Ethical decision-making in internet research – Investigating protest groups against Child Welfare Services on Facebook

Abstract

At a time when both extensive international and national protest and criticisms are directed toward the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, it is of great interest to researchers to gain insight into the viewpoints presented in protest groups on social media. The paper aims to give insight into the ethical judgement involved in research on digital communities where it is difficult to decide whether certain material is public or not. In addition, the paper reflects on the social consequences of understanding some participants as vulnerable versus understanding them as citizens, in a social work/child protection context on social media. A considerable amount of literature focuses on ethical questions in Internet research. There is also literature on the ethical considerations connected to resistance and protest groups on social media. There is, however, less existing research about the ethical decision-making within the field of social work, child protection and client protests on the Internet. This paper analyses certain experiences from a qualitative research project regarding Facebook groups protesting Child Welfare Services in Norway. The paper concludes that in some social media research contexts, as the one presented here, taking extra care to anonymize participants in publications is sufficient to secure privacy, and covert collection of data is possible without jeopardizing ethical guidelines. Further, by developing practical ethical judgement, we can – in some social work contexts – avoid putting people into categories like “vulnerable” and instead approach the participants in public Facebook groups as citizens with socio-political opinions.

”Det känns inte jättebra”

“…Det gäller framför allt barns rätt att överklaga fattade beslut som de motsätter sig, eftersom barns lagstadgade delaktighet trots att barnkonventionen blivit lag är begränsad. Det innebär att det finns ett behov av en förändrad syn på barn och barndom där barnen till större del ges möjlighet att vara agenter i sitt liv (Stang, 2020).…”

Relationality and online interpersonal research: Ethical, methodological and pragmatic extensions

“…Online interpersonal methods have received growing attention in the literature over the last two decades, and are increasingly a part of social work research practice (Stang, 2020). In that time, there have been numerous changes in hardware and software, the development of programs and social media applications (commonly referred to as ‘apps’), and the increased capacity and usage of handheld devices.…”

“…It requires an appreciation of power and privilege recognising that, often, it is the researcher who sets the ground rules. Although these claims are not novel and ring true across social work research practice, the online environment generally presents additional considerations (Stang, 2020).…”