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Ethics and surveys in research

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teags27 On October 09, 2011




Melbourne, Australia
#1New Post! Sep 26, 2011 @ 09:54:04
In my Sociology of Education course this semester I'm researching why the number of boys who complete year 12 falls short of the number of girls who complete year 12. As this is such a large area of study, with many possible causes and answers, I've chosen to focus specifically on parental education levels as a possible cause for boys choosing to leave school early to take on unskilled labour or full-time jobs, as well as doing research into the decrease in the number of those unskilled labour and full-time jobs, as this leads to high unemployment levels for boys and young adults.

What I'm wanting to get an opinion on is how would I go about doing this research? I've considered drafting surveys and sending them out to students to fill in, detailing their own personal experiences with high school and outlining their future goals for education and/or work. This will be simple enough. But how would I go about finding out about their parents' education levels? I couldn't very well ask the students, could I? I don't think that would be ethical, since I wouldn't have the parents' consent.

tl;dr - What ethics are involved in getting information about a students' parents? Or do you have any better ideas on obtaining stats?
Sparklegirl On December 13, 2019
LL.M





Cumbria, United Kingdom
#2New Post! Sep 26, 2011 @ 10:20:28
i know i have been asked about my parental education levels to determine what drove me to go as far as i have. might be different over there though- or maybe the people who asked me shouldn't have!

is i possible for you to attend some school events such as parents evenings or open days where the parents will be so you could speak to them yourself? i would say a paper based survey would be largely ignored. i carried out stats research for one of my degrees and the only successful way was face to face contact for me.

it depends what level you are studying at and what options are open to you to get the information. i would have thought that the students should be able to tell you, but check out the data protection or confidentiality stuff that goes with that- it may have changed
teags27 On October 09, 2011




Melbourne, Australia
#3New Post! Sep 26, 2011 @ 10:28:24
I'm a second year student, so there is a fair level of in-depth research expected. I agree that sending out a paper-based survey might not be productive. Perhaps going into schools in my area and discussing my research with some teachers/principals/students might be a better way to approach this. My main concern was the ethics behind asking about the details of the parents. I may have to do some digging and find some information about ethics and confidentiality. Thanks for the reply!
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