Designing a consequentially based study into the online support of pre-service teachers in the UK

Abstract

This paper reports on the design of a pilot doctoral study into the online support of pre-service teachers. It highlights the significance of a consequential, rather than deontological, perspective in guiding the development of a study's design. The study initially aimed to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions and use of social media on their school placements by setting up groups on Facebook and Twitter. However, several problems occurred in relation to the recruitment of participants. It became increasingly clear that there was significance in the positionality of the researcher as an 'outsider' to the research context and the potential role for gatekeepers in understanding remote research sites. An ethical framework was used to make a more comprehensive analysis of the issues at play which helped identify ways of proceeding. A redesign of 2 the study followed with a stronger rationale for the way consequential considerations can help address deontological concerns.

The amoral academy? A critical discussion of research ethics in the neo-liberal university

“…An ecological ethical framework emphasises researchers' cultural sensitivity, avoidance of detachment, responsive communication (Flinders, 1992). If culturally and locally appropriate research foci are meaningfully employed, it could highlight the aspirations for and commitment to prioritizing positive over negative consequences, applying an interpretation of utilitarianism which has fundamental implications for research design (Kontopoulou and Fox, 2015).…”

Pre-service teachers’ use of social media for academic purposes

“…I designed the pilot study following the ethical principles of protection from harm, informed consent and transparency and received ethical approval from the University of Leicester Ethics Committee (Kontopoulou and Fox, 2015).…”

“…Overall, the current research focus was the result of the recognition of the limitations of the previous research designs after an ethical appraisal of the study (Figure 3). These experiences also gave me the opportunity to publish the false starts, reconsiderations and challenges in a response to an invitation to a special issue of a journal interested in such complexity (Kontopoulou and Fox, 2015). My supervisor and I responded to calls from the literature for the messiness of the research process that is "often hidden from published view" (Clark et al, 2007, p. 110, italics in original) to be reported and openly presented and discussed (Donnelly, Gabriel and Özkazanç-Pan, 2013;Mellor, 2001;Opie, 2009).…”

“…Ethical dilemmas and concerns arise in all research that involves interaction with participants at different points of the research, from the initial planning to the completion of the study and beyond that, when results are diseeminated (AoIR, 2011;Mertens, 2012;Opie, 2009;Stutchbury and Fox, 2009;Traianou, 2014) Consideration of ethics was continuous and iterative, and started from the beginning of the pilot studies and continued throughout the main study (Kontopoulou and Fox, 2015). As mentioned in Chapter 3, I used Stutchbury and Fox's (2009) ethical framework as a tool that helped me plan and conduct an ethical research.…”

“…A study where the researcher joins student groups in order to observe participants' practices might be difficult to design, taking into consideration the ethical implications that it could bring (Kontopoulou and Fox, 2015). For researchers who wish to use observation, one idea would be to approach groups of students that have already graduated (a clue for that could be given by the name of the group, as the date of graduation might also be included).…”