Spriggs Merle
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the University of Melbourne.
Monash Bioeth Rev. 2009 Dec;28(4):32.1-15.
Social networking sites such as MySpace and virtual communities such as on-line support groups can be a rich source of data for researchers. These sites can be an effective way of reaching and researching young people in order to address their particular health needs. Internet-based research is also potentially risky and exploitative. There is some guidance for conducting research online, but there are no detailed or universally accepted ethics guidelines for research of webspaces such as MySpace or virtual communities in which young people participate. One question that arises is--If MySpace is a public webspace, can research be done without consent? In this paper I investigate ethical issues surrounding young people's consent in cyber research. I identify issues that help determine whether consent is needed, offer suggestions for dealing with consent in cyberspace and add my voice to the call for a resource of case studies--indispensible in the development of guidelines and the education of researchers and research ethics committees.
像MySpace这样的社交网站以及诸如在线支持小组之类的虚拟社区，对于研究人员而言可能是丰富的数据来源。这些网站是接触和研究年轻人以满足其特定健康需求的有效途径。基于互联网的研究也存在潜在风险和剥削性。对于开展在线研究有一些指导意见，但对于像MySpace或年轻人参与的虚拟社区这类网络空间的研究，却没有详细的或被普遍接受的伦理准则。出现的一个问题是——如果MySpace是一个公共网络空间，未经同意能否进行研究？在本文中，我探讨围绕网络研究中年轻人同意的伦理问题。我确定有助于判定是否需要同意的问题，就如何在网络空间处理同意事宜提供建议，并呼吁建立一个案例研究资源库——这在制定准则以及研究人员和研究伦理委员会的教育方面不可或缺，我也为此发声。
