Chip Berlet (c.berlet(a)publiceye.org) [050210 15:22]:
Hi,
I am assuming you are concerned with the ethics of disclosure of
scholarly observation. By posting your question to this list and adding
a note to your user page you have probably done most of the task, but an
additional notice to some more public place on Wikipedia would probably
be a good idea for any defense of procedure to a committee.
For others offering advice, the key here is that the Wikipedia community
as a whole needs to have a reasonable ability to learn of the
observation, which gives them the option of non-participation (in theory
by not posting). Just because Wikipedia is a public exercise may not
meet the requirements that a university committee responsible for
checking research ethics would find appropriate. There has to be a good
faith effort at notice (which is just what Frank Lester is trying to
establish!).
:-)
Indeed. Creating an account and editing from that and noting on your user
page that you're doing the study would count.
The trick being, of course, how to notify without too much [[observer
effect]] ;-)
- d.