Columbia researchers observing students in social situations to detect signs, clues to sexual violence
Waiver of informed consent in certain situations raises questions
Students at Columbia University in New York City have expressed curiosity and concern about an ongoing ethnographic study wherein researchers observe their behavior in public settings that have included bars and parties in campus housing. One student termed it “pretty weird and uncomfortable,” while others said the researchers were friendly and forthcoming.1
For their part, Columbia researchers say they are on solid ethical ground and the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) study has been approved by the university’s IRB. As described on the website of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, SHIFT is examining a variety of factors that shape sexual health and sexual violence for undergraduates at Columbia.
SHIFT includes a year-long ethnographic study of undergraduate student life that will examine and analyze the range of student experiences related to socialization, sex, and sexual health, describing the range of practices and experiences that may be categorized as sexual misconduct. The ethnography will include in-depth student interviews, focus groups, interviews with key community and university stakeholders, and participant observations. It is these observations, some of which are being done under a waived requirement for signed informed consent, that raise questions about this important line of research.
The Columbia institutional review board declined interview requests by IRB Advisor, but issued this statement regarding the informed consent issue: “The Columbia University IRB reviewed and approved the SHIFT study after weighing the scientific importance of the research and ensuring that the confidentiality of individuals about whom data would be collected was safeguarded. The approved protocol does not permit collection of identifiable data in situations where informed consent could not be obtained.”
It is this concept of “identifiable data” that is key, as the researchers have noted that having all observed students sign consent forms could paradoxically make the preservation of their privacy less likely. The study also includes a quantitative component, which includes a “daily diary” that will examine the occurrence and fluctuations of mood, stress, substance use, and sexual behavior among undergraduate students over 60 days. In addition, a large one-time survey will be used to identify the individual and social risks and protective factors associated with sexual health and sexual misconduct at Columbia. The findings will be used to develop recommendations and strategies to reduce sexual violence and other forms of gender-based misconduct.
Q&A with lead researcher
SHIFT certainly addresses a current compelling topic, and the researchers say it will add important new data. The existing research to this point has been largely focused on individual factors, rather than on the social and institutional factors that can play a significant role, the researchers emphasize in explaining the SHIFT study. Jennifer Hirsch, PhD, Columbia professor of sociomedical sciences and a SHIFT principal investigator, agreed to an interview with IRB Advisor via email.
IRB Advisor: In the student newspaper coverage, some students expressed concerns about being observed at bars and other settings. How are you responding to these concerns?
Hirsch: It is of paramount importance to SHIFT to protect the rights of the undergraduate student body as research subjects, as well as to maintain their trust. As part of our project, we meet weekly with a group of 18 undergraduates to discuss our work and its relationship to student life. We also communicate with the students through giving interviews, sending emails, and writing pieces in their newspapers and blogs so that students are aware of what we are doing. Transparency is of the utmost importance for our project. With observations in public spaces, we do not collect identifying information, and our unit of observation is the social context, rather than individual.
IRB Advisor: Were traditional informed consent requirements waived to protect the identity of the students?
Hirsch: In order to reduce risk to participants’ privacy — as is typical in community-based participant observation — the only element of informed consent that was waived was the requirement to obtain written documentation from each student or individual with whom a researcher comes in contact. We obtain written documentation of informed consent for the individual interviews, key informant interviews, and focus groups. We will also obtain written documentation of informed consent from students who invite an individual member of the research team to accompany them to a social or extracurricular activity.
IRB Advisor: I understand researchers introduce themselves and explain the study. Is that done as some formal announcement or only if students question why they are there?
Hirsch: The research team members introduce themselves immediately as researchers to the individuals with whom they come in contact. This involves sharing [the following] points:
- what the study is about (sexual health, sexual violence, and socializing among undergraduates at Columbia)
- that the students may decline to interact with the researcher,
- that the data collection we do in the participant observation is anonymous, in that we are not collecting the names of the people with whom we interact,
- contacts for those desiring more information about the study.
IRB Advisor: As a practical matter, given the group dynamics of a social setting as people come and go, it doesn’t seem feasible that everyone is going to be able to give consent to being observed. Is this another reason informed consent was waived?
Hirsch: As noted above, the primary reason that we requested a waiver of written documentation was that it would reduce risk to participants. Documentation would also present feasibility challenges in situations with large numbers of people. When two members of the team attended the homecoming football game, it would have been impossible to collect written consent from the thousands of people in the stadium. We were scrupulous, however, in following the above procedure for each person with whom we came in contact. We would also note that in almost every case where informed consent is waived, we are observing public spaces like football games, restaurants, libraries, where subjects don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and we are collecting information on patterns of social behavior, not the actions of identifiable individuals.
IRB Advisor: When students are told they are being observed, doesn’t that create the potential for a Hawthorne effect — the observation could change the behavior of the study subjects?
Hirsch: Ethnographic researchers typically deal with the Hawthorne effect in two ways. First, through the creation of “rapport” based on extended interaction in naturalistic settings, research subjects sometimes become comfortable enough to act in ways that approximate the ways that they would act were the researcher not present. Second, ethnographers explicitly analyze the ways in which their particular social characteristics shape what they do and do not learn from research participants. Known as “reflexivity,” this is a hallmark of rigorous ethnographic research.
IRB Advisor: Is the ultimate goal of SHIFT to establish risk factors for sexual violence in these student social interactions?
Hirsch: SHIFT’s overall goal is to examine the individual, interpersonal, and structural (cultural, community, and institutional) level factors that create vulnerability to sexual violence or that promote sexual health, both so that we can advance scientific understanding in those areas and so that we can make recommendations to the university for how to enhance campus climate. The ethnographic research involves participant observation, individual interviews, and focus groups. There will be 120 individual interviews with students, as well as follow-up interviews with a smaller sample of students. The survey research includes a daily diary study, which is currently underway, and a population-based survey, which will take place in the spring.
REFERENCE
- Mizraki, E. Amid student concerns, SHIFT ethnographers maintain research follows strict ethical protocol. Columbia Daily Spectator, October 19, 2015: http://bit.ly/1iIul3a.
Students at Columbia University in New York City have expressed curiosity and concern about an ongoing ethnographic study wherein researchers observe their behavior in public settings that have included bars and parties in campus housing. One student termed it “pretty weird and uncomfortable,” while others said the researchers were friendly and forthcoming.
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