PROCESOS ABRASIVOS RELACIONADOS

Ethical considerations are necessary for any research study with people in real world settings (Bell, 1999). Livesey (2014) states that:

… ethics refers to the morality of doing something. Ethical considerations apply to choices about the type of research being undertaken such as whether it is ethical to study people without their knowledge or if it is, for example, ethical to deceive people about the purpose of a research study. Ethical issues, therefore, guide choices about how people are persuaded to participate in research, and how are they are physically and psychologically protected during and after the study (p.89).

I was not studying people without their knowledge or deceiving my participants about the purpose of my research study. Participation was entirely optional and I did not think my participants would need physical or psychological protection during or after my study. Creswell (2008) confirms that ethical protocols are significant because they protect the human rights and values that could otherwise be threatened by the research. May (1997) adds that neglecting ethical considerations could harm, perhaps, both the subjects and the researcher. According to the British Educational Research Association (2011):

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… educational researchers should operate within an ethic of respect for any persons involved in the research they are undertaking. Individuals should be treated fairly, sensitively, with dignity, and within an ethic of respect and freedom from prejudice regardless of age, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, nationality, cultural identity, partnership status, faith, disability, political belief or any other significant difference. This ethic of respect should apply to both the researchers themselves and any individuals participating in the research either directly or indirectly (p.6).

When I conducted this study, I was a 38 year old heterosexual woman and a Libyan

Muslim who had lived in the Islamic culture in Libya for most of my life. I had taught EFL at a Libyan university and spent seven years as a researcher in the UK for Masters and Doctoral studies. As a result, I fully understood the Libyan culture and how participants in my research might think of me as a woman researcher and how this could be a potential source of academic and social problems. Thus, in this research study I considered all aspects and domains of the ethical issues, for and among the students and teachers, including by respecting the cultural context of gender. For instance, I was completely aware of gender issues such as dealing with the opposite sex and collecting data with men participants. When I began interviewing participants, I ensured appropriate behaviour in consideration of the relationship between men and women in the Libyan culture. For example, I used appropriate language and a formal manner of communicating particularly with male teachers because some were older than me and needed to be given particular respect because of this. In addition, I ensured appropriate cultural awareness by giving all subjects a choice of when they preferred to be interviewed and I was also very careful not to publicise their names or use their responses for any other purposes than those in my Plain Language Statement and consent forms. Hence, I ensured, for example, that the names of participants were fully encoded during all stages of this research so that none of them could be identified.

Further ethical issues in my study relate to the conflict situation that existed in Libya during my research. When I invited my participants to take a part in my study I made sure that students had permission from their parents. Although all of the participants were older than 18, I did this so their families agreed and knew where they were when they talked to me and so they knew the topic of my research. This was especially important as the data collection was undertaken during periods of conflict and unrest in the city. As a researcher I had to protect myself and my participants from any possible danger or harm and be aware of risks. Although the university building was relatively far away from the dangers of the fighting and bombing, anything could change at any time and I and my participants had to travel to the university. My interviews with students and staff were conducted during the

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days when they were at the university and I always ensured interviews were between classes so participants did not need to be on or to leave the campus earlier or later than usual. Also, if the unrest was bad in their home area at the time they might not come to the university. For all of these reasons I really stressed to each participant that they were free to withdraw at any time, without giving any reason and their decision not to participate or to withdraw from the study would not affect them in any way, or jeopardise their

relationship with me or any of their teachers. This was particularly important at a time in the region of civil and military unrest. Everyone felt under pressure and all of us were probably more anxious than normal and so I had an ethical responsibility to make sure my study did not add, in any way, to that anxiety. I discuss the initial reluctance of my

participants to have our interviews recorded and the generally high levels of anxiety may have contributed to this anxiety as many people, staff and students, felt insecure and unsure who could be trusted.

Further ethical issues, because of the unrest and conflict in Libya, related to myself as a doctoral candidate and these issues became very significant in the course of my studies. Researchers undertaking qualitative research, and particularly qualitative research on sensitive topics, need to be able to make an assessment of the impact of the research on both the participants and themselves. Dickson-Swift et al. (2007) have written that qualitative researchers, especially those looking at sensitive topics, ‘need to be able to make an assessment of the impact of the research on both the participants and themselves’ (p.328). I have noted above the need to minimise risks to my participants during data collection but from the start to the finish of my doctoral journey there were ethical – physical and emotional – risks to myself and to my wellbeing that I had to manage. My PhD studies started in Glasgow but personal family circumstances and the political situation meant I had to return to Libya with my husband who had also been a doctoral student when the troubles in Libya were at their height. The universities were closed and survival and caring for my young children became the only priority so this interrupted my studies. After the ‘revolution’, the gendered cultural issues I have already discussed and the continuing political situation and conflicts meant it was almost impossible to leave Libya to resume my studies. Electricity was and still is a challenge with frequent power cuts and so accessing the internet for resources and communicating with my supervisor was sometimes impossible. It was also impossible to leave Libya to come to the UK for my viva and so this was originally scheduled via webcam in May 2018. However, civil unrest in my city at that time meant it was impossible, the risks were too high, for me to leave my home and travel to access the internet and so that viva was postponed. Eventually I was

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viva-ed with Zoom at the end of April 2019 from an internet office where I knew they had a back-up generator in case of an electricity cut. Even during my corrections month, after the viva, there were times when I had no internet access as there were bombings and unrest in my city. I think these are all ethical issues and they are all related to risks. Many times I thought I would never finish my PhD and for a thesis about emotions and anxiety, it is, I think, important that I record this. I return to ethical considerations in my final Chapter but note, below, some of the challenges of conducting this research.