Ethics for my Dissertation
Statement of the ethical considerations raised by the project
The question of ethics is of great significance in social research. Ethics relates to the requirement to treat players in the research with great respect and dignity in the course of searching new knowledge as a researcher. Ethical issues often surface depending on the nature of research subject, the research context, nature of participants, data collection methods, and treatment of the data itself. Thus a researcher may encounter such dilemmas as privacy, confidentiality, anonymity, ethical problems synonymous with particular research methods, as well as ethics relating to teacher/professor evaluation.
In order to gain access to the university, I will seek permission from the Administration of University of Bangor. I will send a letter to the Dean of Students explaining the nature and aim of my research. On receiving a positive feedback, I will draft consent letters to the University Administration and 20 would-be participants namely: students of Middle Eastern (Arab) origin who have immigrated to pursue their education in Bangor and have lived in the UK for at least four years. They will be male or female participants aged 22–25 years. The selection of informants will be based on the following criteria: length of stay in the UK (4 or more years), gender (10 men and 10 women), age (22–25 years), and occupation (student at Bangor).
Thereafter, I will telephone arrangements with the Administration of the University seeking permission to make a presentation of the research study as well as permission to conduct the investigation. I will attach the letter permitting me to carry out the research to the consent forms so as to prove to would-be participants that I have formal authorization from the Administration. I will conduct a standardized test on the study participants as a baseline to establish language proficiency. The participating students will be given questionnaires and consents to fill which I shall collect after a couple of weeks.
I will make sure to take care of ethical issues before recording of classroom interviews (in Arabic language) and observations. These include informed consent, anonymity and explaining the implications of the interviews. Respondents will not be required to supply their names on the questionnaire so as to maintain their confidentiality and anonymity.
Prior to conducting the classroom observations through voice recorder, the participants will be reassured of confidentiality. It will be made clear to them that the recordings will only be listened to by my supervisor and my external moderator when reviewing my thesis. The above described steps are captured in the University Of Bangor Code Of Practice for the Assurance of Academic Integrity and Quality Assurance in Research.
