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Introduction

This section deals specifically with ethics in conducting primary field research. Journalism has a code of ethics, too. For example, journalists should be truthful, minimize harm, avoid conflicts of interest, and be transparent. For more information, read the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.

IRB & Human Subjects Research

IRB stands for the Institutional Review Board. Every university has one of these boards that approves “human subjects” fieldwork in order to make sure that it is ethical. Although you are doing a classroom project and will therefore not need to have your proposal reviewed by the IRB, it is important to know more about what they consider ethical research.

What is “human subjects” research? First, it is not journalism. Second, it is research about human beings. Let’s look at IRB’s specific definitions.

Human subjects research involves human beings. That seems easy to understand. However, it’s a little more complicated than that. IRB says that a human subject is a living individual who you must interact with for research and from whom you are gathering private information. Private information may be as simple as a name or address.

In order to be considered research, the IRB lists three criteria:

Systematic Investigation – a plan for collecting data consistently and reliably

In other words, you can’t just interview your friends and call it research. You have to have a systematic plan for collecting your data and picking your participants. Systematic planning is important if you are asked to do field work in ENG 104.

Designed – is the intent of the investigation to examine hypothesis or to support a research claim

This point is similar to the last one but has more to do with the content of the research you are gathering rather than how you go about doing it. You need to have a research question, claim or hypothesis not just a broad topic. You can’t just decide to get people’s opinion on whether or not abortion is wrong. You have to be trying to find out something more, like how it has affected people’s lives. When you are conducting fieldwork in ENG 104, it should be well designed, and your research methods should match your research question.

Generalizable – the impact of the research reaches beyond the research population, adds to a body of knowledge; a common test is whether the researcher plans to present or publish the data in a professional platform

In ENG 104, you might move toward making your research generalizable, but since you aren’t yet an expert in your field, you probably won’t fit these criteria. You probably won’t go on to publish your study in an academic journal no matter how well it turns out. Part of this is simply a matter of time. It is nearly impossible to conduct and write a generalizable research study in one semester. Keep in mind, as long as this is for class and not published, you do not need to get IRB approval. However, if you do plan to publish human subjects research–even in a public web format–you have met all three criteria and should seek IRB approval. If you are doing a multimodal project and plan to put your research online, password-protect it.

Informed Consent

Even though your research will stay in the ENG 104 classroom and not be generalizable or published, you will need to follow some ethical guidelines for conducting it. One of the primary guidelines is to get ethical consent.

If you interview or observe a participant for your study, you need them to sign a consent form. If you conduct a survey, you will need your first survey question to ask for consent, and make it mandatory.

According to the federal Office of Human Research Protections, consent must include the following components:

A statement that this is a research project. In your case, you will state that it is research for your English composition class.
An explanation for why you are doing the research. Hint: Look back at your research question.
A list of inclusion/exclusion criteria. What do the participants need to qualify for the study? Tip: It’s a good idea to say that everyone in your study must be 18 or older! Otherwise, you have to deal with parental consent.
How long you expect the participant to take doing the study. If you are doing a survey, test it and put an estimate for how long it will take to complete. If you are doing an interview, estimate how long it will last.
What methods you will use to conduct the research. Be specific: Will you audio record the interview? Take notes?
A note about any experimental methods. Don’t worry, you won’t use this one in ENG 104!
A description of any risks for the participant. You may think that your study can’t possibly have risks, but sometimes just talking about something can be risky. Are you interviewing someone about their job? What if you go to their office to do so and their boss walks in when they are saying something bad? You will want to list something about the risks of discomfort in talking about the subject of your research or in sharing opinions and experiences.
A description of any benefits for the participants. Sadly, we can’t offer them any money or benefits for participating in your ENG 104 research. So, you will need to say something about how you do not expect there to be any benefits for the participant.
Information about any courses of treatment that might be needed. This one probably doesn’t apply to you. However, if you are interviewing people about a sensitive topic, you can put information about the BSU Counseling Center in case they want to talk more to a qualified professional.
An explanation about the confidentiality of your research. If you are not collecting any identifying information from your participants, your study is anonymous. If you even know their name, though, it is not. For fieldwork, you want to use a pseudonym for your participants, which will keep their data confidential. You’ll put on your consent form if the research is anonymous or confidential.
Information on how you will minimize the risk to the participant. How will you make sure that no one knows who said what? One way is to use pseudonyms for your participants. Another is to be sure to store your data in a safe place, like a password-protected Box account. You will let your participants know in the form how you will protect them.
A statement that participation is voluntary. Don’t make any of your participants feel pressured. They can skip any questions they want in your study.
Your name and contact information as well as that of your instructor.

Handouts

Here is a template you can use for your consent form and a filled in example. Be sure to put information about your study!

Sample Consent Form (Blank)

Sample Consent Form (Completed)

Sample Survey Consent Form (Completed)

Summary

Making up or misrepresenting your data is a violation of academic ethics. Especially when you are working with human beings, you need to be very clear about the research you are conducting and work to be ethical. Always gain permission and treat your participants with respect.

NEXT: Writing It Up