Consumer researchers have manipulated pricing, packaging, product placement, etc and monitored purchasing patterns for decades, all without informed consent. For internal purposes, why should be expect informed consent for doing what we would have done anyway (shopped for a product - or used a website). I accept the argument that once the research was submitted for publication it should fall under higher scrutiny but under the conditions for waiving consent this study could qualify. Under 45 CFR 46.116 [D] an IRB may waive consent under the following: 1) The research involves no more than minimal risk to the subjects. 2) The waiver or alteration will not adversely affect the rights or welfare of the subjects. 3) The research could not practically be carried out without the waiver or alteration. 4) Whenever appropriate the subjects will be provided with additional pertinent information after participation.
Did this study pose no more than minimal risk? No Facebook and others already manipulate information flow on a number of factors I can't see that filtering poses any real risk. Did waiving the consent adversely affect the rights or welfare? This is, I presume, where others will argue their point. Site users have no rights because they accepted the terms and conditions. You don't have to like it but it is true. But what about welfare? Interestingly the results of the study provide the answer to this - the effect sizes are so small that it seems highly unlikely this was the case. Could the study be carried out without a waiver? No. Should they have provided subjects with additional information? Maybe but I can't think of what they would say. "Dear Facebook user, over the course of the last week you were a participant that filtered your newsfeed and diminished negative information you may wish to call your aunt Selma whose cat died and console your college roommate's son who broke up with his girlfriend." I think the far greater travesty in this Facebook study of emotion is that while we were all discussing the IRB and ethical issues of the research, we legitimized the idea that Facebook posts reflect actual human emotion. Around my house we call it Famotion (or fake emotion or Facebook emotion). "I'm so angry the coffee vendor forgot to add the carmel that I could just scream." I guess when it comes to crying over spilled milk, that is one thing you can do on Facebook and the world will listen. Doug Doug Peterson, PhD Associate Professor of Psychology The University of South Dakota Vermillion SD 57069 605.677.5295 ________________________________________ From: Mike Palij [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 3:13 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: [tips] Have You Participated In An Internet Experiment -- Without Informed Consent? The Facebook research study that caused much negative reaction raised the question of how often Facebook and other websites conducted such "research" without getting informed consent from the participants. The answer appears to have been given by the founder of the website OkCupid, Christian Rudder who writes: |We noticed recently that people didn't like it when Facebook |"experimented" with their news feed. Even the FTC is getting |involved. But guess what, everybody: if you use the Internet, |you're the subject of hundreds of experiments at any given time, |on every site. That's how websites work. He then goes on to describe three experiments conducted at the OkCupid's website; he provides this information in a blog entry on the OkCupid website; see: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/we-experiment-on-human-beings/ The issue of informed consent is never raised. It seems that the owner of a website can do whatever they want if a user agrees to the conditions for using the website. The is the price one pays for the using the website. Ah, the real world! -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12991.6a54289b29ceb58cb7609cc50e0dc1c8&n=T&l=tips&o=37736 or send a blank email to leave-37736-12991.6a54289b29ceb58cb7609cc50e0dc...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=37737 or send a blank email to leave-37737-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
