Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Different Perspective on Unobtusive Research

Last week in class we discussed unobtrusive research, as I wrote in my blog last week unobtrusive research is where the subject of your research is unaware of the research that is taking place.  This type of research I found to be useful in the case of Non-Profit corporations, it is crucial to research your target audiences to figure out what messages are the most effective.  When it comes to non-profits donations need to be given in order for the company to remain successful, therefore unobtrusive research can show you the true likes and dislikes of potential donors.  Although my blog is directed towards Non-Profit, I believe that it is important to read about other topics to gain more awareness on the topic of unobtrusive research.

A fellow classmate, Lisa Perez directed her blog towards celebrities.  In her blog about unobtrusive research she discussed the various types of unobtrusive research conducted on celebrities.  When conducting research on celebrities you have to follow their every move, the research collected is then distributed to various media outlets where we hear all about their lives.  These celebrities are sometimes unaware that they are being followed; one mishap and they are exposed to the entire world.  Lisa’s blog made me think about the ethics behind unobtrusive research.  The researcher conducting the research is invading the personal lives of not only celebrities but any unknowing participant. 

The topic of ethics is a large issue that goes along with unobtrusive research.  In another classmates blog Ashley Halyard talks about whether unobtrusive research is ethical or not.  She discusses how because you are not getting the participants permission it can be considered unethical, but the other side of the argument is that the information they are receiving is open to the public.  Both of these sides make unobtrusive research very difficult, you do not want to cross any lines but at the same time the research that you could receive is open to anyone. 

In my blog I had discussed how non-profits should use social media outlets, such as facebook to discover a new target audience.  They should follow people’s every move to discover what interests them, I had not thought of this to be unethical at first but after thinking more about ethics I realized that in a sense the non-profits would be manipulating their audience to invest in their company by observing facebook users patterns.  In my personal opinion even though you are conducting research that the participants do not know about, if they put themselves open to the public then their information and actions are open to whoever.  Unobtrusive research in the case of non-profits using social media outlets as ways to observe people is not unethical and should be allowed, if you are on a social page such as facebook then you should be aware that people will use your information for their personal benefit. 

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