Alison Fox
Alison is an educational researcher who studies professional and digital learning. As an educator, she facilitates student voice, student mentoring and is recognised as an expert in research ethics
Location England
Activity
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I think Rafael would agree with your thoughts Lauren about what he could and couldn't anticipate. Ethnography is an immersive experience but, as a result, brings in the moment decision-making to the fore - ethics in practice - and he has explained how holding on to the key principle of respect was central to his behaviours.
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Unfortunately there have been revelations of both vices you identify Lauren. Checks and balances in the system are needed, as well as virtuous researcher commitments. Working collaboratively and in communities also provides that peer support and more informal 'sense-checking' through transparency
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I agree about the risk to individuals needing to be of paramount importance - but an anonymised but robust data set would be of real value to policy makers and leaders in society to inform the decisions they make. This would enable the voices/experiences/opinions of these workers to be heard, rather than assumptions made about them.
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Agree that we are including vulnerabilities caused by circumstances individuals find themselves in, beyond their immediate control, which require researchers to take on responsibilities not to contribute to such inequalities/risks to the individuals and, ideally, quite the opposite - help empower, have a voice. There is a huge debate about whether perpetrators...
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Indeed! Well put! No excuses for a 'vanity' project. Having said that this doesn't discount theoretical or exploratory studies. Outcomes should not be predicted and future possible uses cannot always be anticipated. Aiming to address/examine/'solve' an agreed problem is usually a great starting point.
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This is a very positive way of thinking about the opportunities you have now, which can see you identifying audiences for your study, thinking about their agendas, getting to know the stakeholders associated with the setting to ensure your study will be sensitive to the cultures there as well as being of value.
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Alison Fox made a comment
It would be really good to hear your views on the benefits and challenges of gaining assent from those who have been considered ineligible or incapable of giving consent?
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Jim and I are looking forward to seeing you on the forums for the course to discuss any issues that the materials and activities raise for you and your interests/studies/experiences. It would also really benefit others to hear what you think.
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Really appreciate your comments about the generation of data. The example offered here was not one based on research. There are agendas at play for sure. The inclusion of this in the course was to hold this up against a researcher's obligations to maximise the benefits of their study whilst minimising the harm it might cause. This involves balancing how to...
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It is tricky to decide whether somewhere is public or private digitally. This was a closed forum in that you had to apply to get in to it and the way Natasha chose to do this was to imitate a teen fan. However digital spaces are places where we are invited to have fluid identities and she did not say or do anything she was not but just didn't reveal her...
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Hi Jeremy, thanks for your reflections. Jim and I talked about the courage to study topics which are thought important and worth studying in our webinar tonight. However, this does need to be balanced against researcher safety and wellbeing as you say. He did seem to know the contexts he was planning to study but the extent of his outsider status and not...
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Just adding a link to information about the Gang Leader for a Day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Leader_for_a_Day - thanks for bringing this to our attention.
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Really interesting reflections here about how valid responses to a questionnaire like this and yet when a researcher receives them, all tidy-looking and complete, they become data and are taken on into a data set....!
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Hi Jeremy, it is really good to think about the consent publishers will expect for the studies you want to publish. This is so hard to gain retrospectively and means that the researchers have carried out covert research inadvertently rather than by design. This does happen, often in scholarship studies which start as evaluations and then grow to have bigger...
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Alison Fox made a comment
Hi everyone and welcome to People Studying People: Research Ethics in Society. We hope you will find this interesting and useful. We have created some reflective templates for you to capture what you want to take away from each of the weeks, so hope you find these useful. We also hope to see you at our live webinar on Thursday (not Wednesday as you might have...
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It would be great if you could complete our postcourse survey to tell us what you liked, suggest what we might change and any impact of the course on your thinking. We just dramatically restructured the course and changed it to run from 6 to 3 weeks so any feedback on how it looks now would be really appreciated.
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Alison Fox replied to Keith Pott Turner
Thanks Keith for taking the time to add your comment. It would be great if you could complete our postcourse survey to tell us what you liked, suggest what we might change and any impact of the course on your thinking. We just dramatically restructured the course and changed it to run from 6 to 3 weeks so any feedback on how it looks now would be really...
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Policies like GDPR are intended to make clear our rights as citizens and there should be mechanisms for us to ensure others are upholding these rights. The Information Commissioners Office in the UK, who have a website, lay out these processes for example what should happen if there is a 'data breach' https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-breach/...
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True Pedro but to be compliant with data protection policies we should know what data is held about us, by whom, for what purpose, for how long and for it to be accurate. These are the principles of EU and now UK policies/standards at least. The governments in these countries are not exempt from their own policies. This might be relevant to research if the...
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As you say, we are now part of a society where we are expected to give personal information as part of our expected transactions with various organisations, trusting that these will look after our interests.
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Good question Pedro. Yes, the Data Protection Act (2018) was the UK version of GDPR and has since had an amendment added to it to accommodate the transition to leaving the EU. There is some discussion about this available at:...
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Thank you for sharing Pedro
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For some reason this link didn't work for me, I am afraid.
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Alison Fox made a comment
Thanks Pedro and N'nancocquot for your thoughts. I wondered whether you could imagine a situation where everyone got so excited about the research that they all wanted their voice to be heard and to waive their right to anonymity? This would need to be a truly collective decision and the consequences thought-through as you say. All those affected would need to...
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Alison Fox made a comment
Thanks Pedro and Eberechi. Absolutely agree that on legal matters advice before starting is really important - to ensure you are aware of your responsibilities. Hope you enjoy thinking through the next two scenarios to think about the decisions you might need to make as a study proceeds.
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That is a really good point about the impact on the children as peers researching with peers. It is easy to generate power imbalances when knowledge is power. These roles wouldn't be for every child though and offer a meaningful insight into their world, their agendas, their interests and opportunities for them to investigate their worlds, generating data...
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Good points Anton. The wider context for a chosen research setting might very well affect whether research is welcome or not. One of the reasons why it might not be welcome is, as you say, because they cannot appreciate the benefits of it. Another might be the result of previous research experiences. We all have a responsibility to leave a research site with a...
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As you say this is back to the issue of children being vulnerable and adults taking the role of protecting their rights. Whilst this can be very paternalistic (in this case literally), there can be dangers with older children or those with reduced mental capacity to take an overly paternalistic and protectionist view which does not properly ask the potential...
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We are offering lots of examples of research where the participants have been given a voice by the decisions of the researchers and their actions. This is, as you say, only possible if the researcher builds trusting relationships and maintains their integrity so as not to break that trust.
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As you say Anton, Alice was not just a 'participant observer' as would be the usual position as an ethnographer but more of a 'participant action researcher'. She was very focused on their being outcomes of her research which would bring positive consequences for those she had 'befriended' and lived with. Hence the public dissemination she carried out and...
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Vulnerable groups are often referred to when a researcher is making their application to a human research ethics committee, as is identifying whether sensitive topics are being covered in the research. Whilst acknowledging that no research should make gatekeepers or participants vulnerable (open to the potential of harm as a result of participating in the...
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Vulnerability means that there is the potential for harm or advantage to be taken of others. They can be vulnerable due to their age (stage of mental and emotional development and the power imbalances with adults in society), personal characteristics such as having special learning needs/reduced mental capacity (which means they might be less likely to...
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As you say Anton, linked to your previous post, research can be empowering for participants, rather than an imposition. They can be given a platform for their views to be heard, facilitated by the researcher, rather than being the 'subjects' of research.
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It would be good to hear more about why you think parents won't 'facilitate the work of the researchers'. Parents/carers/guardians have ultimate responsibility for the care of their children so do you think they need more education about the research by the researchers before they can enact their role as gatekeepers n'nancocquot?
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A very good question Mahmud. Whilst we use this here to sensitise researchers to thinking about whether there are marginalised and vulnerable groups associated with their planned research, this is not the language we would expect to be used in the associated research. We do need to make sure our research does not make vulnerable, contribute to existing power...
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Indeed, I agree. She would need to have aimed to show an open-mind and respect to them as well as the victims. Their views can also help moved towards benefits for victims and prevention of victimisation in the future.
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Entering people's personal spaces is certainly a privilege and a researcher needs to feel they have created the conditions to be invited in and have a justification for this. In this case children were able to reveal aspects of their identity which would have not had been so easily revealed and hence heard in other interview settings. We have responsibilities...
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Alison Fox replied to Samuel Ebenya
Thanks for all your contributions on the course discussions Samuel, we are sure others will have appreciated your reflections. We are glad you are finding this of interest. Hopefully the reflective template (link above) will help capture some of your 'takeaways'.
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Alison Fox replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Thank you Joanne for taking the time to feedback to us. Really glad you have found this enjoyable and hopefully also useful.
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The thought was certainly there Samuel but you prioritised health and safety and wanting to offer something of quality to your participants. I am sure they appreciated both the thought and your decision. Both were a form of respect to them.
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Alison Fox made a comment
To use the padlet wall, please click on the link above and then either comment on the two situations already posted there or click on the pink cross in the bottom right hand corner to add your own idea for something which might change.
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Alison Fox replied to Samuel Ebenya
Totally agree Samuel. There is a duty for the researcher to fully inform and sometimes even educate an ethical approval committee of the nuances and dilemmas related to the research setting they intend to approach and there is also an ongoing duty of the researcher to be attentive to how their research design is conducted that might mean being flexible and...
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Alison Fox replied to Jim Askham
Really glad you enjoyed it Purnima. Thanks for taking the time to add a reflection.
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That is a great optimistic and open minded approach to take into research Samuel. I hope this course helps you to this position in relation to your own research plans.
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I agree n'nancocquot. A challenge for a researcher when wanting to show respect is to anticipate how others would like to be treated, their needs, their agendas and concerns and their expectations of a researcher. This involves a researcher in getting to know their research context, especially if they are new to it, to be able to avoid unintended disrespect by...
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Agree, trust is hard to build and easy to lose. It is also more difficult to build in online environments and situations where the researcher does not get a chance to directly meet those involved, which is very relevant to our current situation during the COVID-19 situation and for researchers studying in areas such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine...
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I agree Samuel, researchers certainly need to evaluate risk. Harm could potentially be as extreme as physical injury in some fragile political contexts. More likely in social science research, the potential harm could be psychological, such as losing confidence, self-esteem, trust, dignity, or emotional, if discussing sensitive issues or even biographical...
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As you say Samuel and is also useful in thinking about the different agendas of these different stakeholders and how the study might both interest and concern them (thinking back to consequential ethical thinking) which a researcher should consider. This includes not only the gatekeepers a researcher needs to get approval for a study and permission to study in...
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Alison Fox replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Welcome Grace, Sylvester and Rana and we hope you are enjoying the first week of the course and finding the materials of relevance and interest to you. We have a reflective sheet at the end of the week for you to capture your reflections in a practical way.
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It will be added to step 1.17. Please feel free to comment on it there.
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I am so sorry that you were not able to join us on Wednesday 2 Dec 2020 for our live webinar Stuart. It was recorded and will be posted on step 1.17 for you to access whenever it is convenient to you. We hope you find it and the rest of this week's materials of interest.
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Alison Fox replied to Jim Askham
Links to the materials contained in the slides of the recorded presentation were to resources found in two places. Podcasts within the Doing Ethical Research website created by Masters and Doctoral researchers at: https://www2.le.ac.uk/colleges/ssah/research/ethics/case-studies/student-perspectives and the three British Educational Research Association's...
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Alison Fox made a comment
Thanks to those who attended the webinar this evening. We referred to a couple of open access resources which I am now including here for everyone in case they are interested. The first is to an open access chapter about being a practitioner-researcher carrying out ethnographic research entitled Double Agent? which can be found at:...
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Thank you for your reply in the way it shows respect to the researchers we have included. Your comment raises how important it is for us to communicate our aims and how these are part of the moral justification of our research by which others can help evaluate its worth. As you say this is not always clear in what we read and researchers should be aware that...
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As part of the justification it would be expected that a researcher very carefully balanced anticipatable risks against potential benefits. In these situations the benefits can often be realised after the data collection has taken place by sharing the findings with the 'participant group' by design.
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Good point about the forum owners, Veronica. That has not been raised by course participants before. Thanks to pointing us all to Kozinets' book which I agree is a good source of examples of digital research which relies on capturing data about relationships.
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This begs a further question as to the extent to the help he was offered as a doctoral researcher at this point in assessing the risks and whether he had the expertise available to him to offer this support. Whilst a researcher becomes expert through their fieldwork, someone needs to help the researcher thinking about protecting themselves - researcher...
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Agree Hannah :) This leaves us with the dilemma as researchers as to how to deal with 'real relationships' (as Samuel refers to). As humans with integrity we do want real relationships. Perhaps we have to be much more honest to ourselves and those we invite as participants to our study of the boundaries to these, at least during the time of the study itself? I...
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Thank you for sharing your questions Sean. As you say no researcher decision or action - to do or say something - or to not do or not say something - is value neutral. This is why ethical appraisal of a study should be an ongoing reflexive project, ideally supported by others asking helpful critically supportive questions, as you have here.
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We all end up making our own personal decisions during research in the moment and, as you say Samuel, Alice was confident that she had behaved with integrity to her own interpretation of ethical principles. She makes her defence in the TED talk, to which there is a link above.
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We are all very generous with giving our views/our data, as you say. The issue is in these digital days how this data might be misused/sold/connected with other data about us and potentially come round full circle to cause harm in ways the researchers never intended. These are possibilities they and we need to think through...which links in with Hannah's...
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Alison Fox made a comment
Do join us on Twitter using the hashtag #FLresearchethics and we would love to read whatever you find that relates to the issues being discussed.
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Alison Fox made a comment
Welcome to this course which we hope will offer you lots of chances to reflect on different ethical considerations and how you might respond to these as a researcher. We hope you find the reflection template useful to capture your thoughts from the course for your use afterwards. Do feel free to join Jim and I on Wednesday of this week 2nd December at 4-5pm UK...
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Consent is key as you say and, if there are any changes to the original information shared/promised, then new consent needs to be negotiated. This needs to be achieved without coercion and all involved need to be happy to be named. This is possible, as shown in the above book, but rare.
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Alison Fox replied to Marie Davidova
Thanks for posting Marie. Different people do have different feelings about what feels like private and public. People also chose to represent themselves in different ways through choosing an online name/identity they feel comfortable with. People also use these perceptions to guide what they chose to post (or not). This is the main reason we chose not to...
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Alison Fox replied to Bahgu Ghilagabr
This is exactly what previous participants felt at this stage of the course even though they had had information forms inviting withdrawal and had been pointed to the research as well as the privacy policy. It is possible on any FutureLearn course for a course to be included in research. We are not researching this course on this run. Thank you for posting...
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This is a very important point and one to negotiate. Consent for our data should include the option of claiming our intellectual property or ownership of this data. However this does raise issues sometimes for other people who might be made vulnerable ie. their choice for privacy is compromised if, by naming one person, identifies others. Yours sounds a great...
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Another collection of BERA blog posts which might be of interest as we sign off this live text chat is that by researchers in the Independent Researchers Forum at BERA about the particular challenges of getting approval, permission and consent in the absence of a University ethical approval process/structure. Available at:...
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I have recently coauthored a presentation with some of our Open University students and we needed to find a way of getting 17 names on to the resulting book chapter! Their data was anonymised in the chapter however when it was presented in this case. This was the students' decision
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Also there is the whole approach to research which involves collaboration as participatory action research for example in which respect should be shown in recognising all involved as coauthors in publications. The challenge is that this then identifies the setting and makes it difficult to protect the identities of the wider participants who have contributed...
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This is a really interesting think to think about, I agree, Particularly in the digital world there is the notion of whether we should be acknowledged as the authors of our digital content, however we want to name ourselves. ie claim our intellectual property rights, rather than be anonymised
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Thank you for your comment Marie. It is very difficult to achieve both in ways which allow you to make the familiar unfamiliar (challenge assumptions) and also to avoid misinterpreting behaviours due to lack of situational/cultural understanding. Both require concerted efforts by a researcher both of self-reflection and consultation with others. Working in...
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The practicalities of informed consent have been covered in the contexts of interviews with children in school settings where power and nonverbal clues/language are important to consider (https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/how-do-we-enact-informed-consent) and also when researching in family settings with very young children...
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This post was also supported by another researcher in a post enticingly called 'When walking on marshland, occasionally expect to lose your wellies'! https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/when-walking-on-marsh-land-occasionally-expect-to-lose-your-wellies
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Challenges to the norm of gaining signed consent of data use in advance in my experience can come from a) it being culturally inappropriate/even detrimental to building trust in some settings, b) internet research settings when you are not in direct contact with participants, c) needing to build trust and understanding before asking for consent when potential...
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My colleague and I wrote a blog post about some of the issues surrounding this for BERA at https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/is-written-informed-consent-always-required-for-educational-research
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One of these posts was from a member of a University research committee asking researchers to think about their perspectives and needs for consent https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/you-dont-understand-us
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I have just been involved in a discussion with participants at the BERA conference about this Jim which came together as a series of blog posts, to be found at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog-series/the-challenges-and-solutions-for-qualitative-researchers-in-gaining-ethical-approval-and-consent
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Your comment made me think about Goffman's study from both the perspective of those outside and inside the community under study as well as divisions within the community which might 'blame' one another. Social justice studies need to look at the situation in the round in terms of showing respect, empathy and understanding all around.
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Alison Fox replied to Jim Askham
@AinsleyGomez The webinars are held live through Blackboard Collaborate at https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/b08ef9fa4b9e42d5ae8ef46e944bbfe6 The next one is on 4th March 4-5pm.
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Alison Fox replied to Jim Askham
Hopefully you will get chance to review the recording of the webinar Ainsley and then feel free to offer further thoughts :)
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Alison Fox replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Possible racial bias is an important strand to consider in reflecting on Alice's work. We should think about all stakeholders' agendas, biases, assumptions and values when evaluating a piece of research. Thank you for raising this. It would be good to know more about why you refer to indoctrination as also relevant?
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Dear Friday, It is good to see someone supporting Alice's actions by offering an ethical rationale. The accusations made (and in particular covered in the NY Times article) are that she was breaking the law by not reporting a criminal act which she had witnessed, rather than by saying that she committed a criminal act as part of the group she was embedding...
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Hi Katharine. Good points about the detective work it is easy to do these days to locate individuals who might otherwise feel anonymous. Researchers need to be open about this to participants and make promises to them about not taking these opportunities. In Natasha's case she had joined the closed group but there were no rules about this. Anyone could join....
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Alison Fox replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Good questions Ainsley. Researchers, including market researchers and national survey researchers, have a responsibility to educate participants. This requires information which is clear and covers all aspects of the survey process (ie including reporting) so that we can engage through 'informed consent'. One aspect often missed is where interested...
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Alison Fox replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Welcome Ainsley. We hope you will find some of the case studies in particular of interest and have opportunities to discuss with peers the implications for researchers in investigating important topics. Values and rights are part of the thinking an ethical researcher needs to pay attention to.
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Alison Fox replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Welcome Ainsley. We have plenty of content but feel free to engage with what interests you most or is of most use. There is no need to click through every step and engage with every activity. Why not flick through the course and see what is coming up and identify what looks most interesting each week?
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@AminatuMohammed Welcome to the course Aminatu. Looking forward to seeing you on future discussions as the course progresses.
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@AhmedBahiya Welcome Ahmed. An interesting topic which evidently has issues you need to accommodate in your research plans. We hope the course helps think about these
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@myassarelalkini Welcome Myassar. We hope you find the materials and discussions of interest and use.
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@MatthewAdekoya Looking forward to discussing the issues raised with everyone. Welcome Matthew.
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@KingsleyAgwo Would it be possible to email you Kingsley? If so, please email me your address at alison.fox@open.ac.uk or Jim at jwa6@leicester.ac.uk and when we have made contact we recommend you delete your personal telephone number from this course chat. Hope to hear from you soon. Alison and Jim
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Hi Jo, we hope you will particularly find the content and activities about thinking about research with those already considered vulnerable useful. The course is about the ethics of research rather than of practice but the course offers ways of thinking about issues relevant to both.
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It will be a light on a world of complexity, options and decisions, rather than rights and wrongs, but hopefully will offer ways of thinking to help in this decision-making
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Thank you for these reflections Katharine. There is an item later in the course where I reflect with a colleague on an invitation to consent for my child to participate in a piece of research. My colleague and I have different views (and experiences related to this particular research) which raise the question, as you do here, as to what our limits are in...
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This is interesting to hear Oluwatosin. If you want to, it would be good to hear what you think are the options open to you for sharing the findings of your study with the participants (and any tensions you are encountering in thinking about doing this)?
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This is indeed a problem and one which the GDPR raised as it drove changes in European-wide national review of data protection policies. One of the key points was that all information used to gain consent to share personal data needed to be accessible/readable...Whilst organisations did make changes to their paperwork, I agree it is still very complex...
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Welcome to you Oluwatosin and we hope you find the course of interest and useful.
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Welcome Jackson. We hope you find the course helpful in preparing a doctoral proposal.
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Alison Fox made a comment
I have been reflecting on this recently. I have been, like I am sure many of us, invited to participate in online surveys and how frequently I am ever clear about where the survey results will be published and/or how I will know it is available. Just giving data into what feels like a 'black hole' sometimes is frustrating and it makes you think about whether...
