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Ethics and Privacy

Ethical Framework for Public Data Research

This project follows ethical research principles for publicly available social media data:

Data Collection Ethics

  • Public Data Only: All data is collected from publicly posted Reddit content
  • No Private Information: No collection of private messages, emails, or personal details
  • Platform Compliance: Full adherence to Reddit Terms of Service and API guidelines
  • Respectful Scraping: Rate-limited collection that doesn't burden Reddit's servers

Privacy Protection

  • User Anonymization: All usernames are hashed or removed from datasets
  • No Personal Tracking: No attempt to link posts to real-world identities
  • Content Anonymization: Removal of potentially identifying details from text
  • Secure Storage: Data stored with appropriate access controls and encryption

Research Ethics Standards

  • Community Benefit: Research designed to benefit the communities being studied
  • Transparency: Open methodology and findings shared with communities
  • Respectful Representation: Avoiding deficit-based characterizations of communities
  • Cultural Sensitivity: Recognition of cultural contexts in health discussions

Institutional Review

  • Ethics Review Planned: IRB/REB submission planned pending funding confirmation
  • Public Data Precedent: Research follows established practices for public social media analysis
  • Risk Assessment: Minimal risk given public nature of data and anonymization practices
  • Community Consultation: Ongoing dialogue with studied communities about research approach

Data Governance

  • Limited Retention: Data deleted after research completion unless required for reproducibility
  • Access Controls: Restricted access to research data among authorized personnel only
  • Sharing Protocols: Any data sharing follows additional anonymization and approval processes
  • Audit Trail: Documentation of all data handling and processing steps

This framework ensures responsible research practices while studying important public health communication patterns in online communities.