As with any research, it is important that the potential impact of the research on those involved is considered. All research therefore requires an acknowledgment of the ethical issues that are present. This research followed the ethical guidelines and codes set out by the ESRC and The University of Liverpool. An ethical application was submitted to the University of Liverpool Research Ethics Committee and approved. NHS ethics was not sought due to the timeframe for the data collection; University of Liverpool ethics was granted and this enabled the field work and data collection to begin as early as possible. The fieldwork for this thesis began in June 2009 with interviews in Edinburgh occurring and interviews with women in Inverness were completed in October 2009. Despite having received ethical approval for the study, it is important to consider that this is not the conclusion of the ethics process within this research project, as with any research, ethical consideration continued at all times throughout the research process.
The ethical features of confidentiality, anonymity and security were used within this research. Throughout the research, the principle of informed consent was used. Participants were not coerced to take part and it was made clear to them at all times what the research entailed. Participants were therefore able to make an informed decision before participating in the study. It was explained to participants that confidentiality was of a high importance to the researcher and the process of this was explained in full. Interviews require complete anonymity of all participants and effort has been made to ensure the protection of the identity of all participants with the use of pseudonyms throughout this thesis. I have attempted to make the new name assigned a Scottish name where I could. However this was not possible for
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every name and so for other names I pulled names out of the most popular names in Scotland. All participants were given an information sheet and signed a consent form (see Appendix 1 and 2). It was made clear to all participants that they are able to withdraw from the research at any time. It was also made clear to participants that if they disclose any criminal activity a third party may be informed. A process of line management was used in case any issues that the researcher is uncomfortable with discussing were mentioned. As the mother and toddler groups were voluntary community groups within an informal setting, disclosure control was completed through academic supervisors.
I followed the ethical standards of positionality and was sensitive to the differences between myself, as researcher and the women interviewed as participants within my research. I was attentive to ethical issues throughout the study, including during data collection, with an awareness that things can be unpredictable and cannot be foreseen. As Adams (2008, p.179) describes: ‘working with ethics involves realizing that we do not know how others will respond to and/or interpret our work. It’s acknowledging that we can never definitively know who we harm or help with our communicative practices’. As Duncan et al. (2009) stress it is impossible to make predictions about responses that the participant may have so it is important to be ethically mindful of the challenges which research, especially qualitative research presents. I was surprised at my emotive reactions towards some women’s stories, stories of loss or battles with post-natal depression or abusive partners. Ethics continues throughout the data collection as ‘researchers are required to make decisions throughout the research process regarding what is ethically appropriate to enquire about’ (Duncan et al., 2009, p.1694). This is true as the respondents may have voiced accounts which previously had not been shared with many people, revisiting these experiences could quite clearly be painful for women, but at all times I treated the women with respect and symphonised with them. Yet Rosenthal (2004) argues that at times the interview can take on a therapeutic opportunity as research touches on these intimate issues. I cannot pretend that some of my participants may have neglected to tell me something that they are ashamed of (Josselson, 1996); however I can say that the women I interview went into great detail about many of their experiences, which all were of course deeply personal. This just further
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demonstrates how ethically challenging research is, and how the ethics process goes beyond the mere act of signing consent forms or getting ethical approval.
Ethical thinking also influences not only how the data were collected, but stored, analysed and used. Once transcribed, the interview data were stored on a secure server to which only I have access. To be truly ethical, this chapter has shared the dilemmas which I faced in the research process, what Duncan et al. (2009, p.1692) title, ‘the untidy stories of qualitative research’. As a research method, BNIM was highly useful and I feel it allowed me to get some rich data. With any research it is inevitable that problems may need to be negotiated (Roberts, 1990), yet it is important that these ethical and methodological issues are acknowledged.