Research Ethics

When undertaking research involving human beings there is a moral imperative to adhere to sound ethical principles, and to fully identify and appropriately address any ethical issues associated with the research project. Ethical issues can be wide-ranging and include such issues as gaining voluntary and informed consent from participants; risks for participants and associated institutions; privacy, confidentiality and anonymity; differential power relationships; social and cultural issues; integrity and accuracy in the analysis of data; and the reporting of findings (Dingwall, 2012; Doucett & Mauthner, 2002; Israel & Hay, 2006; T. Miller & Bell, 2002; Oliver, 2010).

Careful consideration was given to ethical principles and ethical issues that were relevant to this study, in particular those issues linked to the involvement and treatment of participants (Israel & Hay, 2006). The following two subsections explore these ethical principles and issues in more detail, while their specific application in this study is examined in more detail in Chapter Four.

3.4.1. Informed and Voluntary Consent

Informed and voluntary consent consists of four key elements: “information on which to make the decision, comprehension of the information, competence to make a decision and give formal consent”, and “absence of pressure or coercion” (Massey University, 2010, p. 9).

General guidelines recommend that potential participants are informed of the purpose, scope and duration of the research; what is expected of them; their right to withdraw at any time without being questioned; possible risks to them; how privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity issues will be addressed; how the findings will be disseminated; and contact details if questions arise (Christians, 2011; Israel & Hay, 2006; Oliver, 2010; Sarantakos, 2005). This information must be comprehensible to the participants. It is only when the participants have a substantial understanding of all that is involved, that they can truly give informed consent (Faden & Beauchamp, 1986).These

recommendations were adhered to in this study.

To ensure informed consent was voluntarily given, no coercion or pressure was applied (Faden & Beauchamp, 1986). Potential participants were also given sufficient time to consider whether they wished to be involved (Oliver, 2010). Very importantly, potential participants were assured that refusal to participate would not disadvantage them in any way.

The informed and voluntary consent process did not stop there, however. As this was a longitudinal study, the issue of ongoing consent also needed to be considered. T. Miller and Bell (2002) have argued that researchers are ethically obliged to continue to renegotiate informed consent in ways that do not involve current participants feeling compelled to continue to be involved in the research project. It was assumed that this issue was satisfactorily addressed when students elected to continue completing questionnaires in their own time.

As part of the informed consent process, participants were assured, both verbally and in writing that they had the right to withdraw at any point, without notice, and without any need for an explanation. Upholding participants’ right to withdraw without

explanation helped to ensure participants were treated with dignity, and that their rights to freedom and autonomy were respected (Oliver, 2010). Participants were also made aware that they had the right to request that the data they had provided be returned to them, and that there were no penalties for not continuing to be part of the study (Oliver, 2010).

Appropriate principles and practices were also applied when voluntary and informed consent was sought from the two schools involved in this study (Oliver, 2010). In this instance consent was sought from the appropriate gatekeepers (e.g., principal and board of trustees of a school), as they were responsible for ensuring no harm came to the participants or to the school (Oliver, 2010).

3.4.2. Privacy and Confidentiality

Throughout this study, every effort was made to respect participants’ and the schools’ rights to privacy and confidentiality. In adhering to these rights, the principles of

autonomy, freedom, justice, and non-maleficence were being addressed (Israel & Hay, 2006; Oliver, 2010).

In relation to privacy issues, participants in this study were made aware of their right to decline to answer any questions that they were not comfortable answering (Oliver, 2010). They were also assured that their personal details would not be divulged to a third party. When addressing confidentiality issues, participants and schools were advised in writing who would have access to the data they provided, how that data would be used, and assured that their identities would not be revealed (Oliver, 2010). They were also advised how the data would be securely stored, the length of time it would be stored, and what would happen to the data at the end of that period of time (Oliver, 2010). Consideration was also given to confidentiality issues associated with the use of a transcriber to transcribe the interviews and an inter-coder reliability check that was undertaken.

Anonymity was not possible in this study. Identifying information was needed to track participants, to enable face-to-face interviews to be conducted, and to administer questionnaires to groups of participants in a face-to-face context (Cohen et al., 2011).

However, confidentiality was maintained when reporting the findings. When reporting qualitative findings individuals’ identities were hidden through the use of a coding system for questionnaire data and the use of pseudonyms for interviewees. When reporting quantitative findings, the aggregation of data provided anonymity (Oliver, 2010). Such procedures ensured individuals’ data was non-traceable (Cohen et al., 2011).

When reporting the findings, confidentiality was also provided for the two schools involved in the study. Care was taken to ensure that descriptions of the schools would not lead to their identification (Oliver, 2010). While confidentiality can never be

absolutely guaranteed, the utmost was done to try to achieve this when reporting the findings of this study.

3.5. Chapter Summary

This chapter examined the mixed methods research methodology underpinning this study. In particular, the research design, the data analysis and sampling approaches, the assessment of quality, and the paradigmatic stance were examined in light of mixed methods theory and research. Following this examination was a discussion of the theoretical and practical concerns associated with the development and use of semi-structured survey and interview data collection methods. Finally, the ethical principles and issues that were relevant to this study were discussed.

The next chapter details how the ethical issues were addressed, the development and piloting of the data collection instruments, the processes and procedures employed in Phases One and Two, and how the data were analysed in this study.

Chapter 4.