RESEARCH METHEDELOGY COURSE 2019

Lecture 7: Ethical Considerations in Research, Work Plan; and research

process

Ethical Considerations

Ethical Considerations can be specified as one of the most important parts of the
research. Dissertations may even be doomed to failure if this part is missing.

According to Bryman and Bell (2007) the following ten points represent the most
important principles related to ethical considerations in dissertations:
1- Research participants should not be subjected to harm in any ways
whatsoever.
2- Respect for the dignity of research participants should be prioritised.
3- Full consent should be obtained from the participants prior to the study.
4- The protection of the privacy of research participants has to be ensured.
5- Adequate level of confidentiality of the research data should be ensured.
6- Anonymity of individuals and organisations participating in the research has to
be ensured.
7- Any deception or exaggeration about the aims and objectives of the research
must be avoided.
8- Affiliations in any forms, sources of funding, as well as any possible conflicts of
interests have to be declared.
9- Any type of communication in relation to the research should be done with
honesty and transparency.
10- Any type of misleading information, as well as representation of

primary data findings in a biased way must be avoided.

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Work Plan

The work plan is exactly that. A plan. It outlines your aims and objectives; your
justification for doing the work; how and when you intend to do it; the resources you
will need; and what you expect to produce as a result of having completed the work.
The process of planning requires you to focus your thoughts, to decide not only what
you may wish to do, but also what is realistic, given the constraints of your work and
life. Importantly, the research plan is the blueprint for your project. A well-articulated
plan can be referred to again and again, keeping you on track throughout the project
and even occasionally reminding you of why you wanted to do the research in the first
place.

In the Work plan you must specify objectives you will meet over a given period of time
and how you intend to meet them. This portion of your proposal should contain a
graphic timeline as well as a table of objectives, activities, and responsibilities.

The entirety of the Action Plan may consist of a detailed table or timeline.

Work Plan/Action Plan/Scope of Work describes:

x What you will do

x How you will do it
x Who will perform each task
x Spells out multiple objectives
x Includes a timeline

Research process

A typical research process comprises the following stages:

1- Selecting the research area. You are expected to state that you have selected
the research area due to professional and personal interests in the area and
this statement must be true.

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2- Formulating research aim, objectives and research questions or developing

hypotheses. The choice between the formulation of research questions and
the development of hypotheses depends on your research approach as it is
discussed further below in more details.
3- Conducting the literature review. Literature review is usually the longest stage
in the research process. Actually, the literature review starts even before the
formulation of research aims and objective; because you have to check if
exactly the same research problem has been addressed before.
4- Selecting methods of data collection. Data collection method(s) need to be
selected on the basis of critically analysing advantages and disadvantages
associated with several alternative data collection methods. In studies
involving primary data collection, in-depth discussions of advantages and
disadvantages of selected primary data collection method(s) need to be
included in methodology.
5- Collecting the primary data. Primary data collection needs to be preceded by
a great level of preparation and pilot data collection may be required in case
of questionnaires. Primary data collection is not a compulsory stage for all
dissertations and you will skip this stage if you are conducting a desk-based
research.
6- Data analysis. Analysis of data plays an important role in the achievement of
research aim and objectives. Data analysis methods vary between secondary
and primary studies, as well as, between qualitative and quantitative studies.
7- Reaching conclusions. Conclusions relate to the level of achievement of
research aims and objectives. In this final part of your dissertation you will have
to justify why you think that research aims and objectives have been achieved.
Conclusions also need to cover research limitations and suggestions for future
research.
8- Completing the research. Following all of the stages described above, and
organizing separate chapters into one file leads to the completion of the first
draft. The first draft of your dissertation needs to be prepared at least one

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month before the submission deadline. This is because you will need to have
sufficient amount of time to address feedback of your supervisor.

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