[Last modified: December, 5 2024 03:11 PM]
The social lives and technology use of elderly people in a London Community centre— A student wants to investigate how improving computer literacy and learning to use online tools affects the social lives of elderly people (those over 65 years old) in London. The research will involve volunteering at computer literacy courses in a community centre. Methods will include participant-observation, structured interviews, social diagrams and asking participants to keep a diary.
- What ethical issues (if any) arise from this project? How should they be addressed?
- Ethical issues that might arise from this project might include a misunderstanding of digital literacy as the research group includes the elderly lives of older people. What defines “improving computer literacy” and which online tools does the research intend to explore? I would begin with these preliminary questions before going further.
- What data protection issues (if any) arise from this project?
- All aspects of the proposed methods contain personal, sensitive information of participants (particularly the social diagrams and participant diaries). Data should be, at minimum, pseudonymized – I find that full anonymization of these data points could further the protection of participants without obscuring the questions/findings. In any case, proper care should be taken with regards to sensitive information – secure data storage practices and thorough anonymi/pseudonymization should be employed.
- Are there any problems around power / coercion?
- The student working as a volunteer as well as a researcher could lead to a power imbalance, as participants might feel more inclined to engage with the research due to the student’s status at the community center.
- Are ‘vulnerable’ individuals involved? Could the topic be considered sensitive?
- Participants above the age of 65 may or may not be considered vulnerable individuals. Consider physical or cognitive limitations/decline, the generational difference re: comfort using online tools/literacy — this is not an inherently sensitive topic, but be considered as such if not careful of these vulnerabilities regarding participants of an older age range, and more that I’ve not thought of.
- Should this be approved by the Anthropology Ethics Committee? Or should it go to UCL REC? Would it be considered low or high risk?
- This project is low risk. Still, the proposal must be reviewed and approved by the AEC due to lingering uncertainty regarding the vulnerability of an underrepresented population. A risk assessment form should be submitted alongside the proposal in order to prepare for potential risks and ethical issues that should be considered before collecting data.