ethical considerations in social research

“Ethical practice is not an add-on to social research but lies at its very heart. Ethical conduct provides the basis which legitimates the whole enterprise; it permeates research design and project organisation; and extends to minute and momentary decisions…” (Payne and Payne 2004:66).

Ethical issues pertain to all research methods, when ethical issues are considered there is much emphasis often placed on infamous extreme cases, such as; the Tuskegee study and research by Milgram and Humphreys. In these cases, ethical issues were violated to some extreme, however, some argue that the results could not have been collected had the ethical considerations been changed. The ethical guidelines that are set out for those wanting to conduct social research are put in place by the British Sociological Association and the Economic and Social Research Council. The purpose of the guidelines are to retain self-respect and self-image, maintain one’s public reputation and respects of others, protect one’s privacy and personal relationships, amongst other guidelines.

The various ethical issues that are to be considered when using participants within a research study. Kumar (2011) highlights five major considerations; collecting information, seeking consent, providing incentives, seeking sensitive information and the possibility of causing harm to participants. “Provided any piece of research is likely to help society directly or indirectly, it is acceptable to ask questions, if you first obtain the respondents’ informed consent”. (244). By collecting informed consent, the participant is agreeing that any information they provide to the researcher can be used in their findings and final report of the study. “Harm includes; “not only hazardous medical experiments but also any social research that might involve such things as discomfort, anxiety, harassment, invasion of privacy, or demeaning or dehumanising procedures”” (Bailey (1975:384) cited in Kumar 2011:245). If there is a chance of harm coming to the participants, research usually will not get the permission needed to continue, therefore, it is vital for researchers to ensure that no harm will come to their participants.

 

Reference list

 

Kumar, R. (2011) Research Methodology A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners [3^rd Ed.] London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

 

Payne, G. Payne, J. (2004) Key Concepts in Social Research London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

group work

I think the aspect of the module that will be most challenging will be actually producing a research proposal and working within a group to produce that piece of work, I think this will be the most challenging because assigning roles to each member of the group and ensuring that everyone does their fair share of the work is a difficult task for any group. However, I am looking forward to the experience of working in a group to produce a final research proposal, as well as expanding my skills as an individual as well as working within a group.

This was my outlook on the impending group work at the beginning of the module, however, having completed the assignment, I feel that the group did enhance my skills in both listening and communicating with people I would usually not speak to. Throughout the weeks of conducting the research, it became apparent the different roles within the group. Nichole assumed the role of group leader, although she did not particularly want this role, but because of her ability to ensure that we were all doing what we were supposed to be doing that role was assigned to her. Sarah, Shane, Jodie and I assumed the roles of researchers, with myself, Sarah and Shane doing the majority of research. This was due to the different aspects we were researching, because we were researching the BBC, Guardian and Sun, our workload was larger than Jodie’s, however, Jodie did produce some extremely relevant and useful data that was then used on the final poster presentation.

 

Without sounding extremely depressing, there were no “joys” of working in a group, so to speak. Having never had to group work before, I found it difficult to adapt to the idea that the workload would be spread through the members of the group. However, I did learn to adapt to this workload sooner rather than later much to my surprise. There were numerous problems whilst working within the group, a main problem was that for a number of weeks, we did not have a clear idea of how we were actually going to go about the research, this therefore meant that there were a number of weeks wasted within the research process.

 

Nevertheless, the group presentation has furthered my skills in communicating and when working in a group, to listen to everyone’s ideas without just writing them off. If there was an option to either work in a group or work independently for this project, now, I would definitely choose to work within a group, because I have found that working with the support of other people is extremely useful when producing a major piece of work.  

reflection on group presentation

For the major piece of work for the module Doing Social Research, I was in a group with Nichole, Sarah, Jodie and Shane. Our research proposal was “To what extent can it be argued that the representation of child abuse in the media is indicative of Cohen’s understanding of “moral panics”?” Due to unforeseen circumstances I was unable to present with my group in the final presentation, in front of the rest of the class and our tutor, Megan. Despite not being there, the rest of the group informed me that the presentation went extremely despite our concerns that it would not go as well as we first thought.

Despite these issues, I feel that our research was conducted well and professionally, we used wider reading to inform our research and the work of Cohen and Hall et al. was used to illustrate the points we were trying to make. As a group, I feel that we worked well together, we met twice a week and discussed what needed to be researched that we then the following meeting we each showed what we had found. Naturally there were some minor arguments as the presentation drew closer, however, I feel that it was due to the stress of having to give a presentation to the class and tutor and nerves were running high. If we were to do the research and presentation again, I think I would prefer to do a topic that was less sensitive, this is because I feel that due to the sensitive nature of the subject the group was slightly more stressed. Overall, I felt that our group worked well together because of our group dynamic and that there were different personalities in the group.

Despite not being present for the final presentation, I was extremely proud of the rest of my group with their presentation, we were able to overcome the difficulties we were faced with. The difficulties we faced as a group, was that because of the different personalities within the group, towards the end of the production of the poster some members began to argue with each other due to the amount of stress which we all felt as the presentation was coming to the end.

Secondary data analysis

“Secondary analysis is the re-analysis of either qualitative or quantitative data already collected in a previous study, by a different researcher normally wishing to address a new research question” (Payne and Payne 2004:214). Heaton (2004) suggests that “these data include material such as semi-structured interviews, responses to open-ended questions in questionnaires, field notes and research diaries.” (1)

There are a number of advantages to using secondary data, Punch (2005) argues that “cost (for many survey researchers, there is little chance of obtaining funding to carry out large-scale data collection), time (the researcher can begin analysis soon, rather than investing large amounts of time in data collection), quality (an existing data bank is likely to have higher-quality data than the lone, inexperienced researcher can hope to obtain)…” (103). Despite these advantages, there are numerous disadvantages Kumar (2011) suggest that “the validity of information may vary markedly from source to source…”, Kumar goes on to argue that there is a huge amount of personal bias within the “…information from personal diaries, newspapers and magazines may have the problem of personal bias…” (164). The work of C. Wright Mills (1959) can be applied to the disadvantages of using secondary data as it requires the use of the “sociological imagination”. This is the theory that there are specific reasons behind the data; however, the researcher using the data cannot retrieve these reasons, especially if the data has a historical context. Another major disadvantage of secondary data analysis is the ethical concern of obtaining participant consent, although the participants will have given their consent in the original study. However, the participants may not have given their consent for their information to be used in other studies.

 

Reference list

 

Heaton, J. (2004) Reworking Qualitative Data London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Kumar, R. (2011) Research Methodology A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners [3^rd Ed.] London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Payne, G. Payne, J. (2004) Key Concepts in Social Research London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Punch, K. (2005) Introduction to Social Research Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches [2^nd Ed.] London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Blog on blogs.

In the last 10 years there has been a clear increase in the “linkless blogging culture” (Wakeford and Cohen 2008:311), it can be suggested that the increase in “blogging culture” due to the increase of readily available information on the internet. The ease of which information can be uploaded and shared over the internet could also be culpable. Via a google search, it is clear to see that there are a wide range of blogs available online, depending on what interests you, for example: fashion, sport, food, music and academic blogs.  

 

http://www.shewearsfashion.com/p/about-me.html

 

The blog above is a fashion blog put together by a 20 year old girl from England, the blog includes style tips, “Thrifty Thursdays” which is a feature in which the blogger showcases her favourite items which are affordable for everyone, the blog has been featured in prestigious magazines such as Elle Spain, More magazine, amongst others. The fact that this blog has been featured in topshop.com and others suggests that this is not just a personal blog; instead it appears to be a well-respected blog within the fashion industry. The blog showcases various pictures of the blogger in different fashion outfits at different occasions; the more recent ones show the blogger at Coachella festival in America. Over 10,000 people have liked the blog via FaceBook, as well as numerous followers on Instagram, this shows that many people are interested in the blogs that are posted. The fashions displayed on the blog are current and up-to date, this reflects current fashions within society today, which enables the audience to remain up-to date with the ever changing face of fashion.

 

As a form of social research, like all other methods, blogs have advantages and disadvantages. The ease of access to a wealth of data and images on the internet makes the use of blogs a useful source of data when conducting social research. The above blog, would enable a researcher to see what type of fashions are being posted about online, and the comments section on the posts allows researchers to see whether or not the blog is well received. Blogs are a useful research tool because they provide the researcher with current and up-to date information, as bloggers tend to upload new posts daily and if not daily then weekly. Despite these advantages, there are also a range of disadvantages when using blogs as a source of data when conducting social research. The main disadvantage is that there are a range of ethical issues surrounding the use of blogs within social research, the main ethical question is if a researcher is using a blog in their study are they able to get informed consent to use the data from the blog. This then leads to the debate of public or private data, some would argue that because it is on the internet then that then means that the information is ready to be used in any way because if the author did not want people to use their information, surely they would not have put it on the internet. Hookway (2008) argues that informed consent is not needed because although the information is “personal” that does not necessarily mean that it is “private” (105). This suggests that although some of the information could be considered personal, it was put on the internet for a reason and more often than not that reason is because the author wants people to see what they have uploaded. Beer and Burrows (2007) suggests that the personal is now public via “archives of everyday life”, this includes “preferences, choices, views, gender, physical attributes, geographical locations…” (4.4).

 

Reference list.

 

BEER, D. and Burrows, R. (2007) “Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations”, Sociological Research Online, 12(5). Available from: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/5/17.html

 

HOOKWAY, N. (2008) ‘”Entering the blogosphere:” some strategies for using blogs in social research’ Qualitative Research 8(1) 91-113.

 

WAKEFORD, N. and Cohen, K. (2008) ‘Fieldnotes in Public: Using Blogs for Research’, in N. Fielding, R. M. Lee & G. Blank (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, pp 307-326. London: SAGE.

Eating Habits; Taste or Symbol? (New blog 14.5.14)

“Autoethnography is not simply a way of knowing about the world…it asks that we not only examine our lives but also consider how we think and why we think, act, and feel as we do. Autoethnography requires that we observe ourselves observing, that we interrogate what we think and believe…” (Jones, Adams and Ellis 2013:10). By this description of what autoethnography is and what it requires a researcher to do when completing social research using autoethnography as a method, it can be applied to almost anything within everyday life. An example is eating habits, and whether or not you eat something because you enjoy the taste or if you just eat it because that’s how you raised and it symbolizes something within life.

When I think of eating meat, I am rather picky about the types of meat I will and will not eat, an example is that I will eat beef burgers until there’s none left, but if a plate of roast beef is put in front of me at the dinner table I will push it around my plate until I have finished eating everything else. Using Jones, Adams and Ellis’s idea that autoethnography requires us to completely reevaluate why we do a certain thing, got me thinking about the things I will and will not eat and why I do this. I have always eaten chicken, turkey and ham; however, I have never enjoyed pork, lamb or beef. Despite this I have always eaten beef burgers and sausages, I just can't seem to bring myself to eat those types of meat when roasted and put on a plate in front on me. When different parts of the animal is cooked and offered, I often find myself cringing and turning away from what is put on my plate, the thought of eating an animals, tongue, liver, heart or kidneys just does not see, appealing to me at all, in fact it seems rather odd that someone would each such things.

“Robert Coles (1989, 47) tells us, “the beauty of a good story is openness-the way you or I or anyone reading it can take it in, and use it for ourselves” (Tillmann-Healy (n/d) cited in Ellis and Bochner 1996:104). Despite only really liking a very limited amount of animal meat, should the opportunity rise to eat animals that would not usually be eaten I think I would consider eating, shark, kangaroo, and crocodile.

 

References

Ellis, C. Bochner, A. (1996) Composing Ethnography Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Jones, S. Adams, T. Ellis, C. (2013) Handbook of Autoethnography USA: Left Coast Press, Inc.

First blog.

From this module I hope to be able to have a better understanding in what it takes to plan and produce research in the social world. I hope to have a better understanding of the ethical considerations and other factors that influence a piece of social research. I look forward to expanding my knowledge of what is a good piece of social research and what could be changed and modified to make a better research proposal.

I think the aspect of the module that will be most challenging will be actually producing a research proposal and working within a group to produce that piece of work, I think this will be the most challenging because assigning roles to each member of the group and ensuring that everyone does their fair share of the work is a difficult task for any group.

However, I am looking forward to the experience of working in a group to produce a final research proposal, as well as expanding my skills as an individual as well as working within a group.

I am not familiar with that many social research projects and therefore am unsure of my interests in this area, however, I am hoping that by the end of the module I will have a better understanding of what it takes to produce a research proposal that is worthy of funding and I also hope to have a vested interest in the research taking place around the world and how that impacts on society and the way it functions.

test post for my sociology blog.