Case Study 10 Dissertation Case Study

Case Study 10 Dissertation Case Study

Case Study 10 Dissertation Case Study

Managing sensitive topics in dissertation supervision: a personal view

Over the years various ethical issues have surfaced in my experience of supervising final level undergraduate dissertations. The 2 case studies below relate to the following issues:

  • How to identify appropriate and inappropriate choices of topics
  • How to negotiate with students about acceptable ways of handling sensitive topics
  • How to explore limits on students' research of certain topics or groups.
Case Study 1: Researching domestic violence

A dissertation tutee, who had not surfaced all year, arrived at my office seeking a tutorial, after the hand-in date for assignments. She claimed extenuating circumstances which would justify a late submission. I was in two minds as to whether to see her since she was well outside the teaching term and had failed to make any contact with me during the academic year. I agreed to a one-off session.

She wanted to send a questionnaire on domestic violence to couples. The draft not only asked informants about their attitudes to domestic violence, but also whether they had actually engaged in violent behaviour towards their partner or not. My response addressed issues related to a number of issues the student appeared not to have thought about:

Ethics - the fact that if a partner was violent, there was a danger that the questionnaire might trigger a domestic violence incident, and that this was decidedly unethical, since one of the first ethical principles of research is to do no harm to research subjects.

Confidentiality - if informants were to answer 'yes' and give details of how they had beaten up their partner, this would result in evidence of criminal behaviour, which, as a citizen, she might have a duty to report to the police, and that this would mean she would have to breach any guarantees of confidentiality she had given.

Negative publicity- if newspaper headlines appeared in the local press to the effect that a student questionnaire from XX University had contributed towards a domestic violence incident this would have serious implications for the University's credibility.

This student was on a Combined Studies programme and appeared not to have studied in her degree programme any modules on research or research ethics.

I helped the student to rework her questionnaire, focusing on general attitudes towards domestic violence and omitting any questions about behaviour by informants.

Case Study 2: Researching sexual harassment in a university

A student selected the topic of sexual harassment in her university. The first draft of her questionnaire to students included not only attitudinal questions about how students defined sexual harassment and what they regarded as acceptable and of unacceptable behaviour; it also asked whether they had been sexually harassed by another student or by a member of staff.

After careful consideration, while I could see that the inclusion of questions about experiences of harassment were a valid part of this topic, I came to the view they should not be included in an undergraduate study, which was being undertaken primarily for the purpose of achieving a degree, rather than producing a total study of a topic.

At the time I was a Subject Group Leader, responsible for managing the Sociology section at the university where I worked. This may have made me more aware of the implications and responsibilities for managers related to the possible outcomes of this research. If informants were to state that they had been sexually harassed, either by another student or a member of staff, surely managers could not ignore this? There would have to be an identification of both alleged harasser and alleged victim and a disciplinary investigation. This would mean the student could not guarantee confidentiality to her informants. The student appeared not to have thought through the consequences of the questions she was asking, either for her participants or herself.

© Dr Elizabeth Lawrence, Sheffield Hallam University