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MNHQ

Heads up: some academic research taking place

37 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

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MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:10

Hello

Sorry, didn't mean to cause alarm. We will of course pass on to the researchers that posts under your respective user names can't be included.

Is there anything we can say to put your minds at rest? We'll try to answer any questions you have. The research topic is squarely in the 'parenting' field. The researchers' aim is to use text analysis software to find out how parents on Mumsnet talk about a particular parenting topic, using other topics on Mumsnet as a control group. So (this is an example, not what the research is actually about) it will be something along the lines of 'Parents discussing child carseat choices tend to use this sort of language and these particular words figure prominently, whereas when they're discussing family meal choices the language they use has these differences.'

Does that sound less sinister?

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:12

Got it MaverickSnoopy thank you and I'll see if I can get a direct answer to your point from the researchers

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:13

@Sneaky we can't confirm which boards will be analysed I'm afraid. Happy to add you to the list of usernames to be excluded, if that helps?

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:15

@yawning801

But why can't you ask us first?? Very few people look in Site Stuff - if you want to let us know, pop it in Chat!

This is stickied in Active and will remain there over the duration of the study - but happy to sticky it in Chat too.

This thread is our way of informing you and giving you the option to be excluded - posting threads on the boards (and stickying them as visibly as possible) is really the best way we have of alerting MNers about things like this.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:23

Got it ItsAll, thank you.

We'll get back to you with a response on the opt in/opt out point as soon as we can.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:24

And thank you Nico Grin

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:33

I'm off in a moment so just wanted to say do please add a post here or email us on [email protected] if you don't want to be included and we'll make sure your user names are on the list for the researchers.

Any other questions posted tonight we'll do our best to respond to promptly tomorrow.

Thanks
MNHQ

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:34

@Stephisaur

Thanks for putting this in chat :)

Sounds interesting. I’m sure none of my posts would be included but consider this my consent if they are :)

Thank you!

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:39

@MIdgebabe

If someone's words were quoted in a publication, would they be able to see the publication and comment/remove consent at that stage? Does mn hq get a veto on any Publication!

We (as in MNHQ) haven't sought a veto - we've worked with these researchers before (not on pieces of research, but we know their work and have collaborated on activities in their area of interest).

We will check out for you your question about whether users whose words are used will be consulted before publication.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 30/08/2018 17:45

Got it @Hatstand, thank you

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 09:58

Morning

Thanks for all the comments.

I'll go through and try to answer individual points now.

The researchers will have absolutely no access whatsoever to any behind-the-scenes data at all.

As a few of you have said, they're doing something that people do on MN and on other networks all the time - usually without notifying us first!

So those who have said 'if that's all it is they don't need to ask permission' are right - plenty of researchers and journalists have gone ahead and analysed posts on MN (and published the results) without informing us.

In this case, because they did come to us and ask if it was OK, we thought the most ethical thing to do would be to inform you all about it. We didn't mean to cause alarm though - we're sorry about that.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:00

This research is nothing at all to do with gender identity/the debate around gender self-ID/any related issues to that at all.

It's also not to do with sex, adult relationships, bereavement, disability or SEN, miscarriage or pregnancy loss, or health concerns of any kind. As I said upthread it's very much in the child-rearing/parenting domain.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:03

We at MNHQ are not being paid for this at all, nor are there any other inducements. We think the topic they're exploring is one our users will find interesting so we've asked that we be allowed to share the research with you when it's published.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:06

The researchers won't be told (and haven't asked to be told) anything about users' namechanges.

If you have opted out and then namechange and are still keen to be excluded you'll need to let us know about the namechange - you can just add another post here (other users won't know you've NCd) or email us on [email protected] if you'd rather

There's no need to worry about any namechanges up to the point this thread was started - the research is not retrospective

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:09

@IdahoJones

Maybe this thread is the research project.

Grin It would definitely make a good one. (It's not though!)

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 10:13

@JeffreyNeedsAHobby

Of course I can mention the uni, but not in a negative way (to clarify). At least this is what an email sent to all of us last year stated.

Nothing to do with parents attending uni/posts about academic institutions - just to set your mind at rest (hopefully)

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]

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

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

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...

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)

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)?

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 31/08/2018 12:45

@C8H10N4O2

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.

We've edited the OP now to make this clearer - thanks

And thanks also to those opting out - we'll add your names

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 03/09/2018 09:28

Morning all

Thanks for the posts. We'll go through and compile the full list so far (of people who've spoken up on this thread, not of people who've emailed us) and post it up on here so that you can double-check your name is included.

MNHQ

RowanMumsnet · 03/09/2018 10:21

Thanks Freia, Yes, it's a shame that researchers who are upfront are in effect penalised, while those who just go ahead without asking aren't. As you say, though, the numbers of people opting out (and we are fine with people opting out - that's why we asked) are a small proportion of MNers, so hopefully it won't have a big impact on the study.

Someone asked if the research is to do with advertising. It isn't, the topic being studied has no commercial/revenue aspect at all. (Sorry, I do realise it's frustrating that we keep saying 'no it's not that'!)

And yes we will be sharing the study with you all once it's written up.

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