Usos e intencionalidades de la tecnología en Matemáticas

During the research process, it is crucial to consider the ethical issues emerging from the study as the human rights of the participants should be protected (Polit and Beck, 2004). The four principles of biomedical ethics were addressed as the framework for examining the ethical issues in this study (Beauchamp and Childress, 2001); that is respect for autonomy, none-maleficence, beneficence and justice (3.7). Ethical issues emerging from this study were taken into account during the process of completing ethics approval applications for the ethics committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Glasgow and the West of Scotland Research Ethics Service.

Respect for Autonomy

‘Autonomy’ is the capacity to self-rule without any interference from others or limitation such as inadequate understanding (Beauchamp and Childress, 2001). The principle of ‘respect for autonomy’ plays the most important role in decision-making process among potential participants (3.9)

In Scotland, all potential participants were professional nurses employed in the NHS. Thus the potential participants were considered as autonomous persons with the capacity to make rational decisions.

Potential interview participants were given the interview recruitment package including Letter of Invitation (Appendix IX), Participant Information Sheet (PIS) (Appendix X), Consent Form (Appendix XI) and Interview Guide (Appendix XII and Appendix XIII) via post or email. All potential participants had at least 24 hours to consider the information before they decided to take part or not in the interview. The consent form was signed and collected at the beginning of the interview. A copy of the consent form was given to the participants at the completion of the interview for reference. The interview was digitally

Part 1 Scotland audio recorded with permission. The researcher explained again the purpose of recording the interview before the participants signed the consent form and that a decision to withdraw at any time from the study would not affect their employment.

Regarding questionnaire participants, the questionnaire recruitment package including Letter of Invitation (Appendix XIV), Participant Information Sheet (PIS) (Appendix XV), and Questionnaire (Appendix XVI) were distributed to the potential participants by either the researcher or the link nurse or ward managers. The return of the questionnaire was taken as willingness to be involved in the study and no specific consent form was requested from potential participants as completion of the questionnaire was taken as consent. Potential participants were asked to complete the questionnaire as soon as possible and return it to the researcher within four weeks from the time the questionnaire was received. The questionnaire was returned directly to the researcher in a stamped addressed envelope.

Non-maleficence

The risk of harming others should be carefully considered during the conduct of a study, which includes not only physical harm but also psychological, economical and social harm, which might occur as a result of this study. In this study, the researcher considered that there was no physical and or other harm to the participants. However, the researcher was aware that potential participants might feel some degree of psychological and social pressure during the recruitment process and interview. In addition, the length of time for the interview and completing the questionnaire were also taken into consideration so that taking part in this study was not inconvenient for participants.

Beneficence

As previously mentioned, ‘Beneficence’ is often confused with ‘Non-malefience’. The principle of ‘Beneficence’ is to act to promote or do something beneficial for others and prevent and remove something harmful to others (Beauchamp and Childress, 2001). In this study, the researcher was aware that there was no direct benefit to the participants by participating to this study. However, potential future benefit was mentioned in the PIS as it was hoped that this study would allow us to understand the current situation of recently qualified critical care nurses and also to inform others of associated nursing workforce related issues.

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Justice

In research, participants should have an equal and fair opportunity to be provided before, during, and after the study. Research subjects should be selected not because of their availability, compromised position, and manipulability, but because of their direct relationship to the study. Furthermore, justice should also guarantee the right of the participants’ privacy (Beauchamp and Childress, 2001; Polit and Beck, 2004).

Confidentiality and anonymity are important to the principle of ‘Non-malefience’ and’ Justice’. In this study all potential participants were nurses employed by the NHS. All participants were anonymised in this study. To maintain confidentiality, the researcher took the following steps.

Digitally audio recorded interview data were held in a secure computer at the University of Glasgow and consent forms were held in a secure filing cabinet. These data and documents were accessible only to the researcher except on several occasions when the researcher asked one of the secretaries working in the same department to transcribe interviews. She was asked to respect the confidentiality of the interview data. The interview data were converted to a Waveform Audio File Format so that the researcher could play the recorded data on the computer for the purpose of transcribing and data analysis. Each audio- recorded interview was given an identification number so that only the researcher was able to identify the participants. After completion of interview data transcription, the secretary was no longer able to refer to any of the interview data she transcribed. Typing of transcriptions was anonymised. The secretary transcribed 12 interviews (checked again by the researcher after transcription) while the researcher transcribed 15 interviews.

Returned questionnaires were also held in a secure filing cabinet. The questionnaire data were coded and again held in a secure computer at the University of Glasgow. These data and original questionnaires were only accessible to the researcher. The returned questionnaires were given an identification number for the purpose of data analysis and preserving confidentiality.

All collected data will be destroyed on the successful completion of study and in line with ethics approval.

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