Penciling, a technique used to anonymize images for both human and machine vision, offers an opportunity to reduce technical traceability and retain visual data for online and social media research contexts. Drawing on methods for creating composite narrative and visual accounts to preserve participant anonymity, penciling enables researchers to…

Big Data offers opportunities and challenges in all aspects of human life. In relation to research ethics, Big Data represents a normative difference in degree rather than a difference in kind. Data are more messy, rapid, difficult to predict, and difficult to identify owners; but the principles of informed consent, confidentiality, and prevention…

The global scale of COVID-19 has constrained academics from conducting much person-facing research. Reactively, trend is increasing for digital-based methodologies capturing already existing online data. Scholars often 'scrape' user-postings from internet forums using coding algorithms and text capture tools, before analysing data, drawing…

Unnoticed by most, some technology corporations have changed their terms of service to allow user data to be transferred to clouds and even to be used to train artificial intelligence systems. As a result of these developments, remote data collection may in many cases become impossible to be conducted anonymously. Researchers need to react by…

The use of social media platforms as a means of data collection for researchers is increasing. With the number of active users of Facebook across the globe exceeding two billion, the platform offers a means to reach and hear from diverse populations and gather information-rich data. Despite an increase of researchers utilising Facebook and…

This article explores potential uses, misuses, beneficiaries, and tensions of learning analytics in higher education. While those promoting and using learning analytics generally agree that ethical practice is imperative, and student privacy and rights are important, navigating the complex maze of ethical dilemmas can be challenging, particularly…

As Twitter's (or X's) influence permeates aspects of education, researchers must consider how to ethically and effectively leverage the unique types of data that this social media platform offers. This paper provides recommended methodological practice considerations for working with qualitative Twitter data toward the advancement of education…

Research involving young people is a challenging process that requires managing relationships with diverse individuals and groups, including the young participants and their various gatekeepers. While it is normally assumed that the researcher is in overall control of their research, by using a Foucauldian conception of 'power as effects' that…

While digital tools are often recommended for researchers, there is a lack of evidence around effective social media strategies among researchers to optimise participant recruitment and data collection. However, an 'add Facebook and stir' approach could create extra burden for participants or foil researchers' efforts. Participant recruitment…

Research in the UK is increasingly regulated by ethics review committees (RECs) which require researchers to seek ethics approval before commencing research. These RECs routinely expect researchers to anonymise data as part of standard ethical research practice. However, the anonymisation of data may sit in tension with participatory approaches to…

In the swiftly changing realm of education, technology serves as a key instrument in transforming the methods of teaching, learning experiences, and educational outcomes. Legal and governance issues, integral to maintaining order and justice in societies, are equally pertinent in the realm of education. The digital age introduces concerns like…

Undergraduate economics programs prepare students for future careers by developing competency working with data, or "data literacy." Our research examined the data literacy components of undergraduate economics programs at R1 and R2 universities in the United States (N = 190). We developed a protocol with core data skills and coded…

The present study used quantitative and qualitative measures to examine Iranian applied linguists' (mis-) conceptions of ethical issues in research. For this purpose, one hundred and twelve applied linguists completed a research ethics questionnaire constructed and validated by the researchers. In the follow-up qualitative phase, 15 applied…

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has mostly focused on issues associated with teaching and assessment. In this paper I used AI to support the analysis of data which consisted of public comments on a newspaper article. This small, low risk research was chosen to demonstrate the potential use of AI and how it may support…

Validity refers to the extent to which a given study reflects the dominant values of a research community regarding what constitutes "good" research. Methodological texts on qualitative research provide a wide range of criteria and strategies to help qualitative researchers validate their studies. Given the importance of these strategies…