Ethical Issues Relating To Practitioner based Research

Introduction

Educational research encompasses participants and different stakeholders hence, the conduct of the researcher is of utmost importance. A student conducting research is bound by the ethical considerations underpinning research in the same manner as a practitioner conducting educational research in an employment setting. In fact, Universities have guidelines that assist students in navigating the research environment without violating the prescribed code of conduct agreed upon by the relevant institution. This paper will consider the various ethical considerations involved for a researcher in an employment based setting. In particular, the paper will explore the ethical considerations concerning a researcher working in a social, emotional mental health (SEMH) provision for 11-16-year-old females. The SEMH sector is a sensitive one that involves interactions with young people with social, emotional and mental challenges that must be taken into consideration during the research (Carrol and Hurry, 2018). Further, this area of research involves young females between 11-16 years, a category that can be considered to be vulnerable and incapable of making certain decisions.

Consequently, undertaking a research in such a context is important because it addresses issues affecting young females in consideration of SEMH. According to Soneson et al (2018), many children and young people in the UK experiencing social, emotional and mental health difficulties do not have adequate access to care. Similarly, there is still a gap in provision of behavioural health support to among children and adolescents (Kase et al., 2017). Further, the Department of Education report indicates that 17 percent of pupils with special needs in England were associated with some form of SEMH difficulty (DfE, 2016). As a result, the research in this area is necessary to address the problems associated with it. In the same light, any researcher undertaking such an inquiry into SEMH provision for children and young females is bound by the code of conduct for research. For instance, the British Educational Research Association (BERA) has set out an ethical guidelines for educational research as a way of promoting the principles of openness, integrity and transparency in research.

Research Sponsorship

Ethics are majorly associated with morals that infer what is either wrong or right. In research, ethics determine what is generally considered to be an acceptable practice and what is shunned upon or considered as bad (Head, 2018). Further ethics in research has a connection with the concept of human rights. As a result, the researcher has his or her own rights as human being and must equally respect the rights of the participants in the research and the relevant stakeholders. Research activities can be capital intensive thus requiring a lot of resources for its successful completion. Therefore, research activities may be funded by another person different from the researcher. This kind of sponsorship may be undertaken by the government, corporate sector, private individuals or even private organisations. The big question with sponsorship of research activities is the extent to which their intervention may influence research findings and questions (Shawa, 2017). It is possible that sponsors may decide to become gatekeepers by agreeing to fund the academic inquiry on condition that it meets their own requirements. In other circumstances, sponsors may after sponsoring the research project decide to hold on to the findings and refuse to release them for publication.

In the context of SEMH provision for 11-16 year old young females, the sponsor could be the government, a non-governmental organisation or a private individual. This is because there are different organisations and individuals apart from the government who are interested in the status of social care for young females in the UK. For instance, it took Maurice Punch over 15 years to publish the findings of a research conducting at Dartington Hall School in south-west England. The reason for the inordinate delay of the publication was attributed to failure by the chairman of the school to provide consent for the publication of the research project (Shawa, 2017). Therefore, sponsorship of research projects is a major issue in this context and must be taken into account because it is linked to other issues including, freedom to publish, confidentiality, identification and professional standards. A researcher has responsibility towards other stakeholders including sponsors because they have a direct interest in the framing and success of the research project. To address all issues relating research projects that have been funded or commissioned, it is advisable that written agreements or contracts be signed beforehand.

Academic inquiries like the present one involving SEMH provisions for young females mostly entails public funding. This means that the government institution involved will require the researcher to publish the findings so that members of the public can access the information (Khan, 2016). In this context, the research affects parents, children, educational institutions, social services and other government departments. It is also necessary to include in the written contract, the timelines involved for the completion of the work because the sponsors would be interested in knowing when the project would be availed for consideration and implementation where appropriate. Further, the issue of accounting of the funds availed for the research should also be included in the contract to avoid any misappropriation and promote transparency in the whole process.

Research Relations

This refers to the relationship between the researcher and the researched. Shawa (2017) contends that research relations is concerned with issues such as harm, access, deception, confidentiality, power and secrecy. According all the above issues including issues of consent should be considered by the researcher before venturing into the research process. Because most researchers are associated with universities, there tends to be power differential between the researchers and the researched. Therefore it is important to take into account vulnerable groups in the society such as children, women and marginalised communities or groups. Researchers should consider the impact of their actions on the researched and take care to mitigate any negative effects, if any. In the employment based setting, the researcher will be working with young females who are 11-16 years old and this category of researched can rightfully be referred to as vulnerable. Thus, the researcher concerned should take steps to familiarise himself with the protocols communities in which the inquiry targets. This will make it easier for negotiation of access to the targeted population which will just be a sample of the community, neighbourhood or school.

The researcher should be oblivious to the ethical requirements when dealing with the participants or the researched. In this regard, the researcher in the present context of SEMH should treat the participants fairly, with dignity, sensitively and freedom from prejudice. Considering that the researched in the circumstances are lawfully children, the researcher ought to take into account their rights as per the Children Act. Further, it is equally important to consider the age, gender, faith, cultural identity and political belief of each individual child involved in the research. Sensitivity to the above structural issues are not only important during the research but also in reporting and subsequent publication of the findings (Varpio and McCarthy, 2018). The issues underlying the research pertain to SEMH that could be affecting some of the participants. As a result, the researcher must adopt an approach that can respectfully and effectively handle such situations without necessarily causing negative effects to the children or compromising the research.

Informed Consent

Hammersley and Trainou (2012) maintain that it is a general expectation of every researcher to ensure that there is voluntary informed consent of the participants. In any case, the participants should be informed that that they are free to withdraw that consent any time during the research process. The researcher must take steps to adequately explain to the participants the terms of their engagement and their consent should never be obtained by any form of duress or undue influence (Busher and Fox, 2019). Moreover, the participants should also be briefed on the nature of the research so that they have an understanding of what the study involves and their role in it. In the present context, the researcher in the employment based setting should consider that some of the participants nay be below the majority age hence incapable of consenting to participation in the research. Consequently, it is the duty of the researcher to obtain the necessary consent from the parents, carers, social services, guardians or the school where the children attend school (Brydon-Miller, and Coghlan, 2019). At some point, it may be necessary that the researcher involves intermediaries to be used for children who may be too young to comprehend or understand their role in the study.

In the same vein, the participants should be informed of the implications of the data collected. They ought to be told in clear terms how the data collected will be retained, stored and used in future. The above element is tied to the theme of confidentiality and secrecy of information collected from the participants in the study. In most cases, participants prefer and researchers oblige that they remain anonymous and their names be removed from the findings (Johnson, 2014). Similarly, the children involved in the research regarding SEMH should be kept anonymous and they should in the records be allocated fictitious names to protect their identities and conditions, if any. Being children, the researcher should probably initiate safeguarding procedures that will minimise any negative effects of the study on the participants by putting into place protective measures. Technological advancement has changed the conduct of research so much that research can be conducted by approaching online communities and researchers can rely on data or information found on social media platforms. However, these kind of data should be treated with caution and it is advisable that consent of the content creators is obtained.

Integrity and data dissemination

Data dissemination is also an important aspect of research that impacts on the ethical issues involved. Confidentiality can affect the extent to which the data collected can be reported back and the extent to which the findings can be adopted by policy makers or by institutions and organizations (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2018). In the present study, the guardians or the participants can decide to either uphold or waive the right or confidentiality and anonymity as highlighted above. Further, the participants may be allowed to comment on the interview transcripts in the case of qualitative interviews as a way of mitigating the likelihood of misrepresentation of data by researchers. Data security is also a key aspect of ethical research since it ensures that the data collected is secure and may not be used for any other purpose that for which it was collected. It is fundamental that researchers take steps to guarantee the integrity of the research process. Hence the research should be valid and reliable so that it is considered as a trustworthy study. Further, the findings should be based on evidence, arguments justified and the prescribed guidelines for educational resort should be followed.

In consideration of the above, BERA (2018) outlines various practices that could compromise the integrity of a study. Notably, it cautions that the falsifying of research findings and sensationalising findings could lead to misconduct on the part of the researcher. Further, data collection and data management raises ethical questions of confidentiality of data obtained and the actions of the researcher during the whole process. During data collection, the researcher may ask questions that are inappropriate for children or demeaning to their gender. While this is unacceptable, if it has to be used during data collection then it must appropriately justified and measures taken to minimise their effects on the participants (Newby, 2014). More importantly, full disclosure must be made to the guardians or the school management on how the data will be used including disposal, access and storage.

Conclusion

Overall, any researcher undertaking a study in education must be alive to the ethical issues as discussed above. In the context of employment surrounding the issue of SEMH provision for children, the ethical implications are fundamental and cannot be taken lightly. Consequently, researchers in the said setting must take into account issues such as confidentiality, consent, sponsorship, integrity of the study, data collection and management. The list of ethical considerations is quite long, nevertheless, the abovementioned issues are at the core of educational research in the present context.

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