All research carried out by students as part of their studies in the School of Education must be ethically reviewed before commencement. This applies to all research oriented coursework assignments and dissertations/ theses. Details of the School of Education Ethical Review procedures are found on the following page http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/education/research/ethics
Students should read the guidance in the section and decide, in consultation with their tutor/supervisor, whether their proposed work needs to be ethically reviewed. Students will receive guidance on the procedures for ethical review from their tutor/supervisor. Students are reminded that it is a University requirement that all research involving human participants or personal data must be ethically reviewed. Work which requires review cannot be marked if ethical review has not been carried out. Questions about ethical review of research should be addressed in the first instance to your tutor/ supervisor.
The University’s Research Ethics Policy can be found here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/rs/ethicsandintegrity/ethicspolicy
Ethical considerations are paramount.
They need to be fully discussed with your tutor/supervisor before setting out on your enquiry and they will need to be re-visited in some depth as you write your final report. A conscientiously-kept research diary will give you much greater awareness of ethical issues and dilemmas than reliance on memory alone. Concerns which are relevant to your investigation should be noted in your diary and will constitute an important aspect of your final discussion. For example, particular issues concerning the involvement of children or vulnerable adults need to be thought through carefully; likewise, issues around discussion of sensitive topics; issues around intrusion, if observation strategies are employed, and so on. All these matters need to be addressed before you set about collecting data. Evidence of in-depth reflection on ethical issues should be clear in your final report.
(i) Consent. As much information as possible should be provided to participants so that they can give - or withhold - their agreement to participate. Establishing consent is not always a straightforward business and requires careful and perceptive handling.
(ii) Deception. Intentional deception of participants about the purpose and general nature of the investigation should normally be avoided. If your project involves withholding any information from your participants, you must discuss this in detail with your supervisor before going ahead.
(iii) Debriefing. At the end of the study you should give participants any further information needed to complete their understanding of the nature of the research, what you hope to do with it, and how it might affect them personally at any later date.
(iv) Rights to withdraw from the investigation. Participants have the right to drop out of the study at any time and this must be made clear to them from the outset. Remember that participants also have the right to withdraw consent retrospectively and require that their data be destroyed. They should be informed about this and enabled to take appropriate action.
(v) Confidentiality and/or anonymity. These issues should be fully discussed with prospective participants. You need to be very clear about how ‘confidentiality’ and ‘anonymity’ are different, and what guarantees you will - and conversely will not - be able to give to participants in terms of respecting either, or both, of these.
(vi) Protection of participants from physical and mental harm during the investigation. This is essential. It may appear to be a rather extreme consideration in relation to the small-scale research which is appropriate for a Masters degree, but you must think carefully about any levels of stress or distress which participation might cause for your participants either during or after the research.