MLP Community Poll for Research paper

[Artemesia's Garden]

I don't want to pour water on your project, but there are some things missing from this.

It bothers me some that you haven't got a consent form, or any information on how data will be used/anonymised and stuff like the aims of your project. It's really important when you're gathering data to take into consideration ethical things like data protection and that your contributers are giving informed consent about what their information is being used for.

This would apply even in the case of a college research paper.

Agreed but I assumed it was anonymous? The web form didn't trigger any of my usual cookie alerts so I did wonder what data Google was skimming when I visited the page.

[Taffeta]

I don't want to pour water on your project, but there are some things missing from this.

It bothers me some that you haven't got a consent form, or any information on how data will be used/anonymised and stuff like the aims of your project. It's really important when you're gathering data to take into consideration ethical things like data protection and that your contributers are giving informed consent about what their information is being used for.

This would apply even in the case of a college research paper.

Agreed but I assumed it was anonymous? The web form didn't trigger any of my usual cookie alerts so I did wonder what data Google was skimming when I visited the page.

When I clicked on it it gave me my login email at the top of the page, because for prior work reasons I had google logged in.  So the form knew who I was. Because it had no disclosure or consent form, I didn't fill it in, so that information was automatically there just from loading the page.

The other flag, though, is that it is asking for opinions and comment, which is hard to anonymise. People can be identified by their opinions, and their data.

Because the OP didn't give any kind of outline about the aims of their project, nor how the data was going to be used, there's no way for anyone who filled in the form to know how that data would be used, either.

It could just as easily be used to defame the pony community, as to support or promote it. I'm not saying the OP intends to do that, but because everyone who filled in the form did so without any guidance on what it was for or how their data would be used, it's a genuine open question.

And the possibility of the report being later shared online...that's something else that shouldn't happen. Submitting a report to your class teacher with data that probably won't be seen by anyone else is one thing. Posting it online so the participants can see their own and other people's comments is definitely a problem. Especially if those comments were controversial and intended to be anonymous, but ended up being easy to identify. It could cause genuine hurt...because the OP didn't set proper boundaries about their work, who would see it and how those things would be handled.

Again, I'm not saying the OP means any harm, but these are basic things that should happen in every research project. Otherwise you're just giving someone free reign to use your opinions anywhere on the internet - possibly with the ability to link them to you directly.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I do understand why you're wary. It's a good learning point for anyone doing this kind of thing.

[Beth3346]

i did submit a response but TBH i feel that Google Forms should make it clear if data will be anonymized and/or prompt the person conducting the survey to add details about how the data will be used and stored. i noticed a privacy policy but that's more generic than i would hope.

i'm not sure how much control the OP has over what data google collects. generally if a form is tied to your gmail assume that some data is collected by google. i'm not sure if google forms is commonly used for academic research because i don't work in academia but if it is the goto platform i do have some concerns.

[Taffeta]

Well, research ethics apply with paper surveys or recordings as well, so it's not just a google data issue. While there may be additional considerations around how Google could use the information, the actual problem I want to highlight is that the researcher needs to outline the purpose of the survey and the way in which they intend to use the data. This would include who might see it, and where it might be shared, as well as how data would be anonymised and how people's contributions would be protected.

This is a baseline of what is appropriate when gathering data from live submissions.

It's not about personal caution, either. It's an academic requirement - also a matter of research integrity. Google could prompt the user to include that information, but most universities have their own ethics framework, which is really where any researcher ought to begin.

Although it's also never a good idea to fill in a questionnaire without knowing the purpose and how the data is going to be used. It's not worth the risk. And even though, probably, most of the data in this case is not massively risky, I wanted to flag it in case people encounter similar situations in other, more risky situations.

[Beth3346]

I agree Taffeta. I was just wondering if it's common to use Google forms for academic research. or if there are other tools.

[Artemesia's Garden]

Last time I did surveys, one was for a museum and we used Mail Chimp and the other time it was internal to an organisation so we used Microsoft Forms.  I think this discussion leads into extremely important questions about the rights and responsibilities we have as citizens in general. Polling booths are set up with great regard for the rights of voters. Also I remember that the whole scandal with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook originated in the misuse of personal data through a seemingly innocent web survey, so it is definitely a well recognised issue.

[Taffeta]

Exactly that.

It's just worth drawing attention to.

@Beth - I honestly don't know. When I did my research ethics training we looked at a lot of different mediums but not specifically to a company like Google. But I do remember that the onus is on the researcher in cases like this.

[NanoRuby]

The form said at the top that your email would not be recorded, so the data was anonymous. I remember checking for that first thing when I took it. And there weren't any particularly identifying questions in the survey to be concerned about in this case.

[Taffeta]

The form said at the top that your email would not be recorded, so the data was anonymous. I remember checking for that first thing when I took it. And there weren't any particularly identifying questions in the survey to be concerned about in this case.

It depends on whether you answered a question with your opinion about the pony community; those are identifying questions.

I suppose there is another way to put this.

If you would be 100% happy giving the exact same answers to some random person on the street who recorded your conversation on their phone and then walked away without giving any information about the project or the use of material, then I guess that's up to you.

At the end of the day it's everyone's individual decision. It would just have been irresponsible of me not to flag it, because clearly the promise not to record an email address is not the same as promising anonymity, nor protecting data. And this is a community I'm fond of, so of course I want to see it treated with proper respect by all concerned, including each and every one of its members.

I'll reiterate that I don't think that the OP is a bad person, nor do I really think this project will cause harm. But that's also not really the point.

Also, research integrity isn't a point for debate.