MA in Educational Leadership Teach First Research Methods

MA in Educational Leadership (Teach First) Research Methods Training Saturday 26 June 2010 Session 4: Ethics and Bias Led by Dr. Justine Mercer (Justine. Mercer@warwick. ac. uk)

Activity 1: Ethics Think of a time when, as a researcher, you faced an ethical dilemma. What was the dilemma? How did you resolve it? On what basis did you decide what to do?

“Truth” from Pring (2000) Pring (2000, p. 143) defines the underlying principle of ethical research as: “respect for the dignity and privacy of those people who are the subjects of research … [and] … the pursuit of truth – the right to try to find out as carefully and accurately as possible, but also the right of society to know. ” • How do you interpret this definition? Can you see any problems?

“The pursuit of truth” a) What is truth? b) Whose truth do we mean? c) Did you include the pursuit of truth in your reasons for doing this MA?

Bias from Walford (2001) describes his research into City Technology College, research that was motivated by a very strong political agenda. He believed from the outset that CTCs were wrong and was hoping to provide data that would help Labour win the next election.

Walford (2001) p. 117 “We hoped to be able to show that the CTC programme had severe problems and was acting to the detriment of many children. ” p. 118 “How can partisanship on such as scale be compatible with social science research? ” Our choice of research focus is politically motivated, but the conduct of our research can be objective. We ask some questions and not others on political grounds, but the answers we receive to our questions need not be biased. Walford didn’t find the evidence against CTCs he had hoped for, but he published his results all the same.

Activity 2: Informed consent Respect for dignity and privacy a) What constitutes “informed consent”? b) Who asks participants if they would like to take part? Do they feel able to refuse? c) How much do they need to know about the research in order to give informed consent? d) What extra precautions are advisable when researching children?

Informed consent Powney and Watts (1987, p. 147) argue that research benefits from interviewees being ‘fully informed from the start of what the researchers and the interviewees are trying to establish’. More realistically, Bulmer (1982, p. 243) contends that “all field research involves giving misinformation, less than full information or even mild deceit to some extent”. Researchers need to avoid ‘contaminating’ their study “by informing subjects too specifically about the research questions to be studied” (Silverman, 2000, p. 200).

Informed consent – insider research “Thus, it seems offensive not to give some honest and reasonably full account of the rationale and purpose of one’s study to such respondents [who are equals] and the account cannot be one that is intellectually condescending. However, it is difficult to do this without inviting discussion of the study rather than getting on with the interview, and without providing so much information that it may bias the course of the interview. ” (Platt, 1981, p. 80).

Harm BERA (2004) “Researchers must recognize that participants may experience distress or discomfort in the research process and must take all necessary steps to reduce the sense of intrusion and to put them at their ease. They must desist immediately from any actions, ensuing from the research process, that cause emotional or other harm. ”

Activity 3: Harm a) Who decides if harm is being caused? The researcher or the researched? b) Can you think of any instances in which harm might be justified? c) What would you do / have you done in research situations where the researched have become emotional?

Activity 4: Withdrawal BERA (2004) “Researchers must recognize the right of any participant to withdraw from the research for any or no reason, and at any time. ” a) When does the research end? b) What happens if someone requests to withdraw just as you are about to submit your dissertation?

Activity 5: Anonymity BERA (2004) “The confidential and anonymous treatment of participants’ data is considered the norm for the conduct of research. ” a) What is meant by confidentiality? What is meant by anonymity? b) Should you always anonymize the institution you are describing?

Anonymity Not everyone does! • Huberty (2000) Department of Educational Psychology at The University of Georgia. • Hutchinson (1995) University of Ulster. • Miles and Hyle (1999) Oklahoma State University. • Rutherford (1992) University of Birmingham. • Even if you do use a pseudonym, it may be easy for people to guess.

Anonymity c) When quoting informants, how much information should you give about them? At what point do they become identifiable by other participants?

Activity 6: Sampling bias a) How can you access the voices of those who feel silenced without co-ercing them into taking part? Research into home-school partnerships relying on questionnaire sent home. Research into any topic privileging the views of those who share a common language with the researcher.