Are you at ,or have you dropped out of University?

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Is this a personal project of yours, rather than a research study that has institutional approval? Research conducted by university staff usually has an institutional email contact address. WP is seeing more and more of these solicitations for information lately. Bona fide researchers need prior approval from WP's owner, and credibility requires a formal study proposal, ethical approval from the source institution, satisfactory privacy procedures, and access to the design, method and results.

Bona fide institutionally approved research is best not carried out via responses to a private email address. The lack of attention to these important details raises doubt that there is no institutional knowledge nor approval underlying these requests.

All 'research' proposals should be transparent, and if the material is being sought as content for essay purposes without the university being aware of this, that fact should be stated clearly. The ultimate use of the research needs to be fully disclosed in all cases, and contact details which allow people to verify the research has university approval or to register concerns if they arise. The lack of these indicate that the research is not being conducted in a professional and academic manner.

That had not occurred to me, but I responded through the forum instead of via email because of privacy concerns. We share some sensitive information on these forums, so I would not feel comfortable attaching my real name.