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UNIT 5 The Reality of Research Ethics (Exploring Messy and Complex lives…

- - - - Was it ethical to film these people?
      - Did they give informed consent?
      - Did the children understand and give consent?
      - Did they know how much would be put into the film and how personal it would be.
      - Did they feel the need to pass any information onto social services?
    - - Vortex focuses on the everyday experiences of three families – their fears of children being taken into care, and the ever-present challenges of finding enough food to eat and wood to heat their houses. The film documents how local services struggle to find ways to help people out of their desperate situations. Life for both children and adults is stressful, and hope is hard to maintain.
        There are aspects in this social documentary that disclose personal and sensitive family experiences. There may also be scenes in the film that angered you or that you found uncomfortable to watch. There may have been several elements to the film that you felt added to its emotional impact, such as concentrating on the first-hand accounts of the family members and emphasising close-up camera work, in addition to the circumstances depicted. Each of these elements raises particular ethical questions about researching poverty and family relationships.
  - - - 6 months of filming, structured approach
        
        no scripting
        
        wanted to remove myths of why Roma people do and behave how they do
        
        text doesn't convey well enough
        
        educational for policy makers
        
        ethnographic research
        
        wanted to tell a true story and give the individuals a voice
        
        Ethics
        
        consent, respect autonomy and dignity, when they said no
        
        they were able to decide what they wanted and didn't want to be shown
        
        they filmed illegal activities, which then were included in the film to protect the participants
        
        did the film makers (John oates and co) have an obligation to report this activity
        
        abuse of children and animals
        
        were they obliged to report it
        
        did they involve social services
        
        they did get involved, however SS approached the researchers in order to get advice on how to help these families
        
        their position as researchers was drawn to other things
        
        giving charity to the participants
        
        many ethical issues only arose after the process started
        
        there are still impacts happening now as part of the film (the ethics can be judged on long term impacts)
        
        the head of SS was sacked
        
        children were threatened to be taken away
        
        donations to the village increased
        
        government took an interest and funded an art project
  - - - Why are ethics important
- - - - The audio is an interview between the interviewer and 4 professionals, discussing ethics in research
        
        Professor Judith Masson
        
        JM says things can still be unethical even if they are legal. However, if you doing something illegal as a researcher there are serious consequences for the researcher.
        
        JM says that she does not think that checks on ethical procedures are good enough.
        
        JM describes informed consent of reducing information to an understandable level for the participant, based on what they need to know.
        
        who gives consent? The child or the adult?
        
        does that person have the right to give access to or consent for the child
        
        she gives the example of a child in care where the aren't still have parental responsibility, but the social worker gives permission to access the child.
        
        talking about the ethics of methodology, JM explains that interviews are good as they allow the participant to request a break, or stop, however there are other issues with interviews such as... that discussed by RO below
        
        In terms of dissemination, JM talks about situations when the findings to not meet with the organisations motives and direction, and they control what and how the findings are disseminated. May not be a truly accurate reflection, or people who need to see it, might not
        
        Professor Chris Jenks
        
        CJ talks about bad ethics as being research carried out which is market orientated, research which has a negative or degrading impact on respondents
        
        His research goes before an ethics committee which provides protection for the researchers and participants
        
        With children's rights brings responsibility
        
        treat everyone respectfully
        
        try not to use methods which limit children's responses, but open questions may be too intrusive
        
        Dissemination - once the research is public, people can use it for their own means. It can be taken out of context and/or exaggerated. e.g. in the media, leaving out vital information
        
        Dr Richard Olsen
        
        His take on ethical research is to ask if it is going to do harm.
        
        His research within social care has never been past an ethics committee
        
        approaching consent with CYP is tricky as you cannot simply go by ages. It is based on understanding and experience too
        
        if not considered old enough the parent should give consent
        
        the child's choice should be respected by the researchers, parents and other involved parties
        
        Where there are gatekeepers, do they have the child's best interests at heart.
        
        Methods - protection from harm, ethical considerations. Interviewing alone, what are the issues. With parents may limit their responses, but also there are the ethical implications of interviewing 1-1. power dynamics, perceived authority, discomfort, male female. How would you resolve this?
        
        ethical concerns should come ahead of purity of data
        
        should unethical research be published or buried. RO gives the example of Nazi testing on children which was completely unethical, but has since been put to good use
        
        Professor Priscilla Alderson,
        
        PA provides an example of poor ethical research by describing a study aimed to prove the idea of the "terrible two's". It was conducted in an unfamiliar clinical environment and its design could be described as purposefully leaning towards seeing the results that they were looking for. There appeared to be a prejudgement of opinion on children being "naughty" and mothers being "incompetent". This was demonstrated when the research was published as a film, which showed two male researchers discussion behind a one way mirror. The fact that the research was shown on television is also an ethical consideration, as it exposes the participants to public scrutiny. It is also not known if consent was given, and for the children it was unlikely to have been.
        
        PA says that in her experience, not all organisations she has carried out research for has an ethics committee
        
        her work in hospitals was rigorously reviewed by their ethics committee, but her work in education was not.
        
        PA says that social research does not have to be reviewed by an ethics committee
        
        She feels that guidelines, and training on ethics are not good enough and that things need to be improved.
        
        Dissemination is different to just publishing your report, which few people read. Dissemination is taking the data, and drawing conclusions from it which are then used to influence and make changes
        
        ethics at this stage of the process are just as important
        
        PA discuss the issue of consent.
        
        you need to make sure the participant is well informed and understands before they can give consent
        
        explain what, how, when about every aspect of the research and what part you and they will play. Giving the right to withdraw at any time
  - - - based on module reader
  - - - based on module reader