Research Ethics

1. Sub-committee on Ethics for DBS Dr Robert McMurray (Sub-committee Chair) Robert.mcmurray@durham.ac.uk Anne Aspey (Secretary to the committee) anne.aspey@durham.ac.uk Research Ethics

2. Session aims • Consider the broad principles of ethical codes • Understand the Ethical requirements & responsibilities at DBS • Acknowledge the limitations of any code/process

3. What research ethics issues might arise in connection with this proposal? A short case study • An investigation into manifestations of resistance and compliance in the socialisation process • How do employees construct the realities of their work environment? • Does the socialisation process facilitate this reality? • What role do gender and power play in the socialisation process? • To offer a unique perspective to the extant literature the investigation will focus on socialisation among exotic dancers, principally via interviews of both dancers and management

4. Research Issues from Case • “Worthiness” of and professionalism with which the research is conducted • Researcher safety • Legal issues – e.g. under-age / illegal immigrants • Organisational anonymity • Organisational consent - written? • Covert observation

5. Research Issues from Case • Management interviews – consent, anonymity • Participant interviews – consent, anonymity, location • Psychological well-being of participants subsequent to the interviews • Dissemination and impact upon organisations

6. Research ethics traditionally concerned with: • Respect • (consents; minimise harm; privacy, confidentiality, anonymity; deception avoidance) • Professional standards • (rigour, validity, relevance, advancement of knowledge, originality, fair attribution) • Conflicts of interest • (funding sources; wider commitments; partnerships; expected outcomes; uncovering abuse) • Legal Rights • (data storage/protection/freedom of information; human rights; researcher safety/health and safety; litigation)

7. Reach of ethics • All research (esp) • human participants in research (adults or children) • human data (e.g. surveys and questionnaires on issues such lifestyle, housing, working environment, attitudes and preferences, tissue samples)

8. All aspects Conception Funding Fieldwork Analysis Dissemination Use Reach of ethics

9. Ethics as code • Set of principles by which research is governed (see links at end): • ESRC • British Sociological Association • British academy of management? • American academy of management • DBS sub-committee for ethics • Not neutral…. They shape research in terms of what is acceptable, valued and valid

10. Why ethics? • Scandal • Alder hay: organs scandal • Huntingdon life sciences • Tea room trade (Robert Allan (Laud) Humphreys, 1970) • Milgram experiments 1963 • Zimbardo prison experiments (1973) • Hawthorne plant studies (1924-32) • Growing fear of litigation and / or reputational damage

11. Sub-committee for ethics Chair Dr Robert McMurray The Principles & process at DBS

12. Ethical principles in research • Durham University follows Nolan Committee standards in Public Life: • Selflessness; integrity; objectivity; accountability; • Openness; honesty; leadership • Academic freedom within the law • Apply the principles of justice and fairness • Reasonable care towards all risks to people and • environment • Declaration and management of conflicts of interest

13. Ensuring Sound Conduct in Research http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/hr/policies/research/ensuringsoundconduct.pdf • Principal Investigators must comply with all legal and ethical requirements and other guidelines that apply to research in their department. This includes ensuring the submission of research proposals for ethics review where appropriate, internal and/or external, and ensuring that researchers abide by the outcome of that review. They should also ensure that research projects are approved by all applicable bodies, ethical, regulatory or otherwise. Good practice includes carrying out research with reasonable care towards all risks, including risks to people and the environment.

14. Design • All research involving human participants raises need for ethical reflection • This is true of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observation, experiments and potentially secondary data • Researcher safety may be an issue in some situations (yours or your teams – duty of care) • Particular issues arise in connection with children and vulnerable adults

15. Design (contd.) • Presumption of the need for informed consent • Verbal consent may be satisfactory but written consent may be required (pro-forma available) • Participation is voluntary and may be terminated at any point • Research is based on absence of coercion or inducement beyond a copy of results, expenses and where appropriate within the discipline (economics and psychology) payment for time (Amazon vouchers?) • Detail given of potential and future uses of the data as part of informed consent • Anonymity and confidentiality should normally be guaranteed • Research involving deception automatically raises ethical issues

16. Design (contd.) Research in organisations • The same issues arise when conducting research on individuals within organisations • In addition, the organisation needs to give informed consent, in writing if appropriate • Who is “the organisation”? • Confidentiality of the data is normally guaranteed but anonymity of the organisation is not unless specifically requested

17. Data collection and analysis • Having designed the research to take appropriate account of ethical issues, and having gained informed consent, the research should then be conducted as planned • Any unforeseen ethical issues which arise during the data collection should be considered immediately and appropriate action taken to handle or mitigate these issues (including discussion with DBS Ethics Chair) • Analysis should be comprehensive, impartial and accurate (see AoM code on this http://classes.uleth.ca/200803/mgt3031d/AOMCodeOfEthics.pdf)

18. Analysis & Writing From AoM Code of Practice (http://classes.uleth.ca/200803/mgt3031d/AOMCodeOfEthics.pdf) • do not fabricatedata or falsifyresults in their publications or presentations. In presenting their work, AOM members report their findings full and do not omit data that are relevant within the context of the research question(s). • explicitly identify, credit, and reference the author of any data or material taken verbatim from written work, whether that work is published, unpublished, or electronically available. • explicitly cite others' work and ideas, including their own, even if the work or ideas are not quoted verbatim or paraphrased. This standard applies whether the previous • work is published, unpublished, or electronically available.

19. Dissemination • If the dissemination of the results (e.g. a copy provided to an organisation that took part in the research) might lead to damage or harm to the organisation or to an individual, then appropriate action should be taken • Usually, it is appropriate to inform the organisation or individual so affected in advance of dissemination / publication

20. Related issues - Insurance • Normal research activities are covered by the University’s insurance. • But – anything involving the following must be reported to the University’s Insurance Officer to check that insurance is in place, or to arrange it: • Research involving focus groups or observation • Research outside of the UK (i.e. where the researcher is outside the UK or the participants are outside the UK) • Research involving subjects under 5 years of age • Research assisting with or altering in any way the process of conception • Research investigating or participating in methods of contraception • Research involving genetic engineering • Research involving drugs or surgery • Research involving persons known by Investigators to be pregnant • Research involving products manufactured by the University

21. Application Process

22. Durham Business School has established a “Sub-Committee for Ethics” (DBS SCE) as a subcommittee of the University Ethics Advisory Committee – see intranet sit http://dbs-internal.dur.ac.uk/ethics/default.aspx (or course specific documentation on DUO)

23. Technically “all undergraduate, postgraduate student or staff proposals for University work which involves human participants and/or gives rise to ethical issues must be assessed for ethics approval” But • DBS SCE has instituted a light-touch but rigorous series of procedures which rely upon the integrity of staff and students

24. For any piece of research that can be identified as a discrete project, staff and students should: • Complete “Process flow chart for students and staff undertaking research” • If necessary complete “Research ethics review checklist” • If necessary complete form REAF and submit to DBS SCE • DBS SCE has an expedited review procedure • If necessary complete written informed consent documentation

25. Document Description / Use

26. Do I need to apply?

27. Yes if… • Use human subjects or data (as described) • You are to comply with the University’s ethical code • Are to be covered by university insurance • Supported by the university in case of disagreement, harm or adverse publicity • Seeking funding from external agencies esp. ESRC (who will not forward funding until approval received) • Doing research with the NHS • NOTE: No longer require NHS research ethical approval for research with staff only, though still need permission of the organisation(s) involved

28. What if the study is abroad? • The University states that you must still get ethical approval of the sub-committee (as a member of its community of practice) • ‘When conducting, or collaborating in, research in other countries, Principal Investigators should comply with the legal and ethical requirements existing in the UK and in the countries where the research is conducted. Similarly, organisations and researchers based abroad who participate in UK-hosted research projects should comply with the legal and ethical requirements existing in the UK as well as those of their own country’ (Ensuring Sound Conduct in Research p11) • What about where Durham code and local practice conflict? • Negotiate with the sub-committee (Chair in first instance)

29. In the final analysis codes are limited • Much is taken on trust • Abuse of individuals & data hard to uncover • Can take years / never • Impossible to police • Blunt rules largely useless when faced with dilemmas • Multiple codes (researcher, employee, citizen…) from which we draw may clash? • Answer: imbue researchers with sense of ethical practice; or rather, make practice the focus of the ethical.

30. Ethics as practice • Clegg et al 2007 (working from Foucault) • Ethics as contextual • Ethics is practice at the point of dilemma & ambiguity: in deciding and then acting… • Reflexively accounting for action • What you ‘do’ (not the forms you fill) constitute your research ethics – constitutes the reality of ethical research • Ethics practice when problems made visible, discussed & contested …as part of an on-going negotiation of the ethical order…

31. Undecidability • ‘When a member of an organization faces a novel and morally charged situation s/he does more than merely apply a formulaic model or process in order to decide on a course of action… such predetermination is anathema to a real sense of ethics because it fails to account for the choices and dilemmas that are central to its practice. It is the moment of ‘undecideability’ that ethical responsibility can be located – a moment that exceeds rational calculation (Derrida, 1992; Jones, 2003) (Clegg et al., 2007: 111).

32. Reading • Academy of Management (2005) Code of ethics • Bell E (2008) Ethics in Thorpe, R. & Holt, R The Sage Dictionary of Qualitative management research. • British Sociological Association (2004) Statement of Ethical Practice – March 2002 (appendix updated May 04) http://www.britsoc.co.uk/user_doc/Statement%20of%20Ethical%20Practice.pdf • Clegg, S. Kornberger, M. and Rhodes, C. Business Ethics as Practice. British Journal of Management, 2007, 18, 107-122. • ESRC (2005) Research Ethics Framework http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/ESRC_Re_Ethics_Frame_tcm6-11291.pdf • Fisher C (2004) Researching and writing a dissertation for business students. London: Prentice-hall. pp54-56. • Foucault, M. On the Genealogy of Ethics: an overview of work in progress, in Rabinow, P. (ed.) The Foucault Reader: an introduction to Foucault’s thought. London: Penguin, 1984b • Jankowicz, A. D. (2005) Business Research Projects. London: Thompson (see index for various contributions inc pp62-66). • Lenza M. (2004) Controversies surrounding Laud Humphreys' tearoom trade: an unsettling example of politics and power in methodological critiques International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Volume 24, Numbers 3-5, 2004 , pp. 20-31(12) • University of York Code of Practice and Principles for Good Ethical Governance http://www.york.ac.uk/research/policy/CoP_Ethics.htm • Watson, T.J. Ethical choice in managerial work: The scope for moral choices in an ethically irrational world. Human Relations, 2003, 56, 2, 167-185.