Ethical Data Collection: Minimizing Risks & Protecting Respondents

This assignment delves into the ethical considerations of data collection, emphasizing the potential risks to respondents and the necessary protection measures. It identifies possible psychological and logistical inconveniences that participants may face during interviews and proposes strategies to minimize these risks, such as providing advance notice and conducting interviews at convenient times and locations. The assignment highlights the importance of data protection through secure storage, voluntary participation, anonymity, and the right to withdraw from the study. It also outlines methods for ensuring data confidentiality, including limiting data access, erasing audio recordings, securing transcripts, and anonymizing participant information. The informed consent process is described in detail, emphasizing the voluntary nature of participation and the right of respondents to refuse or withdraw at any time. The document includes a sample informed consent form and a script for recruiting participants, ensuring that their consent is fully informed and respected. The study uses interviews as the primary data collection instrument.

Running Head: DATA COLLECTION 1
Data Collection Methods
By
University Affiliation
Date

DATA COLLECTION 2
POSSIBLE RISKS THAT RESPODENTS MAYBE SUBJECTED TO:
The known risks to subjects will be very minimal. Many respondents will be delighted to take
part in this study effort and it may facilitate them to gain a better conceptualization of their
contribution in the group affected changes that happened in the district, whether they were
perceived or observable, and to evaluate the effect of the group program on their dogmas, sense
of efficacy, and practices. However, it might be inconveniencing to some respondents to
participate in the interview since it will require them to allocate some personal time towards the
interview. The researcher will apply various techniques to ensure that they reduce the
inconveniences caused to the respondents before, during, and after the study, some of the
techniques include; informing the respondents about the interview early enough and conducting
the interviews at a time and place that is suitable to the respondents.
Apart from inconveniencing the respondents, the other possible risks are psychological risks
which may prevail if the respondent had unpleasant encounters in previous participation in
interviews.
I will request the cohort members to contribute in the collection of data through participating in
interviews and allowing the data that they give to be analyzed. The project researchers will not
be among the respondents. All the interviews will be conducted at respondents personal time
which is after official hours of work also the setting will be comfortable to both the interviewer
and the respondents. However, no one will be required to take part as specified in the
respondents’ protection which is included.
RESPONDENT’S PROTECTION

DATA COLLECTION 3
Protection of data will be one way through which subject’s protection will be ensured. This will
be done through keeping the data in locked file cabinets in the office of the investigator.
Secondly, respondents will have a voluntary choice to participate or not to participate in the
research. They can also chose to participate partially be responding only to the interview
questions that suit them. Thirdly, anonymity of the respondents will also be guaranteed by
presenting papers, reports, and data as an aggregate of the entire research. The fourth respondent
protection measure will be ensuring that the subjects will have a free will to withdraw from the
interview any time they feel like.
DATA CONFIDENTIALITY
Limiting access to the data collected during the interview will be one way of guaranteeing
confidentiality of data. This will be achieved by disseminating the data to the members of the
committee who include; principal investigator, co-principal investigator, student investigator,
and the collaborating investigator. The researcher will not give the data from the study to anyone
else and will keep in confidential. The other way of ensuring confidentiality will be to erase all
the audio recordings of the interviews if any as soon as the transcripts are completed. The third
measure will be locking the interview transcripts in a cabinet in the office of the principal
investigator for a period of not less than three years after the study is completed.
Fourth, the information about the university, staff members’ names, school names, and school
district names who participated in cohort will not be disclosed by the researcher or any other
party in the study. Fifth, All parties who desire to take part in the research will sign an informed
consent for participation before they take part in the research. Sixth, all the respondents will be
clearly notified that the research is for academic purposes only in order to avoid deception which
may influence their consent to participate. Seventh, all the participants will be given an anonym,

DATA COLLECTION 4
in order to protect their identity from other individuals who may view the data. Also, if any
names or any information that can be used to identify the participant is disclosed, it will be
eliminated in the transcript. The members of the cohort will be required to append a declaration
signature to the transcript declaring that they will not disclose any information to another party.
INSTRUMENTS TO BE USED:
In this study interviews are the only instruments that will be used.
INFORMED CONSENT PROCESS:
The informed consent form that the participants will be required to sign as part of the informed
consent process is attached.
The researcher, before or after the school day will contact in person all the interview respondents
at the school where they are assigned. Respondents will be personally approached by the
researcher and requested to take part in the interview as way of contributing towards the study.
The researcher will follow the attached script when the respondents are recruited to participate in
the research in order to ensure that the recruitment process upholds the consent of the
participants. The recruitment will be carried out at a place and time that is convenient to the
respondent.
As per the dictates of the script below, I will ask all members of the cohort to participate and
acquire their consent. I have indicated in the script that the participation of group members is
voluntary and thus they have the right to refuse to participate, withdraw from the study at any
time of their choice, to answer only the questions that they are willing to, or to participate fully in
the research.

DATA COLLECTION 5
It is difficult to intimidate educators in the main. I do not expect that those who are unwilling to
participate in the interview will participate at any given time, though being aware of this
possibility will make us to be more sensitive about it.
As a way of ensuring that consent of the respondents is not compromised, they will fill the
consent form at the beginning of the interview and not earlier or later. Before the commencement
of the interview, the researcher will follow the included script and respond to any concerns that
the respondent may be having. Every person will be issued with the form, those who are
unwilling to take part will return back their forms without filling anything and will not
participate in the interview as per their wish, while those who are ready and willing to take part
will sign the consent form before the interview begins as way of showing that they voluntarily
agree to participate in the study.