y explorar una variedad de enfoques novedosos de los métodos y la práctica de la investigación, la contribución particularmente singular que presenta esta publicación es una franca exploración de los desafíos éticos al involucrarse con poblaciones identificadas como 'vulnerables' , como se expresa a través de la discusión de la experiencia de campo de primera mano.
This paper seeks to extend debate on the use of blogs as qualitative data, specifically focusing on the issue of consent in research that uses publicly available but personal content. Typically the argument has been made for the need to protect individual writers and engage with these documents in a considered manner that recognises the inherent vulnerability of amateur authors. This paper will argue that a framing of these writers that foregrounds their potential vulnerability, naivety and even ignorance is in fact highly paternalistic, and therefore counter to an ethical approach to research. In seeking to protect authors from harm, we deny their agency and diminish the act of online publication. Further, this approach, prevalent in academia, is at odds with the legal position, and arguably, the weight of social understanding. A reframing of amateur online authors as informed agents not only increases the accessibility of these data to researchers and subsequently policy makers, but also alludes to a need to credit the contribution of authors without the need to seek permission. Ultimately, this paper argues for a presumption of accountability, unless otherwise proven, and an approach to the use of self-published online material that mirrors the use of other sorts of secondary data with perceived "professional" authors, such as magazine articles, newspaper columns or organisational literature. ENDNOTES 1 Frequently following (reading) online discussions occurring within a particular online space, without contributing. 2 The craft of developing a professional persona online.
Based on research carried out with a group of adults with Cerebral Palsy in Birmingham, UK, we consider the complex inter-relationship between the accessibility of the urban environment to those with impaired gross motor skills, and the ability of these people to lead full and independent lives. Drawing on and developing Cresswell's (2010) holistic framework of mobility as both 'brute fact' and meaning-making, we demonstrate the reality of differentiated mobility. For those with bodies that function outside the presumed operating parameters of the model subjects of urban design, urban mobility may be possible, but is often uncomfortable and even dangerous, with significant associated effects for impaired people's autonomy. Our study details social and structural, or design, barriers to impaired people's mobility, demonstrating the inter-connection between individuals' behaviour and urban design in a manner that questions a clear distinction between the two. We suggest that further investment in universal design and public education for urban accessibility are issues of social justice.
Location is often at the fore of decision-making regarding fieldwork and choice of methods. However, little research has directly discussed the importance of the choice of site in the production of research data, particularly concerning the way that different relationships will manifest between researcher and participant in different spaces. Site may be particularly important in research with (learning disabled) children, as research location is intertwined with the level of caregiving required from the researcher, and the sorts of surveillance the research engagement may be subject to. This paper draws on research with learning disabled 6-16-year olds that took place in homes, schools and the outdoors, in a variety of microgeographical locations from bedrooms to nature reserves. This paper reflects on the challenges, including the very 'worst' research moments, occurring in the different research environments. Whilst the research was carried out with learning disabled children and young people, the discussion has implications for research with non-disabled children and 'vulnerable' participants more broadly.
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