My ethics your ethics research ethics lessons from

My ethics, your ethics, research ethics: lessons from Africa CHRI S GRANT UNIVERSI TY OF BOLTON, UK 29 TH ANNUAL ETHNOGRAPHIC & QUALI TATI VE R ESEAR C H CONFERENCE LAS VEG AS, JANUARY 30 -31, 2017

Context § Africa is… poor under-resourced (infrastructure) challenging § For students and staff

NASA (2015)

NASA (2015)

Context 2 § African students are… resourceful passionate innovative pragmatic community driven

Context 2 § African students are… resourceful passionate Innovative pragmatic community driven § But they have… different cultural context which impacts on their ethical position

www. newsday. co. zw 13/3/2015

https: //malawi 24. com/2017/01/19/police-fault-malawians-corruption/

One student wanted to undertake participant observation in a brothel to see how it impacted on completion of projects And couldn’t understand why it would need high level ethical clearance.

Africa – Research Ethics Committees § Most research on Research Ethics comes from wealthier countries (Kass et al, 2007) § Most countries do not have national guidelines for research ethics, where they do exist they are focussed on biomedical research; questions arise about their ability to the job required (Tindana and Boateng, 2008) § Kass et al (2008) found the majority of committees had no nonscientist members (but note sample size and selection) § Kirigia et al (2005: 1) argue all countries should protect citizens participating in research through a “functional ethics review system”

The Research § Phenomenographic study where the participants’ voice is central § Semi-structured interviews with MSc students undertaking research § Phase 1 at study design phase to explore factors influencing their ethical perspective § Phase 2 (May 2017) after they have collected data to understand how the ethics process helped or hindered them and how they negotiated the challenges,

Influences? Ethics are influenced by a number of …ethics come from a number of sources. One of them of course is family, it could be community, and also some… if you belong to a particular church, some religious organisations there could be some ethics, like Christians have ten commandments eh. Sort of that would be a source. But also if you belong to a particular maybe social club that would have a particular ethics and errrr in the organisation there are written down ethics through some procedures, through some guidelines to show, they shape the behaviour of employees in the organisation. But also in academic institutions they would want academic excellence, they would want ethics and in terms of studies they want ethics. So this kind of things are a range of sources.

Influences? Ethics are influenced by a number of …ethics come from a number of sources. One of them of course is family, it could be community, and also some… if you belong to a particular church, some religious organisations there could be some ethics, like Christians have ten commandments eh. Sort of that would be a source. But also if you belong to a particular maybe social club that would have a particular ethics and errrr in the organisation there are written down ethics through some procedures, through some guidelines to show, they shape the behaviour of employees in the organisation. But also in academic institutions they would want academic excellence, they would want ethics and in terms of studies they want ethics. So this kind of things are a range of sources.

Key themes § Family § Geography § Religion § Professional Experience § Exposure to other cultures

Family § § I think my family really has err yes my upbringing my family has been very strong on ethics (Student 11) Yeah so from the bigger picture of the err cultural perspective I think that’s where we draw most of the… the rules because like in Zambia we have a culture that we follow… You know and it trickles down to the family. … there are stages, before it trickles down to the family (Student 7) even when you leave that village setting and you come to town, from time to time your uncle will visit you and again the emphasis is put there you may somehow backslide but you need to be reminded you are from this particular area, you are supposed to behave like this, (Student 11) The dos and don’ts are explained to you regularly and then of course, you pick it up , teaching your children how to behave, how to relate to people and how to act in certain situations. So it is a cycle of reinforcement of this ethics (Student 11)

Geography § § Living in a place like Malawi, you could either be brought up in a village, where you do all basic things, there is no influence to city life or anything else, so the ethics could be more… very cultural, very routed to the traditions in that particular area (Student 4) You see where I come from issues of ethics are very strong because there is actually specific training on ethics. We have err we have what you would call… it is called a Mukanda is err it’s a sort of cultural training centre for mm for boys. And these boys are sort of taken to a camp in the bush where ethics… err one of the major topics there is basically ethics how you you you relate to people, how you behave, when you should behave in a certain manner… And there is a similar camp for girls. (Student 11)

Religion §I can say for example there are different religions here in Malawi and in these religions there are specific ethics, there are specific issues that shape that kind of grouping (Student 3) §Errm My Christian life, my Christian belief has contributed so much the way I…I… I… I live and the way I manage the ethical err ethics in my life because as a Christian I am not just a Christian I’m… somebody who believes in living that Christian life. (Student 3) §I forgot about religion also does influence one as an ethical practice. (Student 12)

Professional Experience § Exactly, for instance in the pharmaceutical field errm you have to observe these regulations, the rules that govern the profession of pharmacist themselves (Student 10) § But also in life, in education itself, the education that I’ve gone through, there are several ethics that you develop, that you pick up in the various courses. I did my education as an accountant initially, there are ethics from an accounting point of view and then I did IT and there are ethics that you need to follow. (Student 4) § Now this is dependent on the literature. If it has some kind of err potency, I’ve done that before and I explained to my patient and told them that errm this product is expired and it’s the only one which you have, it will have some [inaudible] activity but it won’t reach the actual thing so it’s better than nothing or you don’t take it at all. (Student 6)

Exposure to other cultures § I think things that have changed my ethics in that particular area would be how, I mean looking at a very good example, looking at just how we look at family from an African point of view and how family is viewed from maybe say Europe or in America. Interacting with people from those particular areas, I would say has a much bigger bearing on how my ethics around how a family is managed, how you do things within your family, I can’t call myself a traditional Malawian in terms of ethics on how we manage a family err but just in general, how I communicate, how I interact, there are things that would be unethical in terms of politeness in Malawi that are OK in the UK or the US. I have a combination of both. (Student 4) § When I go into the UK, I [inaudible] I call my boss whatever name I can call him, I can say Hi, I can do whatever at any given point in time. So you see that my ethics around how we treat people are sort of breached. I have to adapt to every situation (Student 4

Future Research § Rich picture of factors influencing ethics § Phase 2 (May 2017) will explore the challenges they encountered in undertaking research to comply with UK Research Ethics Process § Sample will be extended to include students who have encountered ethical difficulties ◦ Company did not want to put permission in writing

References § Kass, N. E. , Hyder, A. A. , Ajuwon, A. , Appiah-Poku, J. , Barsdorf, N. , Elsayed, D. E. , Mokhachane, M. , Mupenda, B. , Ndebele, P. , Ndossi, G. , Sikateyo, B. , Tangwa, G. and Tindana, P. (2007), The Structure and Function of Research Ethics Committees in Africa: A Case Study, PLo. S Medicine, 4(1). doi: 10. 1371/journal. pmed. 0040003. (Accessed: 4/6/2015) § Tindana, P. and Boateng, O. , (2008), The Ghana Experience, Journal of Academic Ethics, 6(4), pp. 277– 281. doi: 10. 1007/s 10805 -009 -9075 -2. (Accessed: 14 June 2015). § Kirigia, J. M. , Seddoh, A. , Gatwiri, D. , Muthuri, L. H. , Seddoh, J. and Muthuri, L. (2005) E-health: Determinants, opportunities, challenges and the way forward for countries in the WHO African Region. Available at: http: //www. biomedcentral. com/1471 -2458/5/137/ (Accessed: 14 June 2015).