Ethics and risk

The key to recruiting participants and obtaining successful interviews is to gain their trust and respect. To achieve that, the initial contact with a group or individual will include a clear statement of the research goals, format and ethical considerations. I will make clear that involvement in the research is voluntary; their participation in the study will be anonymous; the results will be presented in a way that assures confidentiality. They will be informed that they can cease participating at any time and ask that their data be destroyed. Data will be stored in a password-protected computer. Users will explicitly be asked for permission to use transcription services. If I do not receive that permission, I will transcribe the interviews myself. Since it is phenomenographic research, I will inform them that there are no right or wrong answers (Daly, 2008).

The ethics for this study were submitted for approval to Lancaster University, the Department of Educational Research. In addition, I will request approval by the ASA Committee on Professional Oversight.

Reference:

Daly, S. R. (2008). Design Across Disciplines. Purdue University. Engineering, Education, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S. Retrieved from http://books.google.hr/books?id=dSE4uvnBskMC