RESEARCH ETHICS

Before conducting the research, the research proposal was reviewed for the human rights protection of the research participants by the ethics committee at the University of Exeter. A survey covering letter (see Appendix I) for

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the researcher of this study, and an informed consent form (see Appendix I) for interview participation were also written for research ethics. Issues regarding research ethics were also raised with interview participants and the informed consent forms for participant agreement were also obtained and collected.

The purpose of the ‘informed’ consent form is to notify interview participants of their rights and the potential risks, discomforts, or negative consequences of participating in the interviews (Bryman, 2006). In order to give consent, an individual needs to be clear what it is they are consenting to, including how much time the interviews may take, how the data will be used, how their

anonymity will be preserved, as well as their right to withdraw. All interviewees were given time to carefully read the informed consent form before signing their names and starting an interview. One copy of the signed informed consent form was also kept by each interviewee. In relation to refusal or withdrawal from the study, an interview participant has the right and can withdraw from the interview research without any penalty if he or she feels uncomfortable or has any concerns. I also orally described and informed participants of their right of withdrawal before starting an interview. In addition to the final twenty-six interviewees in this study, there was one student who participated in the first interview study but withdrew from the second interview study. The data from another student was also not used because he was not happy with some data collection in the second interview. Unless a participant withdraws, I continue to use the information or data collected from the participant. Additionally, the interviewees were also informed that any trouble or effect on a participant’s study or relationship with the university would not be caused by the withdrawal. However, I still sincerely invited interviewees to take part in the research and carefully thought about their willingness to participate throughout the study. For issues related to risks or discomforts, I also let the interview participants know that there were no known or anticipated risks, costs, or effects on their study or life if they participated in this study.

Regarding confidentiality, this research follows the guidelines of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) and the GSE Ethics Committee at the University of Exeter, which cover issues of confidentiality. All of the

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information provided by interview participants is treated confidentially and will be used for academic research purposes only, even though the research is published. The names of the interview participants will not be identified or associated with their personal information; instead, a pseudonym or a code number is used for research identification purpose. All of the information will be used by the researcher only and kept in a safe place for five to ten years, in order to protect interview participant’s human rights and privacy. Additionally, interview participants’ identifiable information will also not be released in the future unless written permission is obtained from them. Furthermore, interview participants were also asked to agree with the publication of the research findings for academic purposes. Therefore, through signing the informed

consent form (see Appendix I), permission from interview participants regarding personal information collected for data analysis, report (use and disclosure), and publication, will be granted to the researcher, under the supervision of the GSE Ethics Committee. In addition to heeding the ethics guided by BERA or the GSE Ethics Committee, I was also very careful not to use the pressure of friendship to encourage students to participate in this research as all of the participants were expected to be volunteers with the absolute right to withdraw from the research anytime. I was also mindful of individual stresses when talking with the research participants about issues that might have been

troubling them. My approach for the data collection is to respect the information released from the research participants without any interruption. Being very comfortable about sharing any experiences, information and feelings helps me with better interview data collection. Generally, all of the interviewees were very happy and willing to contribute to this research related to international students.

Rules of research ethics, such as honesty, high competence, and reciprocity, are also seriously followed. Survey research findings and data are reported only by aggregated statistical data for research and academic purposes only. The collected and analyzed data or information is also kept for a designated period of time, for instance, five to ten years (Sieber, 1998). Finally, the

research finding will be published via an “unbiased language at an appropriate level of specificity” with adequate description “sensitive to labels,” and the

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proper use of the name research “participant” rather than subject (Creswell, 2003, p.67).