Heads up: some academic research taking place

[RowanMumsnet]

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

I'd like to opt out please

I don’t understand the opting out. This is a public forum. If we post here anyone can see it and use it as data.
There is no difference having a research group using the information posted here. It’s just that you are aware of it. Mumsnet HW have opened people’s eyes to this by offering an opt out/no thank you clause.
Think about it, every time you post here people use your information in some way. I would consider people not to post on Mumsnet at all, if they don’t want to be in the study. (And yeah I know some of you find that controversial).

Err... think it might be quicker to compile a list of the people who HAVEN'T opted out!

Are we going to get to page eleventh with half the replies being people saying 'i don't get people choosing to opt out' and pointing out 'mumsnet is a public forum' as if somehow that fact has escaped people.

There has been the option to opt out.
Choose to opt out or don't.
Is there any need for endless patronising replies?

*eleventy even

I also wish the patronising rudeness would cease it's not needed

Consider what you like, ItsalmostSummer, people will continue to post regardless of what you think 🤔
Why don’t you upbraid MNHQ for offering the opt out clause in the first place, since you appear to find it offensively unnecessary ?

Not offensive at all @Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar. I’m just saying people use this information/data all the time. And there’s no patronizing or rudeness intended at all @PortiaCastis and @Maiseypops. Some people may not realize this point. Not everyone thinks about it from that point of view. Its okay to inform and remind people that maybe Mumsnet isnt for them even on page 11. Not everyone wants to read the whole thread.

I opted out but my names isn't on the list

@Maisypops. Sorry for the mispell.

If I find someone patronising and rude it's also ok for me to say so and I'm on Mn because I want to be and absolutely nobody has a right to say it's not for me, it's been for me for approx 15years.

ItsalmostSummer
There's a difference between 'are people aware that some market researchers already use mumsnet?' and sort of posts some have done on here which is more 'I don't see the point in people opting out. It's a public forum you know'.

One is helpful. The other isn't.

opting out also.

Count me out.

Hilarious amount of frothing on this thread for something that’s available in the public domain anyway

Why do so many mumnsetters believe this forum is private?

I'll bet MNHQ wish they had never agreed to this study. Next time a uni asks, they'll be told "Do what you like. Just don't tell us!"

I assume that market researchers are already using whatever I say as I’m posting on a public forum! No problem with it here and feel like MNHQ have been more than nice with the heads up.

Academics have been analysing MN posts for years. Just not for research.

Aye, they cheer up a dull day of writing critiques of someone else's epistemology

When conducting an anonymous study you don't want self-selected opt-ins or self-selected opt-outs, because either might skew the results.

This is an issue will all studies that involve informed consent.
Nothing new for researchers.

This thread and this opt out thing is useless. It looks to me like an overreaction to the new data protection regulations.

The opt out option given as part of a thread is not ethical, anyway. Pps should opt in, not out. But I'm sure it will have already been pointed out before (can't be arsed to read it all).

Hilarious amount of frothing on this thread for something that’s available in the public domain anyway

Hilarious frothing about the frothing.

Thank goodness you came on to clarify.

If it’s all so public and worthy and “our there”, why have Mumsnet failed to tell us WHICH university it is, and who the researchers are?

Surely that is as courteous as telling us that research is being conducted in the first place!

How are we supposed to opt in/out without any basic facts?!

I’ve asked 3 times now.

Without us posting, there wouldn’t be any frigging Mumsnet

@littlepill

If it’s all so public and worthy and “our there”, why have Mumsnet failed to tell us WHICH university it is, and who the researchers are?

Surely that is as courteous as telling us that research is being conducted in the first place!

How are we supposed to opt in/out without any basic facts?!

I’ve asked 3 times now.

Without us posting, there wouldn’t be any frigging Mumsnet

Hello - sorry for not answering this sooner. The researchers are from two separate universities and we can't see a way to specify their institutions without making it possible for posters to work out what the study is about, because they've published on this topic together before. Similarly with their names - it will make it obvious what the topic is.

One of the things I dislike about Mumsnet actually is the fact that research such as requests for surveys and interviews by researchers at universities are all shoved in one 'survey' topic that no-one ever goes in. It's a real shame we haven't devised a way to connect up those who would like to do research (often for a voucher or entered in a prize draw) and have something to say on the issue in hand, with those who are often government or NHS funded to explore the issue. Researchers even from universities who can prove their credentials and their source of funding aren't allowed to post asking for participants on the main threads at all, and if they do (e.g. an UG asking by mistake) they get sent to the dead topic where no-one ever looks...(called something like NRP surveys). My experience before it was set up like this, many moons ago, was that Mumsnet was full of people who'd like the opportunity to have their say on topics like homework for primary school children (which is a current survey in that topic which I bet no-one has ever seen) or Brexit or all manner of issues.

So- researchers doing content analysis tend to just use the material anyway, and anyone wanting to do interviews/surveys just looks elsewhere for their population even though often Mumsnet is a great source of active interested individuals on parenting matters.

Is it Trump?

datadrivenjournalism.net/news_and_analysis/do_we_believe_everything_that_we_read_about_donald_trump

We found it. Nobody on those threads was upset, IIRC.