Alieva, D. & Maya-Jariego, I. Informed consent, disclosure of anonymity, and trust: Ethical challenges in a case study of the networks of inter-urban itineraries of Russian tourists in Spain. Recent Ethical Challenges in Social Network Analysis (RECSNA17). December 5-6, 2017. Paris (France), pp. 11-12.

1. INFORMED CONSENT, DISCLOSURE OF
ANONYMITY, AND TRUST:
Ethical challenges in a case study of the networks of
inter-urban itineraries of Russian tourists in Spain
Deniza Alieva & Isidro Maya Jariego,
University of Seville, Spain

2. STUDY CASE
The study conducted included 354 participants – Russian tourists who had visited
Andalusia (Southern Spain). Data was recollected through application of online
surveys.
During data collection we faced three interconnected ethical challenges, whose
resolution helped us to raise the participation and the response rates compared to
those presented in various online and offline surveys (Nulty, 2008; Couper, 2000; Watt
et al., 2002).

3. WHERE?

4. WHO?
• Russian tourists that visited Andalusia between 2013-2015
• Contact established through two internet forums
WHAT ARE WE STUDYING?
• The network of Russian tourists’ itineraries between cities

5. RESEARCH STRATEGY
Ethical challenges Research strategies
Using information from internet forums without
informed consent
Survey coordinated by Russian-speaker researcher
Revealing identity to participate in the survey
Participation of the researcher in the forum before
initiating the survey
Questionnaires completed in Russian
Difficulties to develop a personal rapport through
online questionnaires
Snow-ball selection of participants
Flexibility of the deadline to return the survey
MORE DETAILS?

6. ETHICAL CHALLENGES WE FACED WITH
• Obtainment of informed consent
• Revealing the forum pseudonyms of the participants (disclosure of anonymity)
• Generation of sufficient confidence in the interviewees

7. INFORMED CONSENT
The forums already contained information about the tourist itineraries and the list of
visited places.
We couldn’t use that information without the consent of the users (Bos et al., 2009).
Solution: conduct an online survey using the contact information available.

8. DISCLOSURE OF ANONYMITY
The participants were asked to communicate their email and provide some personal
information.
They showed less privacy concerns being contacted by email than sharing information
in the forum (Cho & LaRose, 1999).
4,4% of contacted people declined to participate.
14,7% of those who agreed did not complete the questionnaire.

9. PERSONAL RAPPORT
The application of online
questionnaires made more difficult to
establish personal relationships and
make respondents share information
openly and confidently.
WHAT WE HAD TO
DO?

10. RESEARCH STRATEGY
Ethical challenges Research strategies
Using information from internet forums without
informed consent
Survey coordinated by Russian-speaker researcher
Revealing identity to participate in the survey
Participation of the researcher in the forum before
initiating the survey
Questionnaires completed in Russian
Difficulties to develop a personal rapport through
online questionnaires
Snow-ball selection of participants
Flexibility of the deadline to return the survey
TRUST
CONFIDENCE

11. RESPONSE AND COMPLETION RATES
n
Rejection to participate in the
survey
Number of forum participants contacted 434
Number of individuals that refused to participate 19
Completion of the survey Number of questionnaire submitted 415
Number of questionnaire completed 354
Our response and completion rates are well above what is usual in internet
surveys, and is even above the data that are normally obtained in face-to-face
or mail interviews (Nulty, 2008; Couper, 2000; Dommeyer et al., 2004; Watt et
al., 2002).

12. CONCLUSIONS
• Third-party recommendation served as an effective pressure on participants to
complete the questionnaire.
• In case of Russian population flexible time margins also help to increase
participation rates (Malafeev & Egorova, 2014).
• Participant – participant and research – participant personal relationships acted as a
facilitator in the completion of survey. So, trust can be seen as a key factor in
obtaining high response rates in online surveys.

13. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!