Ethical consideration is regarded as the most important aspect when conducting research. If this is not considered the dissertation might fail. According to Rouse (2013:16), some points need to be considered as important principles related to ethical consideration in a study. The points are as follows:
The research participants that are selected for a study should not in any way be subjected to harm;
The dignity of the participants should always remain uncompromised;
Full consent should be obtained from all participants before the study commences;
The privacy of the research participants is key and should always be ensured;
The data that have been collected from the research should be secured and treated as confidential;
The identity of participants and organisations should be protected at all times;
The study should refrain from exaggeration or any deception about the aims and objectives of the study; and
A declaration of any possible conflicts is vital, as is one of any form of affiliation, and sources of funding should also be declared if any exist;
If there is some sort of communication that exists about the research, it should be done with honesty and it should be transparent; and
The use of any type of information that is misleading should be avoided, and the presentation of primary data findings should not be biased.
Speight, Kalsbeek and DiGiano (2011:334) insist that it is important that all ethical issues are included before the evaluation plan is formulated. Ethical consideration during evaluation includes the following:
3.17.1 Informed Consent
This means that participants chosen for the study are fully informed about the study that is being conducted. The purpose of the study must be clearly explained to the participants, and they must be told if there is a group that is going to fund the research. The participants also need to be told how the findings are going to be used and who will be able to access those findings. The purpose of the informed consent is to enable the participants to make their own decision on whether to be part of the investigation or not.
3.17.2 Voluntary Participation
This is when the participant has the freedom to participate in the research without coercion.
The participants are not forced to participate and they can withdraw their participation at any time without affecting their chances of being considered for future programmes or any other future services. Pressure should not be placed on the participants that choose to discontinue their involvement in the study.
3.17.3 Do No Harm
The evaluation process should ensure that it does not harm the participants in any manner, either physically or psychologically, and intentionally or unintentionally, as this can result in stress, pain, invasion of privacy or anxiety.
3.17.4 Confidentiality
It is important to ensure that the information collected from the participants is not shared or accessed by anyone except the researcher. This information should not be published or made available in any future reports in any form where it can be linked directly to the participants.
The researcher also has to develop interpersonal skills, such as the ability to establish rapport with the participants. Here the parties build a relationship of trust between themselves. Rapport will be built by assuring the participants that all the information they are giving out for this study will remain confidential. The researcher will maintain confidentiality by safeguarding the information; creating a password for the computerised research file for the information shared by the participants. This situation will be maintained unless the participants agree to the information being shared with someone else.
3.17.5 Anonymity
This is another requirement to maintain strict confidentiality, and as such the participants’
names should always be unknown to the researching team. This is difficult to maintain in most cases as the participants will be known to the researcher/s. Anonymity ensures that the participants are unknown, while confidentiality means that the researcher can identify a respondent and his/her response but essentially promises not to make the connection known to the public. The researcher is bound to keep all the information private and inaccessible to the public. Miles, Huberman and Saldana (2014:129) emphasise that respondents should be kept anonymous to protect their identity.
The following measures will be taken into consideration: Respondents will be requested to fill their names in and sign the consent letters for quality control of the data collection and verification purposes. No names will be required on the questionnaire or be mentioned during the process of analysing the data. All of the identifying information will be removed as soon as it is necessary and be stored in a safe place for utilisation if ever there is contradicting information. This information will be destroyed after a period of five years. Furthermore, all the respondents that are to be interviewed will be assured that the interview transcriptions made by the researcher will only be made available to the researcher’s supervisor upon request.
According to Speight, Kalsbeek and DiGiano (2011:338) confidentiality and anonymity are very important in research for the following reasons:
To improve the value and trustworthiness of the responses;
To protect the participants’ privacy; and
To encourage participants in the study.
3.17.6 Only Assess Relevant Components
It is important to only assess the components that are relevant to the study that is being conducted. The programme coordinator should try and keep the evaluation simple and only focus on what the study is intending to achieve and what the data that is gathered will be used for.