Ethical Practice

3.9.1 Ethical Considerations

The request for ethical clearance addressed the five major ethical issues including informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, right to withdraw anytime, physical or mental distress and handling of the research data. The research proposal satisfied the requirements of the University’s Ethical Principles and Guidelines for Research involving Human Participants. The University of Cumbria Ethics Advisory Panel granted ethical approval for this study on April 13, 2012.

Participation in this study was completely voluntary. The participants were given sufficient information about the study and its purpose, which allowed them to make informed decisions in regards to their involvement in the research. It is suggested that a full disclosure of the study helps build rapport with the participants (Creswell, 2007). The participants were advised that the information collected from them would be used to

understand the experiences of domestic violence among rural Pakistani women. They were also informed that this research was part of a degree requirement, the findings of which will contribute to the existing domestic violence discourse. One participant expressed a concern over the research findings being published in the local newspapers. She was assured that none of the research findings will ever be published locally. She was reassured that the participants’ privacy and comfort was of utmost importance and all the necessary steps were taken to safeguard the participants and the information they provided.

A verbal consent was then obtained from the women who wished to participate in the study. The first reason for obtaining verbal consent was that literacy was an issue for one participant. Second, the participants did not feel comfortable providing a written consent as a safety measure because they did not want to provide a written proof of their involvement. This is consistent with the finding that participants from ethnic and marginalised groups can be reluctant to provide a written consent (Liamputtong, 2008; T. Miller & Bell, 2002). Any activity involving the participants included their full consent. The participants’ questions and concerns were addressed until they were satisfied with the answers and had no further questions. This was an open research that involved full consent of the participants with a free will to withdraw from the study at any time. It is important to note that the participants were given ample time to make the decision regarding their involvement and they were allowed to make that decision privately without any pressure from the researcher or the host family. Assurance of privacy, anonymity, confidentiality and trust was central to the success of this study.

The participants’ comfort level was never violated while talking about the intimate or hurtful aspects of their marriage. Extra care was taken to ensure that the participants did not experience any feelings of depression, embarrassment or regret as a result of the conversations. The participants were made aware of their right to share as much information as they liked. They were never forced to form an opinion about something they did not feel comfortable talking about and were never pushed to divulge any specific information. If the participants had experienced feelings of discomfort, depression or stress the interview process would have been stopped to immediately address the reasons behind such feelings. The need for participants to decline or alter involvement at any time was fully recognised. For example, after several visits to one participant’s house I was requested to meet her at her friend’s house for further interviews to avoid facing objections raised by the in-laws. Her request was immediately considered. The participant in this case confirmed that she felt safe continuing the interviews at her friend’s house. In addition, the participants could talk to the gatekeeper afterwards if they had any concerns about the research process. They could also speak to the host family if they needed to talk about any issues concerning their safety or wellbeing in the research.

Special attention was given to preserving the participants’ dignity and privacy. None of the research activities involved placing the participants at risk for physical or mental harm. The participants were interviewed when their husbands were at work to eliminate the possibility of any negative outcome. However, the researcher made sure that the husbands did not feel that their authority was being violated by this research. I had an opportunity to meet with the husbands of the two participants and personally explained the purpose of

my research. I also met with the in-laws of one of the participants. The husband of one participant was also involved in the PRA process. The participants’ husbands were fully aware that I would be conducting interviews with their wives about family conflicts. The husbands did not object to the interviews because as a female researcher I did not violate any cultural norms. The reason why the interviews were conducted in the absence of the husbands was because although the husbands approved of the interviews, the participants felt that they would be reluctant to share the information with ease in the presence of their husbands.

The interviews were never conducted in presence of other family members, as this was also important to the participants. However, only two participants were married and lived with their husbands at the time of the research, the other two were separated from their husbands and only one participant lived with her in-laws. As an additional precaution, the host family accompanied me to all the visits and interviews. They stayed with me to ensure the safety of the participants and the researcher. The host family was always prepared to intervene and deal with any unforeseen circumstances and unpleasant situations. Hence, I considered safe guarding as much as I could during the research process in the village.

The meetings with the participants were always closed-door. No individual other than the researcher and the participant was ever present during the time of the interview. As mentioned earlier, the host family accompanied me to all the visits but sat outside during the interview process. Although the interviews were always scheduled in advance, if an unexpected visitor appeared at the participant’s place of residence, the interviews were

suspended and rescheduled for a later date. Information about any one participant was not shared or discussed with another participant. Information about the participants was never sought from a third party.

Participant identity remained hidden during the course of the study. Any published material based on my dissertation will not identify any participant. At the write-up stage the data will not be linked back to any participants and pseudonyms will be used to protect the anonymity of the participants. The identities of individuals and their relationships in the community remained hidden and confidential. Any information collected during this study was stored safely with a password-restricted access. The participants were assured that the data collected will not be accessible to anyone but the researcher, and that confidentiality will be maintained at all times.