Hi Andrea,
Our IRB application here asks if research will be conducted with subjects in another country, and doesn't provide for an "Internet" option like what's provided for the research location, so non-U.S. resident was added to the exclusion criteria. Essentially, the process doesn't sufficiently reflect the reality of doing research online.
Additionally, I am my own source of funding and prefer to do phone interviews, so avoiding international phone call charges is also a practical limitation on this research.
Obviously, I note all limitations on subject recruitment in my work. But for a small purposive sample, I didn't anticipate that this would be such a controversial move within the Wikipedia community. In hindsight, I can see how motivations in users might vary across nationality with regard to issues like the development of article NPOV, though.
Benjamin
Andrea Forte writes:
Hey Benjamin,
Wha..? Your IRB won't let you interview English speakers who are non-US residents? Would you mind explaining their logic?
Andrea