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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

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:
NoSuchThingAsAlpha · 31/08/2018 07:14

This is one reason why so many studies like this are flawed. You can't study normal human behaviour if you tell the subjects they're being studied.

Feel free to quote me on that, ;)

AnElderlyLadyOfMediumHeight · 31/08/2018 07:17

'However my concern is that what might happen here is personal info will be given out in terms of whatever we have included in our sign up/profile. I say this because i would imagine that the "language" used by a poster in their 40s would differ to a poster in their early 20s. That education level would affect the language used. That area will affect language used etc.'

Yes, but as I understand it such individual characteristics aren't the key focus here - it's to do with the group discourse (and patterns therein across individual participants), which is a different thing from the discourse an individual produces in and from their situation. (I am just assuming here - have nothing to do with this).

Kintan · 31/08/2018 07:37

I don’t post all that much, but please don’t include me in this research. Thanks :)

Kewqueue · 31/08/2018 07:44

I have no problem with the research. It's nice to be asked but as others have said, it's really not necessary. I have read a lot of research (and done some) where no prior permission is sought for data which is completely public!

Sparklingbrook · 31/08/2018 07:47

Agree completely steppemum. So much angst.

KitandPup · 31/08/2018 07:49

Ooh exciting. I would be very interested in the results. Count me in

Cockapoomummy · 31/08/2018 07:57

Opt me out please.

What data in the back office will they have access to? Because you can’t use an opt out for any kind of personal data which includes our posts as per ICO if those posts are capable of being aggregated to piece our identity together.

Personal data includes IP address. Will the researchers have access to that?

What steps are in place to stop a staff member with nefarious intent from matching up IP address and opt out names as used in this study?

Will each opt out automatically opt out all names for each registration?

Will the researchers receive a list of all names that have opted out, or multiple emails listing all names of each individual that has opted out?

What university is this?

Who can I contact within that institution with queries over the research?

Who is the lead researcher?

What steps have you put in place to ensure that the data cannot be de-anonymised by the researchers?

What means are the researchers using to store the data?

What are the protocols for destroying the data?

We should be able to contact the researchers to withdraw our consent at any time up to and including publication. When and where is the research due to be published?

Cockapoomummy · 31/08/2018 08:01

You do know it’s not enough for you to say “processes will be GDPR compliant”. That statement in itself is not GDPR compliant. You need to tell participants what the processes are. To have full and meaningful consent.

CoteDAzur · 31/08/2018 08:08

"Obviously we'd love to tell you what the study is about - but we can't because it will skew the results."

You already did, with this thread.

The more risk averse among us are opting out, so researchers will no longer have a normal distribution to study.

Even the rest will change their behavior when they know their wording will be analyzed. People always do.

sansouci · 31/08/2018 08:09

Opt me out please. All fifteen years worth of posts and name changes.

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:11

In the OP it says the words only will be collected. No usernames collected with them. So I don't see how that can be a problem, as everybody has been happy to post their words underneath their username themselves, on an open, searchable forum. And if they are not collecting usernames, then why would any extra information about users be, well, useful? I'm not sure what the problem is.

orangeorchids · 31/08/2018 08:12

@sansouci

"They will be looking only at posts published from this point onwards."

So I don't think you need to worry about your 15 years worth of posting 🙄

(I'm happy to be included MNHQ 😁)

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:12

In the OP it says only posts from now on, so the past 15 years are not relevant.

Cockapoomummy · 31/08/2018 08:13

What methods are being used to analyse the text?

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:13

If they are not even collecting usernames, how can it not be GDPR compliant?

Cockapoomummy · 31/08/2018 08:14

Because personal data is not just usernames. According to the ICO it is any data that can be used to identify a living person.

CoteDAzur · 31/08/2018 08:15

@RowanMumsnet Will you give the researchers a list of past usernames?

If not, they will have no way of knowing if what they see as "this sort of language and these high-frequency terms" are just the same 2 people posting under various names.

sansouci · 31/08/2018 08:16

Yeah well, whatever. I'm sleepy!

BadderWolf · 31/08/2018 08:19

Please do not include my posts in this research, thank you.

Cockapoomummy · 31/08/2018 08:19

What steps are in place to ensure that the researchers done crawl through all the posts by a particular user name and use software to jigsaw info together to find RL identity?

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:21

Which people have posted on an open, searchable forum, and which will be used with less information than they provide themselves on that open, searchable forum, and the published results will not even contain the full posts.

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:22

They could do that now. Anybody could.

Cockapoomummy · 31/08/2018 08:23

Absolutely anybody could, but we don’t know if they have access to any back office data such as age, general location, IP address, email address, nor do we know if that is a necessary part of the research and is what is being done.

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:23

The OP says they are not collecting usernames, so lists of previous usernames would be pointless.

TheFallenMadonna · 31/08/2018 08:24

Why would that be useful if they are not collecting usernames?

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