Referente a la competencia literaria y la experiencia estética

Ethical issues arise in all aspects of research, and are particularly salient when studying vulnerable members of society, and in this case, very young children experiencing change as they enter preschool and in the privacy of their homes. Denzin suggests:

… our primary obligation is always to the people we study, not to our project or to a larger discipline. The lives and stories that we hear and study are given to us under a promise, that promise being that we protect those who have shared them with us. (Denzin, 1989a, p83)

Once the setting and participants had been identified, letters were sent to all parents and staff, informing them of the research project, allowing them the right to be excluded from or exclude their child from the data (See Appendices 4.5 and 4.6). One child was excluded for personal reasons: the parents were reassured the child’s image would not appear on any material and this agreement has been honoured. I met with the staff, case study children and their parents, broadly outlining the nature of the study, what it would entail in terms of hours and nature of observation, frequency of interviews and their rights to withdraw from and/or review all material used. This process is often referred to as ‘informed consent’, yet in exploratory or investigative research the notion of

‘informed’ is problematic, as the precise course to be taken by the research is unpredictable. A more fitting description for the consent gained in this project is ‘provisional consent’, that is, the participants’ agreement was understood to be

provisional upon the research being conducted within a broadly outlined framework and continuing to develop within their expectations. ‘Provisional consent’ is therefore ongoing and dependent on the network of researcher/researched relationships built upon sensitivity, reciprocal trust and collaboration.

Rather than following a pre-conceived code of conduct, the ethical stance of this research study evolved out of these relationships. The frequent ethical dilemmas encountered were resolved as they emerged in the field, in their local and specific

contexts, on a minute-by-minute basis, depending on the researcher’s perceptions and interpretations of the dynamics of the participants’ interactions, intentions and anxieties. Not adopting a coherent set of values does not imply neglecting ethical considerations, rather it suggests responding variously and reflexively to complex situations, which Simons and Usher (2000) refer to as ‘situated ethics’. The following extracts, the first from Field Notes, immediately after an abandoned recording session, and the second written as a Diary Note during transcription of a parent interview, illustrate just two of many hundreds of large and small ethical dilemmas encountered:

This morning’s session was frustrating. Tallulah was talking much more than usual, mostly to her mother and brother, but also a lot of self-directed speech. However, because she didn’t want to wear the recorder … I couldn’t record what she was saying, and she speaks so quietly I couldn’t hear most of it out. She didn’t mind me videoing her though, and watched bits afterwards. Maybe I could get someone to

lip-read that! (Field Note 21.03.01)

My role as researcher is blurred in the homes, where the mothers and I seem to be in a new kind of social ‘bubble’ somewhere between an acquaintance and a friend. The recording equipment and prepared questions for interview bring formality, but this seems to disappear as the interviews develop. I’m often treated more as a ‘fellow’ mother, and a confidante, sometimes playing the role of a counsellor, hearing deeply personal details of the participants’ lives that have a place in our ‘bubble’ but no place in my research. (Diary Note 18.10.01)

Decisions about when to stop observing participants, or about when not to transcribe data relate not only to my own personal understandings of privacy and respect, but also reflect my epistemological stance. Epistemological beliefs about what can be known are linked to ontological beliefs about what exists and to ethical beliefs about how the researcher can find out what can be known and what the researcher should do with what is divulged.

To counteract the seemingly unavoidably exploitative nature of research, throughout the project I have attempted to be adaptable, respectful and supportive towards all

participants and to give something back. As discussed, the interviews and consultations with adult participants, and the subsequent representation of their views in the research text, have provided a platform for their voices and given the participants a sense of ownership over the data. The following comment from a member of staff after I had thanked the staff at the final interview is telling:

Well, thank you, it seems odd that we won’t be having these sessions any more. I’ll miss them and we’ll all miss having you around. You must promise

to keep coming back. (Sarah, Staff Interview 24.07.01)

When conducting longitudinal research, meaningful relationships are built up, that the researcher cannot responsibly turn and walk away from. I have continued to visit the site of study, sometimes through arranged visits for consultation and sometimes ‘social calls’. Similarly, I have met informally with all the mothers, both to gain their views on specific findings and to learn how their children are continuing to fare in playgroup, and now, in primary school.

For the children, their consent has mostly been in the form of a full right to withdraw from observation, and choosing whether to wear the audio equipment or not. Rather than relying solely on the children to express their feelings, their consent was almost continually assessed by myself, with the help of staff and mothers, through a growing sensitivity to their behaviours. If in any doubt about how comfortable the children were with the equipment, then I immediately stopped observing them, leading to time-

consuming rescheduling. Occasionally, I was slow to react to the child’s signals of discomfort, as I was so engrossed in the research issues, yet at least on some of these occasions, the staff felt comfortable to approach me if they were concerned. The

children were also given the occasion to view, to play with and to talk about the videoed material. Furthermore, each child has a copy of their videoed sessions, and the parents a printed summary of the observations of their child as a permanent record of their

Protecting the participants’ interests has been the primary ethical stance adopted in this study. As Price (1996, p207) argues, it is better to ‘compromise the research rather than compromise the participants’ This includes protecting anonymity. All the participants’ names have been changed, and precise personal details have not been given. However, visual images are used from which the participants could be identified, and the display of these images is sometimes integral to the research. I have gained permission from the staff and parents to use some still and video images in presentations of this research, and am personally comforted by the thought that the children are now older and less easily recognised by those who do not know them well.