Whose results are these anyway? Reciprocity and the ethics of “giving back” after social network research

Abstract

Bridging the social networks, field methods and ethics literatures, I make the case that the process of reporting research findings is an ethical issue, and recommend elevating it in the research design. I draw on a reflective account of three research experiences with settings in, respectively, online health communities, economic organizations, and the mainstream media. I proceed in steps, discussing release of personal network results to individual participants, of whole network results to the researched community, and finally of general results to wider audiences, under a unifying idea that a reciprocity obligation underlies the reporting process. I claim that communication should follow an iterative rather than a linear approach to reach all relevant stakeholders, thereby mitigating the vulnerabilities that arise from research.