Ethical Issues

A researcher has a moral and professional duty to be ethical, even when research participants are unaware of or unconcerned about ethics. Ethics is defined as “the study

of standards of conduct and moral judgement, how they are derived and applied, and, in the case of research, how these standards affect all those concerned with a particular project” (Langenbach et al., 1994, p.368). Johnson and Christensen (2000) defined research ethics as “a set of principles to guide and assist researchers in deciding which goals are most important and in reconciling conflicting values” (p. 63). As observed by Ely, Anzul, Friedman & Garner (1991), “qualitative research is value-laden and interwoven with ethical concerns” (p. 218). Ely outlined the main concerns of qualitative research as: integrity of the study, the impact on the participants and the broader social implications of the study.

Research that involves people needs to be conducted with ethical considerations to ensure that people who are involved are not injured by the conduct of the research.

This is the responsibility of the researcher as Merriam (1988) suggested that “the best an individual researcher can do is to be conscious of the ethical issues that pervade the research process, from conceptualizing the problem to disseminating the findings” (p.

184).

Bogdan and Biklen (1998) pointed out that two issues dominate traditional official guidelines of ethics in research with human subjects: informed consent and the protection of subjects from harm. Bogdan and Biklen suggested:

These guidelines attempted to insure that subjects [participants] enter research projects voluntarily; understanding the nature of the study and the dangers and obligations that are involved and subjects [participants] are not exposed to risks that are greater than the gains they might derive. (p. 43)

According to Christians (2000), there are codes of ethical guidelines agreed upon by professional and academic associations, and these principles are:

• Informed consent – Research subjects will be informed about the nature and consequences of the research in which they are voluntary participants

• Deception – Participants will not be intentionally misinformed about any aspect of the research

• Privacy and confidentiality – Participants have the right to privacy and will not be identified in the report

• Accuracy – Transcripts of recorded interviews will be made available to participants to ensure that they accurately reflect opinions (p. 138-140).

This study was conducted with these ethical guidelines in mind. Care was taken to ensure that respondents were appropriately informed of the purpose of the study, interviews were ethically administered, documentary data was ethically gathered, and analysis and reporting met with ethical considerations. The objectives of the research were clearly laid out and a discussion with all the interview candidates before the interview sessions was always conducted to clear any misunderstandings. The researcher always made a prior telephone appointment to schedule the interviews.

The participants in the study were informed about the nature and the consequences of the research in which they were voluntary participants. The consent form indicated the purpose of the study, the background of the researcher, the approximate time the study took, how anonymity was maintained and the possible benefits and risks of the research. The consent letter also included the individual’s right to withdraw from the study at any one time. In terms of the participants’ right to privacy and confidentiality and ensured anonymity, all the names and participant details in the quotes were replaced by interview numbers in place of real names on tapes, transcripts, analysis, and any summaries that resulted from this study. Throughout the duration of the study, the researcher always ensured confidentiality in the access to and storage of the taped interviews.

Since most educational institutions require research proposals that outline the nature of the study and the methods the researcher plans to adopt to protect the participants, an application for approval of research protocol, which contained copies of interview questions and informed consent forms, was submitted to the University of Saskatchewan, Ethics Committee (Appendix B). As the interviews took place in Malawi, the University of Malawi Research Committee, on behalf of the National Research Council of Malawi, also reviewed the research proposal protocol that was submitted to the Ethics Committee of the University of Saskatchewan. The approvals from the two Ethics Committees (University of Saskatchewan and University of Malawi, on behalf of the National Research Council of Malawi) were granted prior to the commencement of the study (Appendix I).

3.7 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, the method and research orientation for the study have been presented outlining the design of the research. The case study was considered the most appropriate research design because of its capacity to deal with the subjectivity of the study. Several definitions and types of case studies were outlined and according to Merriam (1988), a case study had the advantage of being particularistic, descriptive, heuristic, and inductive. This study reflected these fundamental features.

A mixed-methods data collection was used and the main sources of data were semi-structured interviews supplemented by questionnaire and document reviews. Data analysis (reduction, display and verification) were done concurrently and this was followed by a discussion on the establishment of trustworthiness and consistency of the study. In keeping with ethical concerns in qualitative research and since the research

Committees of both the University of Saskatchewan and the National Research Council of Malawi (through the University of Malawi Research Committee). The two institutions granted approval before the study was conducted.

CHAPTER 4