BERA Doc
BERA Doc
Part 2
Sensitivity and attentiveness towards such structural issues are important aspects of researchers’ responsibilities to participants at all stages of research, including reporting and publication.
Participants in research may be actively or passively involved in such processes as observation, experiment, auto/biographical reflection, survey or test. They may be collaborators or colleagues in the research process, or they may simply be implicated in the context in which a research project takes place. (For example, in a teacher or lecturer’s research into their own professional practice, students or colleagues will be part of the context, but will not themselves be the focus of that research.)
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Researchers have a responsibility to consider what the most relevant and useful ways are of informing participants about the outcomes of the research in which they were or are involved. They could consider whether and how to engage with participants at the conclusion of the research by, for example, debriefing them in an audience-friendly format, or by eliciting feedback on the findings. Should conflicting interpretations arise, researchers should normally reflect participants’ views when reporting the research. Researchers may wish to offer them copies of any publications arising from projects in which they have participated, or to produce reports specially tailored for the research context, taking into consideration potential subsequent uses of this material, including by the participants’ institutions. Where the scale of the research makes such a consideration impractical, alternative means such as a website could be used to ensure that participants are informed of the outcomes and the ways in which they are able to engage with them.
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It is normally expected that participants’ voluntary informed consent to be involved in a study will be obtained at the start of the study, and that researchers will remain sensitive and open to the possibility that participants may wish, for any reason and at any time, to withdraw their consent.
The Association takes voluntary informed and ongoing consent to be the condition by which participants understand and agree to their participation, and the terms and practicalities of it, without any duress, prior to the research getting underway. It should be made clear to participants that they can withdraw at any point without needing to provide an explanation – this is detailed in sections 31 and 32 below.
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Researchers should do everything they can to ensure that all potential participants understand, as well as they can, what is involved in a study. They should be told why their participation is necessary, what they will be asked to do, what will happen to the information they provide, how that information will be used and how and to whom it will be reported. They also should be informed about the retention, sharing and any possible secondary uses of the research data.
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Participants may be willing to take part in research even though they are unable to be fully informed about the implications of their participation – perhaps due to their unfamiliarity with research, a lack of ability to understand, or their circumstances. In these situations, researchers and participants should negotiate consent within relationships of mutual trust, the credibility of which depends upon the integrity and trustworthiness of the researcher.
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The institutions and settings within which the research is set also have an interest in the research, and ought to be considered in the process of gaining consent. Researchers should think about whether they should approach gatekeepers before directly approaching participants, and about whether they should adopt an institution’s own ethical approval and safeguarding procedures; this is usually a requirement. (Furthermore, in some circumstances researchers may have a statutory duty to disclose confidential information to relevant authorities; see section 52.)
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It is recommended that only anonymised and disaggregated data should be archived for sharing with other researchers beyond the original research team, and that researchers minimise the possibility that traces of identity retained within anonymised digital data can lead to the identification of participants. Researchers should explain to potential participants how long data will be stored for if it is to be reused.
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Researchers should recognise the right of all participants to withdraw from the research for any or no reason, and at any time, and participants should be informed of this right. Researchers should always provide their own contact details to participants. In all such circumstances researchers should examine their own actions to assess whether they have contributed to the decision to withdraw, and whether a change of approach might persuade the participants to re-engage. In most cases the appropriate course of action will be for the researchers to accept the participant’s decision to withdraw.
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Researchers should take steps to minimise the effects of research designs that advantage or are perceived to advantage one group of participants over others. For example, in an experimental design (including a randomised control study), the intervention made available to one group, while being unavailable to the control or comparison group, may be viewed as desirable. In mitigation, for example, an intervention emerging as effective can typically be offered to control groups after the end of a trial.
ME: Participant teachers can have copies of any teaching resources developed
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Researchers should recognise concerns relating to the time and effort that participation in some research can require – the long-term involvement of participants in ethnographic studies, for example, and the repeated involvement of particular participants in survey research or in testing for research or evaluation purposes. Researchers should consider the impact of their research on the lives and workloads of participants, particularly when researching vulnerable or over-researched populations.
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During the research process (especially in longitudinal or ethnographic studies), if unforeseen consequences arise – in terms of human relationships or life experiences, for example – it may be appropriate to go back to the participants, gatekeepers or sponsors in order to renegotiate consent.
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This could involve employing ‘fictionalising’ approaches when reporting, and where using such approaches researchers should fully explain how and why they have done so. However, in some circumstances individual participants, or their guardians or responsible others, may want to specifically and willingly waive their right to confidentiality and anonymity: researchers should recognise participants’ rights to be identified in any publication of their original works or other inputs if they so wish.
USEFUL IF THEY WANT TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS CO-PRODUCERS OF TEACHING MATERIALS
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Researchers need to be aware of the possible consequences to participants should it prove possible for them to be identified by association or inference. They should take all reasonable precautions to avoid identification – for example, by fictionalising or by changing identifying features that may leave participants in peril when the researcher has departed (from overseas or sensitive settings in particular).
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Researchers must comply with the legal requirements in relation to the storage and use of personal data as stipulated in the UK by the Data Protection Act (1998) and any subsequent similar acts, including, from May 2018, its replacement: the much stricter General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).11 In essence, citizens are entitled to know how and why their personal data is being stored, to what uses it is being put and to whom it may be made available… The GDPR defines personal data more broadly as ‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable person’.
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Researchers should ensure that data are kept securely, and that the form of any publication (including those published online) does not directly or indirectly lead to a breach of agreed confidentiality and anonymity.
Measures recommended by the National Foundation for Educational Research (and in some cases required by GDPR) include, for example: the use of secure computer networks; ensuring that data is stored on secure premises; the use of password protection and data encryption; avoiding portable data storage devices such as laptops and USB sticks; using courier or secure electronic transfer when moving data; anonymising records; and ensuring that any third-party users of the data agree to a data sharing agreement so that the same assurances are given for the protection of data. It is also advisable to avoid sharing data via email and other media that are vulnerable to hacking.
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A stakeholder of research is considered to be any person or body who has a direct interest in its framing and success.
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Attribution should include explicitly recognising authors of digital content, in all cases in which an author or creator can be identified. As well as text, this includes images, diagrams, presentations, multimedia content and other forms of content. Researchers need to be aware that a great deal of digital content is subject to copyright, and cannot be freely reused or modified unless it is explicitly licensed as such – for example by means of one of the ‘Creative Commons’ (CC) licences.15 Authors retain copyright of CC-licensed material (which may be published in print or digitally), but choose to permit reuse, distribution and sometimes adaptation, depending on the licence terms; any copies or modifications have to be made available under the original licence terms and must link to that license. Researchers have the responsibility of checking the conditions for reuse, and for attributing the author(s) in all cases.16.
· See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
· 16 For helpful guidance for schools on ‘open educational resources’ (OER) – learning materials published under an open licence that allows anyone to ‘use, share and build on’ those resources free of charge – see the resources published by Leicester City Council: https://schools.leicester.gov.uk/services/planning-and-property/ building-schools-for-the-future-bsf/open-education-for-schools/.
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Educational researchers should communicate their findings, and the practical significance of their research, in a clear, straightforward fashion, and in language judged appropriate to the intended audience(s). Researchers have a responsibility to make the results of their research public for the benefit of educational professionals, policymakers and the wider public, subject only to the provisos indicated in subsequent paragraphs.
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To assist researchers in making the results of their research public, consideration should be given to providing open access (without a paywall) to published research findings. In the UK, researchers can use the UK Scholarly Communications Licence18 to make peer-reviewed manuscripts publicly available using a Creative Commons licence (see section 68 above). Public sponsors of research, such as the UK Research Councils, may also require research to be published openaccess. Mindful of the potential impact of research findings outside of academia or specific educational institutions and organisations, researchers should think carefully about the implications of publishing in outlets that restrict public access to their findings.
· 18 See http://ukscl.ac.uk/
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Researchers should not use research carried out with co-researchers as the basis of individual outputs without the agreement of the co-researchers concerned.
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The format(s) in which research is published, and the means by which those publications are disseminated, should take into account the needs and interests of the communities that were involved in the research. Researchers have a responsibility to share their findings with participants and their wider social groups as fully as possible, while maintaining confidentiality.
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