Ethics Made Easy

Elizabeth Branigan and Tania Lienert

 

This document can be downloaded in PDF format for printing out. It is also available below, presented as a main reference document with the Information sheets and Forms available as separate documents for quick reference.

 

Table of Contents

 

WHAT IS ETHICS?

 

"Ethics is about making sure that the work and research we do does not hurt others or ourselves. in particular, it is about issues of consent, deception, privacy and confidentiality of information "(PUNCH 1998:168).

 

ETHICS MADE EASY — WHAT THIS MODULE DOES

 

This is a short module that will guide you on how to work ethically. Ethics are there to protect you and the people that you work with. Ethics are often written about in off-putting legal or research jargon, so they can sometimes scare people. This short guide intends to make ethics easy by:

Providing you with simple information sheets on each issue that may be important in your work

Giving you forms that you can modify to use in your projects to let the other people you work with know how your project is carrying out its work ethically

Leading you toward other documents you can read if you want to explore ethics further

Encouraging you to contribute information on ethics that you have found useful.

This is not a final module, it is more of a starting point. We hope it will grow and change over the next 12 months with your collaboration. Please send your ideas on ethics to sff-discuss or to your SFLEX support worker.

INFORMATION SHEET 1 - ETHICS IN ACTION RESEARCH

Ethics in action research — how to get more information

Don’t worry if the answer to some of the questions in Information sheet 1 is no at the moment. The important issue is to think these questions through and to keep coming back to them.

Action Research is still quite new to most SFF projects and thinking about ethics and action research is also new. If you want to learn more about ethics, you can:

Have a chat with your SFLEX training and support worker

Read the information sheets

Order some of the extra reading we have listed from the AIFS library

Ask your SFLEX worker to run a workshop with your project on ethics

Read on, to see how we have put some of these ethical principles into our undertaking of how we will work with you ……

Information sheet 2 - Further Reading

Information sheet 3 - Ethics and the SFF Projects

Information sheet 4 - Working Together: Ethical Protocol Between SFLEX and SFF Projects

Form 1 - Letter Of Agreement For Stronger Families Fund Projects

Form 2 - Ethics Approval Checklist

Information sheet 5 - Who Else Needs To Know About Ethics?

Information sheet 6 - Consent Forms to Copy and Give To Participants to Sign