Informed consent

It is important to ensure that anyone who is being interviewed has given their informed consent to be included in my research project. This emphasis upon informed consent means that it is your responsibility to inform people fully about the purpose of your research, so that they can understand what they are being asked to take part in, and then freely choose whether or not to participate.

In line with this stress upon informed consent, it is important that anyone participating in my research gives formal, written consent. So my research will include a copy of the form which people will sign to indicate their consent to be involved in the research process. Such formal, written consent needs to be in place before I start interviewing people, or observing the behaviour of a group of people.

I have spent most of the past few months working on the ethics of informed consent. The wording of these guidelines implies that the people being interviewed are both literate and members of (that is, having a stable place within) mainstream society, this holds true for all of the people I intend to interview.

My intended Form of Consent is given at the end of this section. My plan is to say these words at the start of each interview, and to offer a photocopy of my notes for the interviewee to take away with them at the end. I will not identify the interviewee I will use a different name other than, for example, Janet aged 65 .

The people I Interview are often people who whom extraordinary things have happened, and if I were to give their full stories, it is likely that a number of them could be identified in this way. But…

Firstly, they could only be identified by people who already know the stories, and most of these people are very unlikely to be reading my journal. Secondly, I do not intend to use the distinctive stories within my journal. How people handle the issues relating to suffering can be adequately dealt with by consideration of the suffering itself at a reasonably abstract level: I can refer to a ‘close family member’ without going into the details of the individual’s convoluted family history.  Thirdly, I will be careful to write in a way that ensures that even if a reader can identify (or suspects that they can identify) an individual being referred to, the individual will not suffer in any way from this recognition.

Withdrawing from the project

Anyone involved in My research project has the freedom to withdraw from the project, if at a later date they decide that they no longer wish to be involved in it. So in asking for informed consent it is important that this freedom to withdraw is clearly explained to people.

In this context, withdrawal is not an issue, since there is no continued involvement in the project. I do not plan to interview anyone more than once. In any case, this would not normally be possible or practical: they often fail to turn up for events when their future and their liberty depend on it, so they are unlikely to turn up for a second interview just to satisfy my curiosity.

Vulnerable Adults

Research amongst people who are vulnerable, ‘because of their social, psychological or medical circumstances’, requires sensitive handling.  It may be necessary to have written consent from someone who is legally able to act on behalf of the vulnerable person.  My target group consists of vulnerable adults. I will make sure I have the appropriate permissions.

Confidentiality

Having gained people’s consent it is also vital to ensure that structures are in place which can guarantee that all the information obtained from, or about, someone remains confidential. This raises questions about what you will do to make sure that data, such as tapes or transcripts of interviews, will be stored safely and how it will be safely disposed of at the end of the process. Your research proposal should clearly explain the steps you will take to ensure confidentiality. I will store my records of interviews until after my journal has been marked, so that any questions about the source material can be answered.

Anonymity

Another aspect of confidentiality which needs to be taken seriously is the need to ensure anonymity, so that no-one can be identified as a result of what I have written in my journal. Therefore I will need to show that I am aware of the need to anonymise the results of your data gathering, and that you have realistic plans in place to guarantee that this takes place.

Consequences

A research process which in some way invites people to reflect upon some painful experiences in the past, may have unexpected and disturbing consequences. So, if there is a chance that my research might cause some kind of distress to individuals or groups, then I must consider such consequences and make specific plans to provide appropriate forms of support and help.

Today I met with the arts and crafts group, there were only three people today all doing something different, water colour painting, Collaging, and pattern making.

This week I met the gardening group at SPARC they were a diverse group that seemed to enjoy gardening at different levels from the novice to the expert.

I had my first meeting with the Woman’s group at SPARC they are very diverse in age and ability and they seem quite set in their ways I was advised by a member of the group that they like to sit in the same place each week.  I was not introduced to any of the group clients by staff members, but one of the attendees a woman in her 60’s asked me if I would like a drink and then introduced me to the rest of the group, she also took it upon her self to advise me of who in the group had issues around being touched or directly looking at them, this did make me feel a little uncomfortable at the time but it soon passed as the group were very friendly and happy to chat to me. I have discussed this with Richard who was quite worried and seems to think this could be a safeguarding issue and has warned me to be careful. I will make a note to ask Lynn about this on my next visit.

I had my first meeting with Lynn Barrett at SPARC on the 27^th this went very well and she has said she would be more than happy for me to come along and meet their clients with a view to working with them in the and she would be more than happy for me to collaborate with the SPARC clients on my final project. I have some forms to fill in and a DBS check to do, this will take a couple of weeks, whilst waiting for the DBS she is happy for me to meet the woman’s group next Wednesday.

We have agreed I will meet the different groups before deciding which group I would like to collaborate with there are a lot to choose from:  gardening, Art and music groups and many more. I have lots of literature to read and research before I meet with them next week.

Anna talked about her  MA  journey, her work with a transgender group in Manchester and how she collaborated on a book with a local poet. Anna spoke about her project and the people she met along the way explaining how she felt great responsibility towards the people she worked with and how she feel a great ethical responsibility for the people she works with especially working with vulnerable groups she always thinks about where she would show the photographs as some of the people she photographed had never told their family or friends they were transgender or gay and she would always inform them before showing. (This ethical question is something I am very aware of and will make sure I follow in the same path as Anna making sure I protect the people who are generous enough to work with me)

Humphrey Spender Mass Observation work

Anna had won a scholarship to reproduce the mass observation Humphrey Spender did in Bolton . I found this work to be very interesting, I had previously seen a BBC film called “Housewife 49” that I had enjoyed.

After her MA Anna then went on to start the Pod Collective with her friend Emily Hayes, with an aim to work with asylum seekers and refugees in Manchester, using art workshops to build peoples confidences, which in return empowers people to have a voice and represent a community that often gets misrepresented or forgotten.

I found I had a lot in common with Anna’s work as People, stories and creating a visual dialogue is a thread that runs through my own practice. Pod Collective do this through Arts Council funding, I was very interested to hear how they write their bids for grants although Anna said this can take her up to six months to write, as I feel this maybe something I may need to know in the future. What came across throughout the talk was a clear message you need to be passionate about what you do, don’t do projects your not going to enjoy to as this will show in your work. Always keep in touch with people who help you and try to help others along the way.

When researching I found an interesting article on the life of Humphrey Spender

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/15/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1

I really enjoyed the Layla Sailor talk although I have never wanted to be a commercial photographer or fashion photographer I have learnt a lot from her talk. I have always thought there was a huge difference between being a practising artist and being a fashion/commercial photographer, but its the individual artistic difference they bring to each shoot that gets them the work.

I don’t know why I had never thought about artists working commercially, I feel like I have taken my blinkers off and am now looking at other fashion photographers and appreciating their artistic input.

Layla was really down to earth and explained her journey in a way that gave me confidence to be a little more experimental and be bolder in my choices.

www.laylasailor.com

I have decided to look at other avenues for my project and have been in contact with a mental health group called SPARC

Stockport Progress and Recovery Centre is a local voluntary organisation providing support to adults in the Stockport area who experience mental health problems.

They offer a range of leisure, therapeutic, educational and social activities and facilities, developed in consultation with our members, in order to promote integration and mental and social well being.

they are a charitable organisation that are part of the Stockport Mental Health Alliance I have emailed there manager Lynn Barrett.

My tutorial with Greg was very productive this week I have always had a problem writing my journal we talked about taking a more disciplined approach I may have to force myself to write every day to start off with.. but as Greg said it isn’t about creating something that is logical and presentable it can be this great organic mess it just has to be your mess.

I am taking this on board and hoping this will be a great start to my final years journal.

As part of my research I have been in contact with Judith McGarty, she runs not for profit adult training scheme, Inspired Stockport and has recently been working with Chelwood food bank running a computer course. I was interested to find out what response she had had for her course as I thought this would help me to decide on the direction I should take for my future work with the food bank clients, I was shocked to hear that she had only one person stay for a session on the first week and then none for the next three sessions at which stage they made the decision to abandon the course, I asked her why she thought this had happened she said this had been a learning curve for her and although some of the clients had shown an interest in the classes they had ether travelled by bus to get to the food bank and were keen not to miss their return bus home or they had other commitments others showed an interest but didn’t feel they could commit at this time.

Although this wasn’t the news I was hoping for this revelation has defiantly made me think I need a back up plan …

http://www.inspiredstockport.org.uk/