL WORLD
[Note: the virtual world proposed for study here is Second Life, because we are
reading an ethnography of Second Life and because Linden Labs, the owners of SL,
have an explicit policy allowing researchers to study SL after they have obtained
consent from their local institutional ethics review committees. However, if you want
to explore another virtual world or tool such as World of Warcraft or Sim City, you
may do so but you will have to get the written approval of the owner(s) of the
computer program (this can be in the form of an e-mail) and provide this to the
Macquarie Ethics Committee as an addendum to the basic ethics application before
you may begin research.]
Tom Boellstorff poses this question: “How is everything from identity and
community to property, place, and politics shaped the fact that human beings can how
live parts of their lives in virtual worlds?” For this research project, you should pick
an online social community and then think: methodologically, how would I research
this world?
There’s been quite a bit of research already being done on virtual social worlds (see
Boellstorff’s book, Coming of Age in Second Life, for a literature review). Your
challenge is to design a research project to narrowly examine one specific,
interesting question. Here are some suggestions:
- How are social norms enforced and violated, and how does that contribute to a
sense of community?
- What does identity mean in a massive multiplayer online role playing game when
people can have alts or more than one person can control an avatar or toon?
- What does embodiment mean in Second Life, where you can change your gender,
body type, and skin color at will, where other players can even *give* you a new
body type to “wear,” and you can buy a penis to use for cybersex? Do people
change certain aspects of appearance – clothes, adornment, etc – more than others
(e.g. body parts, skin color)? How often to people change their appearance? To
what extent does an avatar’s appearance influence how people interact with that
avatar? (This is something that Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson have studied
with interesting results: see Dusan Writer, http://dusanwriter.com/?p=237 : “Nick
Yee studied what he called the Proteus Effect of avatar appearance and
representation on how we act and behave in virtual worlds. His study found, for
example, that people with more attractive avatars were more intimate in self
disclosure and interpersonal distance than those with less attractive avatars. Also,
people with taller avatars behaved more confidently in a negotiation task than
those assigned shorter avatars.”)
- What religious or cultural rituals do people engage in, in cyberspace?
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-
-
What are the social norms for gift-giving in cyberspace, what are the norms of
reciprocity, and how does this contribute to community and sociability in cyber
worlds? (See the Daedalus Project, http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/ : a
researcher – not an anthropologist – has surveyed players of MMORPGs and
found that when players recount one of the most memorable things that have
happened to them online, they often talk about the generosity and kindness of
other players who give them things for free and advise them on how to master that
social world.)
Are there coercive exchanges (c.f. Dibbell, below), and how are they handled or
talked about?
Or you could study partnering in Second Life: How does it happen, did online
partners previously know each other in real life, and if not, how does it impinge
on their real life worlds? What is the interface between Second Life and “real
life”? Without probing this specifically by asking people about their offline
personas (since you want to avoid violating their privacy), you might want to pay
close attention to whether people talk about their offline lives (and how often), or
do they avoid letting their offline lives impinge on their Second Life?
Some recommended readings / resources:











Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and SocialistFeministm in the Late Twentieth Century.” In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women:
The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge, 1991, pp.149-181.
Arturo Escobar, 1994. “Welcome to Cyberia: Notes on the Anthropology of
Cyberculture.” Current Anthropology 35(3): 211-231.
Julian Dibbell, “A Rape in Cyberspace,” in My Tiny Life, 1998, available online
at http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html.
Vili Lehdonvirta, 2008. “Virtual Worlds Don’t Exist.” Paper presented at
Breaking the Magic Circle, Tampere, Finland, 10-11 April 2008. Available online
at http://virtual-economy.org/files/Lehdonvirta-VWDE.pdf (retrieved June 17,
2008).
Radhika Gajjala, Introduction and Chapters 1-2, Cyber Selves: Feminist
Ethnographies of South Asian Women. Alta Mira Press, 2004, pp.1-27
Tom Boellstorff, 2008. Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist
Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
If you decide to do research on Second Life, Tom Boellstorff has set up a virtual
space within Second Life for anthropologists doing research ON Second Life:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/anteater%20island/72/107/24/ . See also recent
discussions about Boellstorff’s book on http://www.savageminds.org .
Tom Boellstorff, 2006. “A Ludicrous Discipline? Ethnography and Game
Studies.” Games and Culture 1(1):29-35.
Danah Boyd lists and links to her publications on Friendster, Flickr, and
Facebook: http://www.danah.org/papers/
Lila Abu-Lughod, 1997. “The interpretation of culture(s) after television.”
Representations 59:109-134.
Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson, n.d. “The Proteus Effect: The Effect of
Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior.” In press in Human
Communication Research (see
http://www.nickyee.com/pubs/Yee%20&%20Bailenson%20%20Proteus%20Effect%20(in%20press).pdf ).
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











N. Baym, 1995. “The emergence of community in computer mediated
communication.” In S.G. Jones (ed.) Cybersociety: Computer Mediated
Communication and Community. Sage, pp.138-163.
S. Correll, 1995. “The ethnography of an electronic bar: the Lesbian Cafe.”
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 24(3):270-298.
D. Heath, 1997. “Locating genetic knowledge: picturing Marfan syndrome and
its travelling constituencies.” Science, Technology and Human Values 23(1):7197.
S.G. Jones, 1995. Cybersociety: Computer Mediated Communication and
Community. Sage.
George Marcus, 1995. “Ethnography in/of the world system: the emergence of
multi-sited ethnography.” Annual Review of Anthropology 24:95-117.
J. Radway, 1988. “Reception study: ethnography and the problem of dispersed
audiences and nomadic subjects.” Cultural Studies 2(3):359-376.
E. Reid, 1995. “Virtual worlds: culture and imagination.” In S.G. Jones (ed.)
Cybersociety: Computer Mediated Communication and Community. Sage,
pp.164-183.
Christine Hine, 2000. Virtual Ethnography. Sage.
Chris Kelty, 2005. “Geeks, Social Imaginaries, and Recursive Publics.” Cultural
Anthropology 20(2): 185-214.
A few anthro blog entries on the topic:
http://neuroanthropology.net/2007/12/30/avatars-and-cultural-creole/
http://facebookproject.blogspot.com/
http://xirdal.lmu.de/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2007/05/23
.
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Sample Information Note for Student Researchers to give to potential research participants to
review prior to conducting any formal interview or focus group.
Study information sheet for “An Ethnography of an Online Social World”
Researcher: ____[name of student researcher AND student researcher’s avatar]_____,
Student in the Masters of Applied Anthropology program of Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia – phone ___________________, e-mail ___________________.
Research supervisor: Dr Lisa Wynn, Department of Anthropology (phone +61-2-98508095, e-mail lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au).
You are invited to participate in a research study about social life inside of Second Life.
The research procedure involves an interview that will last approximately 30-45 minutes.
With your permission, the interview will be cut-and-pasted from the “history” window of
the Second Life interface into a password-protected database.
The only foreseeable discomfort associated with this study is the invasion of your
privacy. There are no direct benefits from participating in the study. However, this study
may help explain what new kinds of social relations are taking form in online
environments like Second Life, and how they are similar to and different from forms of
social life in the real world.
Participation in this study is voluntary. You may refuse to participate or discontinue your
involvement at any time without penalty. You may choose to skip a question as well as
ask me not to include some or all of your responses in the text that I paste into my
database. Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are
confidential. No individual will be identified in any presentation of the results. I will
never use your real screen name in any publications resulting from this study, and I will
not be asking you for your real-life name. The only people who will have access to the
data are myself and the research supervisor.
My findings will be used for a research paper to be submitted for publication. Dr Wynn
will post the general results of the class projects on the website Culture Matters
(http://culturematters.wordpress.com) where you can read about it.
You can keep the “notecard” on which this information sheet appears. Because there is
currently no way to sign a notecard in Second Life, by typing _______[student
researcher’s avatar’s name]___ a message saying ‘I agree to participate in your study,’
you are saying that you understand this information and consent to participate.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review
Committee (Human Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical aspect of your
participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics Review Committee through its Secretary
(telephone 9850 7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence
and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
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Text to be included in any student researcher’s profile:
I am a student in the Masters of Applied Anthropology program of Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia, e-mail ___________________. I am taking a class in research
methods (ANTH 801, Methodology in Local and Community Studies) with Dr Lisa
Wynn, Department of Anthropology (phone +61-2-9850-8095, e-mail
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au), and as part of this class, I am studying social life inside of
Second Life.
Most of what I do here in Second Life is what anthropologists call “participant
observation.” That is, I just go about my normal business, doing things in Second Life
and talking to people, and through this I gain insights into the social world of Second
Life. Sometimes I also conduct formal interviews and focus groups with Second Life
residents.
As part of my participant observation, I may cut-and-paste the text of any local chats that
I participate in or “overhear” in order to analyze and describe them later in my research
paper. Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are
confidential. No individual will be identified in any presentation of the results. I will
never use anyone’s real screen name in any publications resulting from this study, and I
will not ask anyone for their real-life name. The only people who will have access to the
data are myself and the research supervisor.
If you do not want me to record any conversations, or any part of a conversation, please
let me know and I will respect that. If you do not want to be included in this study, send
me a message telling me this and I will not include any information about you in my
study. And if you have any questions or comments about this study, I’d love to hear
them!
My findings will be used for a research paper to be submitted for publication. Dr Wynn
will post the general results of the class projects on the website Culture Matters
(http://culturematters.wordpress.com) where you can read about it.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics
Review Committee (Human Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about
any ethical aspect of your participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics
Review Committee through its Secretary (telephone 9850 7854; email
ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence and
investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
32