Chapter 4: Research Ethics

1. Chapter 4: Research Ethics

2. CONTENT • Institutional oversight of research ethics • Ethics in the research process • Ethical issues in research • Honesty/rigour in analysis, interpretation and reporting • Authorship and acknowledgements • Access to research information A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

3. Institutional oversight of research ethics • University/hospital Research Committees • Oversight of all research involving humans and animals • All research proposals must be vetted by the Committee + report submitted at conclusion of the research • Research Councils (grant-giving bodies) also have ethics committees • Problems of disciplinary and methodological bias in ethics committee members (Lincoln) • Some professional bodies have research ‘codes of ethics’ A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

4. Ethics in the research process • Issues: • Social benefit - will research benefit society? • Researcher competence – are researchers qualified/ experienced? • Free choice – are subjects participating freely? • Informed consent – are subjects sufficiently informed to give consent to participate? • Risk of harm to the subject – what are the risks of harm? A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

5. Relevance in stages of the research process (Fig. 4.1) A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

6. Examples in sport research (Case study 4.1) • Donne: an experienced kayak/canoe instructor and competitor poses as an ‘enthusiastic learner’ in order to conduct research at an outdoor adventure centre. • Jones et al.: Autobiographical research by an elite athlete with negative comments on his coach: although the coach is not named is his/her identity obvious to those in the field? A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

7. General example of unethical conduct • Push Polling • Typically political, used in marginal constituencies. • Telephone survey interviewees asked their opinion on hypothetical, but misleading statements about a candidate. • Survey results are not the payoff: the aim is to spread misleading rumours about the opponent via the survey interview. • Highlights the issue of the ‘leading question’. A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

8. Researcher competence • Unqualified/inexperienced or poorly supervised researchers run the risk of: • wasting the resources of the funding organisation; • wasting the time of subjects; • abusing the goodwill of subjects; • misleading the users of the research results; and/or • damaging the reputation of the research organisation. A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

9. Free choice • Subjects should not be coerced to take part in research. • Grey areas: • Captive groups (eg. students) • Children (role of ‘responsible adult’) • Official government surveys (eg. national census) • Observation • Participant observation A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

10. Informed consent • Subjects should be full informed about the nature and risks of the research A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

11. Information for subjects(Fig. 4.2) • Name of organisation conducting the research • Purpose of the research • Sponsoring/funding organisation if applicable • Participants and how they are being selected • What is required from participants: • nature of involvement (interviews, focus groups, etc.) • time required for each session • number of sessions • time-period over which sessions will take place • Any risks to the participant • Voluntary nature of participation • Right of participant to refuse to answer any questions or withdraw at any stage without giving reasons • Privacy and security of data • Ways in which data will be used • Contact details for research project supervisor A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

12. Subjects’ consent form (Fig. 4.3) • University of xxxxxxx, School of Sport Management • Sport participation research project: CONSENT FORM • I confirm that I have read and understood the research project information sheet for the 'Sport participation research project' and have had any questions answered to my satisfaction • I understand that my participation in the study is entirely voluntary and I may cease to take part at any time without giving reasons. • I agree to take part in the study as described in the information sheet. • I agree to interviews/discussion sessions being recorded. • I agree that anonymous quotations from interviews/discussions may be used in publications. • Name: _________________________ Date: ____________ • Signature: _________________ A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

13. Verbal consent • Verbal consent is adequate in many sport surveys, when the survey: • is anonymous, • involves only a short interview (e.g. 3 or 4 minutes), • involves fairly innocuous, non-personal questions, • and/or takes place at a facility/site with the agreement of the management or authorities. • Ethics guidelines for such surveys: see below A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

14. Risk of harm to the subject • Main risk in social research: privacy issues: identification of subjects A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

15. Personally identifiable data (Fig. 4.4) For other examples, see Fig. 4.4 A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

16. Ethics guidelines for anonymous surveys (Fig. 4.5) • Interviewer identifying badge • Full briefing of interviewers • Brief description on ‘handout’ questionnaire + additional info./telephone contact • Brief oral introduction • Telephone nos. of supervisors available • Short printed handout available • Respondents should not be pressured. A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

17. Honesty/rigour in analysis, interpretation and reporting • Falsification of results is unethical • Problem of ‘outliers’ • ‘Negative findings’ • Limited sample size may produce negative findings, but cumulatively, the research may be useful (see ‘meta-analysis’ Ch. 6) A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

18. Authorship & acknowledgements • All who contribute to writing and creative/ intellectual work of the project should be included as authors, in appropriate order. • Others who have assisted/contributed may be acknowledged, by name or collectively. • Plagiarism – use of others’ data/idea etc. without acknowledgement – is unethical. A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge

19. Access to data • Since the controversies over climate change research, the question arises as to access to publicly funded research data for secondary analysis. • Some data subject to Freedom of Information laws • Some academic journals now require raw data and computer code to be made available on-line (see Montford, 2010) A. J. Veal & S. Darcy (2014) Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A practical guide. London: Routledge