Question

Homeschooling Proposal IRB

In this assignment, you will be provided a proposal. Click here to download the proposal.

https://www.homeworkmarket.com/files/proposal.doc

Read the proposal, and then, acting as a member of a college IRB asked to approve this study, identify any ethical concerns you have. Write your concerns in a report in a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document and make at least three suggestions to reduce the possibility of risk and harm to the participants.

Answer 1

Ethical concerns that came into notice while reviewing the methods proposed for research are—

Prior judgment based on previous data and knowledge

• Any target sample is located after the basis of prior knowledge of topic under study and target population. Thorough research and knowledge gathering are prerequisites before arriving at a representative sample size and sample source.
• Since there is a paucity of demographic data on homeschooling families. To arrive at a conclusion that a greater number of homeschoolers as compared to non-homeschoolers is white and non-Hispanic based on one report may lead to sample bias.
• Sample bias may creep in if the sample source will be decided on the basis of prior judgment, lack of knowledge and stereotyping on the basis of limited data.

Convenience sampling and interests of Participant and society as a whole

• It is a known problem that nationwide accurate statistics have been difficult to obtain on homeschooling so far as some families are not trusting and/or willing to provide information
• As proposed it is believed that this bias might be decreased by specifically targeting known groups and networks of homeschoolers. It is thought that this method will increase the likelihood of collecting data from a diverse group of homeschoolers.

• But this results in a situation where respondents are the ones that can be reached easily. This can give an idea of the situation but will exclude respondents who are harder to contact and get a response from.
• Those who don’t have an internet connection and live in small colonies will get automatically excluded. This will not provide a true picture and accurate statistics will not be obtained. Interests of society as a whole get affected in this manner.

Suggestions to reduce the possibility of risk and harm to the participants are—

Follow informed-consent rules

• Since all the participants are of legal age and the survey is anonymous a preamble in place of a     consent form is suggested.
• But informed-consent rules must be practiced. Consent process ensures that individuals are participating voluntarily with full prior knowledge of potential risks and benefits.
• Since study does not pose much risk of harm, a preamble is also fine. But it should mention about participants' rights to decline to participate or to withdraw.

      Design practical security measures

• Records must be stored in a secure area with limited access.
• Strip any of the identifying information.
• Data is the new-age gold and so it is utmost important to contain it securely and use it for the purpose collected.

Avoid Misspecification in questionnaires

• Wording and organization of questionnaires used to gather data should be as such that Misspecifications do not result in sample bias.
• Avoid designing questionnaires deliberately so as to include or exclude any specific sub-group of participants under study.