Academic Community Far Behind the Trend
With millions of adolescent users, social network sites
(SNSs) are a rich data source for academic research studies. But ethical
guidelines governing how researchers should obtain and use this data is
seriously lacking, says Tufts University's R. Benjamin Shapiro, Ph.D., the
incoming McDonnell Family Foundation Professor in Engineering Education at
Tufts University's School of Engineering, in an article published in the
January 11 edition of Science.
The use of social
network sites for design research is accelerating but the academic research
community and institutional review boards (IRBs) are way behind the trend when
it comes to establishing adequate guidelines and best practices," says
Shapiro. A faculty member of Tufts' Center for Engineering Education and
Outreach, Shapiro designs collaborative online learning environments for
teenagers on social networking sites (SNSs).