I adhered to the Data Protection Act 1998 and the data security guidelines of the University.
https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/vco/exec/registrar/legalservices/data protection
Data was kept in a secure place which was password protected. I put in place measures to ensure that data was well secured and anonymised by removing all the identifiers from the transcripts before being seen by anyone else other than myself. However, I encountered some unique issues related to confidentiality in Kaoma where some participants preferred to be interviewed in the presence of some family members. A case in point was when I went to interview a mother of a child with cerebral palsy in Kaoma. We had visited her a few days prior to the interview at which she revealed that her husband had left her a few years ago to live with another woman who had six children of her own. When we arrived to have the interview on the date we had agreed, we noticed a group of people sitting in the shade under a mango tree. It was the wife (and her family), and the estranged husband (and his family). Apparently, the husband had been racked with guilt and remorse over the past few years, and had come in the hopes of reconciling with his wife. When I saw the scene in front of me, I suggested that we postpone the interview, but the wife insisted that we carry on. She said that before any talks on reconciliation happened, she wanted her husband to hear about all she had gone through over the past few years without him. All parties agreed and the interview began. It must be noted that the presence of the husband (and both their families) may have resulted in her emphasising certain stories over others, or adding certain emphases for emotional impact. Still, I felt it was important to respect her wishes and empower her to say what was on her heart and mind.
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Another case was when I went to have an interview in one of the villages in Kaoma. It was going to be a private interview, however, the mother insisted that all of her village should sit-in on the interview and offer their contributions. She explained that in their small village, everyone was aware of the hardships she was facing daily, and so she wanted their involvement. So she went and called people and over thirty people gathered, both young and old. In essence, it became more like a focus group discussion. Elders in the group who had known her a long time began adding stories about her upbringing. Others added comments here and there reiterating what she was saying but my focus was on what she was saying.
4.12.1 Informed Consent
Great care was taken to ensure that mothers were willing to participate in the study. All the participants were provided with information in writing concerning the nature and basis for carrying out the research, and this was meant to allay any concerns they may have had (see Appendix D). I explained to potential participants the purposes of the study and how I was going to use the data that I was collecting. I endeavoured to treat all participants equally and to let them decide if they wanted to take part in the project. This approach is echoed by other scholars (Krumholz, 2010, McCullough and Chervenak, 2007, Wiles et al., 2005) who assert that participants in a research project ought to make their own informed decisions with regards to taking part in a study.
Ongoing Consent: participants were reminded throughout the research project of their right to withdraw from the interview at any time and without giving any reason (Heath et al., 2007, Guillemin and Gillam, 2004). However, as I was aware of my culture (Zambian) that it is seen as impolite to terminate a conversation without giving reasons, I paid attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues, as can be seen from the excerpt below:
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Masauso: oh yes, it’s over one and half hours now. Do you have another commitment or are tired?
Bo ma Mwila: yes, I do.
Masauso: thank you very much for your time. Unless you have something to share with me, otherwise, we can end the discussion now.
Compensating Participants: There is no agreed upon principle when it comes to compensating research participants (Ripley et al., 2010, Ndebele et al., 2008). I found modest but practical and locally acceptable ways of reciprocating their good gesture of finding time to discuss with me their lived experiences. At the end of each interview (which lasted between 50 minutes-3.30 hours), in agreement with the mothers, I was giving them equivalent of £5.00 (K50.00 Zambian currency). All of them liked the idea while others also requested for further assistance with accessing social services such as schools for their children. I was referring such mothers to appropriate resource agencies that I identified in the research sites prior to commencement of data collection (when I had discussions with the policy makers and staff from NGOs).