Hello,

Provided it is stated that responses to a question/topic are for research purposes is assumed consent not appropriate? If so anonymity should be assured as is usual when analysing and reporting on qualitative data? 

Teresa Kelly



>-----Original Message-----
>From: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health
>research. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>Scamell, Amanda
>Sent: 10 December 2010 18:27
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Ethical use of on-line and email list discussions
>
>Hi Jane,
>
>Thanks for that clarification.
>
>I had actually read those guidelines a some time ago and while they
>appear to confirm the 'fair game' principle in relation to public domain
>material, I was fascinated by the way that concerns for authorship
>copyright can disturb interests in confidentiality and anonymity in
>relation to using such material as research data.  From my limited
>reading of the literature on this issue, this is a prevalent disconnect
>which appears to complicate things even further!  I would be very
>interested to hear how other list users feel about this apparent
>disconnect.
>
>
>Mandie Scamell
>
>
>_________________________
>From: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health
>research. [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sandall, Jane
>[[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 10 December 2010 16:58
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Ethical use of on-line and email list discussions
>
>Dear All
>Listmembers who are interested in this topic should consult the JISCMAIL
>guidelines here
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
>
> *   The list is hosted by JISCMail which is a service which runs
>mailing lists for the benefit of the UK Higher and Further Education and
>Research Community
>
>*         You give JISCMail permission to reproduce, deliver, distribute
>and archive your message as appropriate, and you agree that other
>JISCMail users may read, save, download or print your message.
>
> *   Messages sent to a JISCMail list will normally be archived on the
>list's homepage which is publicly accessible
>
>*         Sending a message to a public discussion list has been
>compared to sending a letter to the editor of a newsletter. This would
>be regarded as intended for publication (an implied licence) unless
>there was clear evidence to the contrary. When you send a message to a
>public discussion list, you should be aware that:
>
> *   Other members of the list may keep a copy of the message
> *   The message may be archived and be accessible via a website
> *   The message may be forwarded to other interested parties
> *   Parts of the message may be quoted in discussion. This is
>implicitly allowed as being reasonable use of a mailing list and to the
>benefit of all list members. It does not mean that you lose copyright
>Moral Rights - When you send a message to a public discussion list,
>certain 'moral rights' apply. Although your message may be widely
>disseminated, you have a right to expect the following:
>
> *   The message is not changed or reworded if forwarded - messages sent
>to a closed mailing list or to an individual should never be forwarded
>without the author's permission
> *   Your message is not quoted out of context. - it is not acceptable
>to quote, or misquote, part of a message in such a way that it misleads
>people and damages the reputation of the original sender
> *   Attribution is given to the author - the name of the original
>sender should always be acknowledged. Any appended copyright notice
>should be respected
>
>*         More information about copyright is available at
>http://www.JISCMail.ac.uk/help/policy/copyright.htm
>The list web page is here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-
>bin/webadmin?A0=midwifery-research
>Regards
>Jane Sandall
>List-owner
>
>Professor Jane Sandall
>Professor of Social Science and Women's Health
>Programme Director (Innovations)
>NIHR King's Patient Safety and Service Quality Research Centre
>Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences
>King's College London School of Medicine
>King's College, London
>Floor 7, Capital House, 42 Weston St
>London SE1 3QD, UK
>Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 6261
>Mobile: +44(0)7713743150
>e-mail:[log in to unmask]
>http://www.kingspssq.org.uk/
>http://myprofile.cos.com/sandall
>http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/campuses/guys.html
>
>
>
>From: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health
>research. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>Marianne Mead
>Sent: 10 December 2010 14:16
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Ethical use of on-line and email list discussions
>
>It is possible that the message that appears when one joins the list
>does indicate that any message could be used in the context of research
>by anyone.  I have no idea as I can't remember, but if it does not, then
>people would not really be aware of this possibilty.  So I would still
>opt for asking individuals if their message could be used.  An
>alternative would be to state very clearly that content could be used
>for research and perhaps this could be added as an automatic signature
>at the end of each message sent via JISCMAIL.
>
>I am aware of an author who used the content of messages on another
>list, without consent, and this was resented quite strongly.  It was a
>support group list and so perhaps a lot less acceptable, but even so, I
>would favour consent wherever possible.
>
>Marianne
>
>________________________________
>From: Carolyn Roth <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Friday, 10 December, 2010 8:14:43
>Subject: Re: Ethical use of on-line and email list discussions
>
>While  Sarah you are probably right 'de jure', I agree with Marianne
>that since it is possible to confirm consent with individual
>ocrrespondents and to confirm their preference with respect to
>identification, it would be both ethical and courteous to seek to do so.
>
>Good luck with the research Robyn.
>
>Carolyn Roth
>
>Lead Midwife for Education
>
>Keele University, School of Nursing & Midwifery
>
>Clinical Education Centre
>
>Newcastle Road
>
>Stoke on Trent
>
>ST4 6QG, UK
>
>
>
>Tel. 01782 556698
>
>On 09/12/2010 22:35, Sarah Stewart wrote:
>Hello Marianne
>
>I agree with you, except that the archives of this list can be viewed by
>anyone - you do not have to be a member of this list to see the content
>of emails. That puts the list in the public domain and "fair game" for
>research. If it was a completely closed list, that would be a different
>matter.
>
>regards Sarah
>
>On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Marianne Mead
><[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>Dear Robyn,
>
>It is true to a certain extent that the content of the JISCMAIL lists
>are in the public domain, but not absolutely, given that you must join
>the list to be able to post and get the information.  On the other hand,
>I would argue that research participants ought to be able to consent to
>take part in research wherever possible.  In this case, even if you do
>state that the information you seek is in the context of your PhD, I do
>not remember that you stated that the questions were posed as research
>questions to potential research participants.  In this case, you do have
>the information that you asked for and you can identify the individuals
>who posted and I would therefore suggest that it would be right to ask
>these participants if they would consent to the content of their
>communication to be used.
>
>You still have the issue of the identity of the individual - to identify
>or not.  I can't imagine that too many people would not give consent for
>the content to be used, but that does ot necessarily mean that they may
>wish to be identified; after all, academic writing is probably a little
>different from interest lists.  It may be that people may prefer to
>complete the statements they made, or reference them, or perhaps not be
>identified.
>
>It will be interesting to see what others think.
>
>Marianne
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Robyn Maude [CCDHB]
><[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
>To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:MIDWIFERY-
>[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, 9 December, 2010 21:19:27
>Subject: Ethical use of on-line and email list discussions
>
>Mandie said - "For example can JISC discussions be used as a measure of
>midwifery discourse?"
>
>This is an area that I currently seeking guidance from my ethics
>committee about and would be interested to get feedback from the group.
>
>I am doing my PhD on intermittent auscultation and over the years (mid
>2007, 2009 and again this year) have triggered a couple of threads
>around this issue and fetal monitoring in general. There has been a
>significant amount of debate all of which is amazingly interesting in
>terms of getting a wide range of opninions from midwives and researchers
>around the world - almost like an eDelphi in a lot of ways.
>
>When posting on the JISCMAIL lists I have been clear about my PhD
>candidacy status and the questions I am asking in that context. I email
>the list moderator a while back to seek clarification regarding the
>ability to use the material from the discussions and was told it was in
>the public domain and could be referenced as personal communication - I
>am not sure about this without going back to the individual who make the
>comment - so any further advice on this is of value
>
>
>Robyn Maude
>
>
>
>--
>Sarah Stewart
>Educational Facilitator and Consultant
>http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com
>Skype: sarah.m.stewart
>Twitter: SarahStewart
>Second Life: Petal Stransky
>+64 27 7379998