Dr. Emma Williamson Research Fellow Violence Against Women Research Group Ethics in multi-disciplinary research

2 Issues specific to social science research: Voluntary participation Informed consent of participants –Informed and proxy consent of children Access to services –Mandatory evaluation of services Confidentiality and anonymity Conflict of professional roles and governance –Health, education, social care, research.

3 Key initial questions Is the research necessary Could the money be better spent Do the benefits outweigh any potential harm How do you think about the participants How is that reflected in practice and research Is the research safe

4 Exploring the Service and Support Needs of Male, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered, Black and Other Ethnic Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence, funded by the Home Office. Will be available early Professor Marianne Hester, Dr Emma Williamson and Dr Geetanjali Gangoli, plus colleagues from Manchester and London Metropolitan Universities.

5 Ethical problems/issues Governance –NHS REC for SARCs/psychologists –Internal University review Benefits & Harm –Psychological –Emotional –Physical Ignored groups –Additional benefits –Identification Researcher (admin staff) safety –Physical –Emotional

6 Data protection –Working across institutions Consent –On-going Multi-method –On-line –Face-to-face (validity) Multiple identity –Changing identity

7 Domestic Violence Perpetrator Services Evaluation (Hester & Williamson: Current) Safety of partners and children Emotional well being of perpetrators Reliability of accounts and potential risk if wrong Making respondents angry Researcher safety Governance of multi-agency team

8 Further reading: Williamson, E. [& Smyth, M.] (2004) (Editors) Researchers and their "subjects": Ethics, power, knowledge and consent, Policy Press; Bristol. Williamson, E. and the Domestic Violence Research Group (2004) "Domestic Violence and Research Ethics", in Smyth, M. & Williamson, E. (2004) (Editors) Researchers and their "subjects": Ethics, power, knowledge and consent, Policy Press; Bristol. Kent, J., Williamson, E., Goodenough, T. & Ashcroft, R., (2002) 'Social Science gets the Ethics Treatment: Research governance and ethical review' Sociological Research Online, Vol. 7, Issue 4.

9 Williamson, E., Goodenough, T., Kent, J., Ashcroft, R., (2004) "Conducting Research With Children: The limits of confidentiality and child protection protocols", in Children and Society. Williamson, E. (2004) "Research, Tears and Audio Tape" in Hallowell, N., Lawton, J., Gregory, S. (eds) Reflections on Research: The realities of doing research in the social sciences, O.U.P. Williamson.E. (2000) 'Caught in contradictions: Conducting feminist action orientated research within an academic evaluated research programme', in Radford.J., Friedberg.M., Harne.L. (Eds) Women, Violence and Strategies for action: Feminist Research, Policy and Practice. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.