Ethical considerations

In conducting the interviews, it was important that ethical considerations were fully understood. Due process was followed to obtain full ethical clearance via the University of Sussex ethical review system (appendix G).

In obtaining ethical clearance and in constructing the questions and procedures for the semi-structured interviews, the BERA ethical guidelines for educational research were used (BERA, 2011). As the researcher, it was my responsibility to ‘operate within an ethic

of respect for any persons involved in the research’ and to ensure that all the

interviewees were ‘treated fairly, sensitively, with dignity, and within an ethic of respect

and freedom from prejudice’ (BERA, 2011, p.5). There were three guiding principles

followed when considering the ethics of this research; minimising harm, protecting privacy and respecting autonomy (Coe et al., 2012; Cohen, 2013; O'leary, 2014). The procedures for the semi-structured interviews were put in writing and clearly explained to interviewees before any interviews proceeded (as noted earlier). The interviewees were provided with a written version of the procedures (appendix D). The mode of interview (e.g. by ‘phone, Skype™ or one-to-one), location, communication method and timing was agreed and decided in advance with the Interviewees, this was done to ensure privacy, to respect their working commitments and ensure that minimum inconvenience to the interviewee arose.

4.22.1 Informed consent

Informed consent was required for this research. Following the general guidelines from BERA, and more specific discussions of informed consent by Cohen et al (2013, p.80), details of the research, its purpose and procedures were provided to all the interviewees in advance of any formal recorded interviews. Verbal Informed consent was sought in all but one of the recorded interviews, as well as in a written format. In reviewing one of the recordings, it was apparent that while I thought at the time I had captured a verbal informed consent, I had not. Interviewees were asked to return signed consent forms (appendix D1) that indicted they had read about the purpose of the research, the context within which the interviews would be used and some possible outcomes from the research. One interviewee did not return a signed permission document (see below).

4.22.2 Withdrawal of consent

Each interviewee was informed in writing of their right to withdraw from the research/interview prior to the interview taking place. Withdrawal could take place at any point up to July 2016, at which point the data would have been analysed and incorporated into the thesis and it would be difficult to extract individual data easily (appendix D and D1). One interviewee did exercise this right (see section 4.23).

Interviewees were also informed at the start of the interview that they were free to end the interview at any point, without having to provide a reason, or to refuse to answer any question, again with no questions asked about reasons for declining to answer. They were also reminded of their right to withdraw post interview as described above. The right to withdraw or not to answer questions was important, as some questions required them to reflect on their childhood as well as their school experiences. With no knowledge of their personal circumstances and backgrounds, there may be issues from childhood, family, schools etc. that they may not wish to reflect upon or discuss. The questions posed were general, rather than specific, allowing the interviewee to decide on what information they wished to disclose. All interviewees were offered transcripts of their recorded interviews should they wish to have one. Only one interviewee asked for a copy. This led to an issue with the use of the interviewee’s data (see section 4.23 below). 4.22.3 Anonymity and confidentiality

Anonymity was an important aspect of the interviews. Any names used, including the names of schools that the interviewee attended as a child, did placement experience in, or the name of their current workplace are not used within the thesis. Only vague descriptions of the school type or area are used, any names used are pseudonyms. To further aid anonymity, where interviewees used the names of teachers they referred to as being influential in their own education, this has been reduced to a random initial letter. A title is used to identify only if the teacher was male or female e.g. Mr/Miss. Given the small number of interviewees, it is very difficult for an individual to ‘hide’ within these data. The only way to ensure complete confidentiality would be to disguise the responses to such a degree that they would become unrepresentative and not useful. As Cohen (2013, p.93) explains:

…more problematic is the question of what confidentiality actually means if the data are to be used for the research; if data are to be confidential and cannot be used or passed on, then what is the point of collecting or having the data? In this case it is perhaps anonymity that should be addressed rather than confidentiality, or that the scope of confidentiality (its boundaries) should be clarified rather than a guarantee be given of absolute confidentiality.

None of the interviewees were known to each other, as far as I am aware, and the names of the interviewees were not disclosed to each other at any time. While an interviewee may recognise their own input, they would not be able to identify any other interviewee or have the means to deduce from the data/thesis the whereabouts or identity of any other interviewee who was taking part.

4.22.4 Data protection

The interview data were recorded digitally, with copies transferred and held on my University computer personal drive. No other copies have been produced or stored. Only I, as researcher, had access to the recordings. Initial transcription was done via machine transcription of voice to text. Once the files had been transcribed, they were deleted from the online software. The true identity of the interviewees is only known to me as the researcher. Once the thesis examination process is completed, the recordings will be deleted and notes shredded.