‘It has been commonplace in education research, for example, for teachers/lecturers to give out surveys to their students to assess pedagogical issues. However, this raises questions of whether consent of students is full and free if no real option to ‘opt-out’ is provided.’ (Farrimond, 2017, P1).
When working with students to conduct my research it was important for me to be open and transparent. I wanted to be clear that this was not a compulsory exercise and that they could ‘opt-out’ at any time during the process. It was crucial to the research process that this was communicated clearly verbally and in writing. The MA User Experience Design students were more than willing to participate.
I delivered a relaxed talk with students about my project and my experience as an educator after their workshop about ‘Critical Thinking’. This led to open discussions about their collaborative encounters. I was mindful that this was the second meeting with students and our relationship had not yet formed, so I was not sure of the response. Students were engaging and honest with their feedback.
As highlighted by Olitsky and Weathers(2005), I thought it was important to have a cogenerative dialogue with the students about the aims and objectives of the project first before thrusting them with an information sheet. Adopting a continuous reflexive research approach to ensure that my methods do not compromise any political and ethical goals.
My aim was for the entire process to be collaborative. This worked well. 17 out of 17 students were present and completed the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was the first research intervention and the second took place two weeks after. This was in the form of written feedback on post it notes reflecting on the samples and prototypes of the collaborative cards. This workshop was not as well attended due to students’ submissions, however the 2 students that attended offered useful insights and feedback.
The questionnaire underwent a few drafts to be suitable. My peers on the course offered feedback during the PGCert workshop sessions. This was invaluable. The responses were as follows
- To reduce the initial 10 questions.
- To include more closed questions this would assist with engagement of students and would lessen the workload when analysing.
I completed the suggestions and I reduced the questions to 7 in total. I included on the last question 7 an option for students to sketch or write any design suggestions for the cards. Most of their ideas were implemented into the design of the cards together with the students’ chosen questions.
The cohort of students are multi – cultural and this formed an interesting response to the questionnaire. I wanted to ensure that the research process was inclusive. I also included the use of coloured paper to print the questionnaires.
Please see the first draft questionnaire, the final completed questionnaires, information sheet and the second stage student feedback documents below for further review.
Consent Forms – Password protected
This document is password protected. (M.K) has access.