Ethics has been a learning process throughout this master’s because it was a project where I really needed to be careful about how I spoke on the subject, especially since it started as an eating disorder research project and meant I was speaking to a very vulnerable group of people. I wanted to create a comfortable environment for them, and make sure they felt comfortable enough to withdraw if they wanted to stop talking about the subject or didn’t want to answer a question. During our conversations, I made sure they were comfortable with me discussing the subject, answered any questions, and checked in to make sure they were okay. There were also a lot of people I was speaking to who weren’t comfortable telling me their name; they just went by their TikTok and Instagram handles, and they didn’t turn on their cameras, which I completely understood and respected, and I made that clear. I also thought it was important to be fully transparent and ask whether they felt comfortable with me taking notes and uploading them to my student blog, where my classmates, advisors, and program directors would see them. They all said yes. After we finished talking, I asked them again to make sure they had the chance to retract anything or say whether there was a specific part of the interview they wanted taken off the record, in journalistic terms. Whenever I saw something wrong with someone’s work, I made sure to write up a contract, make sure they understood it, and ensure they were aware of all the terms and could make changes wherever they found them necessary. For example, for anyone taking part in an online activity, I wrote down all the terms at the beginning so they knew what it would include. Since it was done in a Padlet format, they could see what participating would entail and opt out at any time, since their content is revocable if they don’t feel comfortable. I want to make sure that I am doing everything as ethically correct as possible. Still, I understand there may be gaps I don’t see, so if someone notices something, I want to know so I can make sure I am doing things as well as I can. When I met up with people I found on social media, a couple of them told me this was a very important part of the research and that, before participating, they wanted to make sure they were doing it as ethically as possible. I also found it very important to respect people’s decisions whenever they felt they did not want to participate or speak to me. I wanted to make sure people always felt safe, and I always thanked them for wandering, even if they weren’t interested in participating, which I thought was important and made people feel safer.
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