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MNHQ

Heads up: some academic research taking place

664 replies

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 16:53

Hello

Some researchers from a UK university are going to be collecting posts from some boards on Mumsnet over the next few weeks. They will be looking only at posts published from this point onwards. Selected posts will be anonymised (ie usernames will not be stored anywhere), and all processes will be GDPR-compliant.

EDITED BY MNHQ: to be clear, NO private or back-end data is being shared with the researchers and they will have NO access to any extra information about users. They will only be analysing published posts, ie things that are already in the public domain.

The researchers will analyse the text of the anonymised posts as part of their study. The full text of these anonymised posts will not be reproduced in the study - no pieces of text that make you or your situation identifiable will be published.

Once the study is complete, the database containing the anonymised posts will be destroyed.

Obviously we'd love to tell you what the study is about - but we can't because it will skew the results. However once the research has been completed we'll share it with you and you can read all about it. The academics running the study are people we've worked with before, and the topic is one we think lots of MN users will agree is interesting and useful.

IMPORTANT BIT: if you DO NOT want your posts to be considered for inclusion in the research, please shout here on this thread or email us on [email protected]

And of course let us know if you have any questions and we'll see if we can answer them.

Thanks

MNHQ

OP posts:
karyatide · 31/08/2018 12:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IFartGlitter · 31/08/2018 12:27

I’m opting out too.

PhilomenaButterfly · 31/08/2018 12:08

I don't expect privacy on Mumsnet, but isn't that why it's anonymous?

GorgonLondon · 31/08/2018 12:04

Exclude my posts please.

Voldesnort · 31/08/2018 12:01

I don't want to be in the research thanks

Hefzi · 31/08/2018 11:52

@Orchiddingme and @RuleBreaker are spot on: anyone who uses Internet fora, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook - basically, anything that generates Big Data - may very well already have been "used" in this way. Anonymous posts are a big growth area of social science research (though I don't use it myself) and researchers have been data scraping for years to this end.

Take this as a reminder that nothing you put on line is private, and very little is anonymous.

CoteDAzur · 31/08/2018 11:45

"They can’t tell you exactly what the topic is as it would skew the results."

Results are already skewed, as I and others explained below.

MipMipMip · 31/08/2018 11:43

Please don't include me.

C8H10N4O2 · 31/08/2018 11:28

Why oh why aren’t people understanding this??

The questions have been around non public data or removed data. They were not addressed in the initial posting so it wasn't possible to "understand" how those categories were being addressed.

Orchiddingme · 31/08/2018 11:25

I think the problem here is that people are using an old model of research ethics (being a 'proper' participant, seeking individual consent, giving lots of information about the study) with a new type of data- which is completely public and publically analyzable at any time. MN and the researchers are being polite by maintaining this fiction, knowing proportionally a few people will opt out, but given it's all public anonymous data anyway, they don't actually have to do that.

I see analysis of websites like Reddit or online newspapers in academic papers all the time.

You can't even say you had an expectation of privacy on Mumsnet. The antics of the Daily Mail means everyone on the site knows their words are public and can be used by other agencies willy nilly. It's not reasonable to have an expectation of privacy on this site at all.

I think this is also an age thing, when I've run ethics classes with students they are astonished anyone would think they have a right to privacy on a public website. They take the 'if you put it into the public domain, anyone in public can use it' attitude. Less so with my own older generation.

I'm not going to opt out.

I also think the design is fine, if you are interested in discourse analysis or something like that. You can be interested in what patterns of speech or concepts people use to explain things without knowing their demographics and you certainly don't need a control group to do that because it's not a controlled experiment. Mumsnet 'demographic' in the broadest sense is actually fairly well identified by advertisers anyway.

EnidButton · 31/08/2018 11:14

I want to be excluded from it. Thank you.

Stormyumbrella · 31/08/2018 11:12

I’d like to opt out please

RuleBreaker · 31/08/2018 10:52

The words the researchers are analysing are words already in the public domain.

They could start the research tomorrow and you’d be none the wiser. Anyone could. I could start a project and wouldn’t have to tell MN or users about it. *Because it’s using words that you have already chosen to put out in the public domain.”

They can’t tell you exactly what the topic is as it would skew the results. For example, let’s say the topic was healthy eating, some posters with strong views could then use this opportunity to post their strong views at every chance, giving an unbalanced set of results.

Why oh why aren’t people understanding this??

FermatsTheorem · 31/08/2018 10:45

Would be interesting to know whether MNers think in a future scenario we should do the same thing (ie start a thread to let you know)?

I think once you know this is being done, you have a clear moral duty to inform your users.

It may also be (lawyers/GDPR specialists) that you have a legal duty to inform us. (Though I think in your terms and conditions, IIRC, there is a bit saying copyright of our posts passes to MN, for you to do with as you please, including passing them to third parties).

Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar · 31/08/2018 10:43

In the words of the immortal Goldwyn; include me OUT Hmm

littlepill · 31/08/2018 10:39

Who us running the research?
What are the names of the researchers?

Quangot · 31/08/2018 10:33

Count me out for all usernames please.

MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:31

@seafret

In this current climate I DO NOT WANT TO BE INCLUDED.

Things like this make me aware of needing a reputable VPN. I do not want unknown people collecting data for unknown reasons wth access to behind the scenes data. No way.

Anything in the puclic domain they are welcome to but then they wouldn't need MN for that would they.

It is only stuff in the public domain and no, they didn't need to ask us - but as they did (which we think was courteous of them; lots of researchers don't) we thought the most ethical thing would be to let you know.

Would be interesting to know whether MNers think in a future scenario we should do the same thing (ie start a thread to let you know)?

OP posts:
MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:28

@ClosdesMouches

If they're just reading the boards how do they know not to include name changers? If I state on this thread that I wish to opt out, I'm currently 'ClosdesMouches'. If I NC next week do I then have to come back to this thread before posting anything under the new name to opt out as that user?

Yes, you'll need to let us know again - you can email us on [email protected] if you'd rather, but you can just post again on this thread as though it was the first time you'd posted (so as not to expose the NC)

OP posts:
MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:27

@TheHeathenOfSuburbia

I can't see any reason why the researchers would need to ask posters except as a courtesy, anyway. MN owns the copyright on our posts and it's all publicly offered information.

Have seen 'research' like this done on Twitter posts to give results like "46% of uses of the word 'cockwomble' were in conjunction with 'fucking', and 21% with 'utter'", assume that's the sort of thing we're talking about?

Yes, essentially! Although it's not about cockwomble usage...

OP posts:
ClosdesMouches · 31/08/2018 10:22

If they're just reading the boards how do they know not to include name changers?
If I state on this thread that I wish to opt out, I'm currently 'ClosdesMouches'. If I NC next week do I then have to come back to this thread before posting anything under the new name to opt out as that user?

MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:19

@Cockapoomummy

The researchers will analyse the text of the anonymised posts as part of their study. The full text of these anonymised posts will not be reproduced in the study - no pieces of text that make you or your situation identifiable will be published.

Part of. Not all of. We don’t know what in the back office they are being given access to.

They're being given no access at all to anything in the back end - nothing beyond what they can see on the public boards

OP posts:
MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:18

[quote CoteDAzur]**@MNHQ* Are you providing these researchers with any* information about MNers?[/quote]

No - they'll just be reading the boards in the same way that anyone with an internet connection can

OP posts:
MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:17

[quote C8H10N4O2]@RowanMumsnet can we get some clarity on the following points:

  1. Will researchers use public posts only or also have access to "deleted" and "withdrawn" posts?

no

  1. Will researchers be using surrogate names for posters and therefore be able to string together posts from a single poster?

We will ask them

  1. If the answer to (2) is "yes" will this surrogate username persist across NCs?

No, the researchers will know nothing about namechanges

  1. Will IP addresses be passed on?

no

  1. will details of advertising presented to the user be passed on?

no

  1. Will any information of any kind whatsoever, held on users, be passed on to the researchers? (including geographic location, numbers of children etc, family details, surveys responded to etc etc etc)

no[/quote]

OP posts:
RuleBreaker · 31/08/2018 10:14

A lot of posters need to go and google phrases like discourse analysis.