Research Ethics

Research ethics regards rules, guidelines, and principles for evaluating if actions are right or wrong. The relationship between humans are central in this context, where the question is related towards what we can and cannot do to each other (Johannessen et al., 2010). Ethical decisions are done throughout the research process and is vital with the data collection throughout interviews since this research method directly affects humans (Kvale et al., 2015). A formal approval from an ethical committee and an informal approval from those that are interviewed are required to conduct the data collection (Fangen, 2010).

As mentioned earlier, before we could start the interviews, we had to send the study to Norsk senter for forskningsdata (NSD) for approval. Our study vas evaluated and approved according to their research ethics guidelines in relation to the General Data Protection Rights (GDPR). NSD used the document information regarding the master thesis, see Appendix 2 as a part of the evaluation, in addition to the statement of consent, interview guide and questionnaire, see Appendix 3, 4 and 5. The purpose of the document “Information regarding the master thesis” is to inform the contestants of the purpose of the study, as well as what it means to participate to the study. In addition, the participants are allowed to withdraw from the study at any time.

By doing so we ensured that the participants had some control over their participation. It was vital that the letter of information did not contain more information than necessary, since too detailed information about the study could affect the participants behavior (Thagaard, 2013).

In the beginning of each interview, we asked the informants if they had signed the letter of consent, where they consented that they had read and understood the letter of information. The informants have the rights to control of which information that is shared and what the information is used for (Alver & Øyen, 1997).

Consequently, it is important that the researcher ensures that the research is presented in the letter of information in a way that takes care of the informants rights (Fangen, 2010). The informant’s signature and NSDs approval of our study confirms that we have achieved this.

In the process of collecting data materials in an interview it is essential that the researchers own viewpoints and interpretations are kept outside of the interview, and should neither be argued or moralized (Dalen, 2004).

We have shown interest of what the informants has said during the interview, for instance by body language and nodding, however, beyond this we have appeared neutral during the interview. In addition, we have respected the informants and shown gratitude for their willingness to participate in our study. This is supported by Thjora, which states that this is a great foundation for good ethical research in qualitative studies (Tjora, 2017). Moreover, the questions we asked the informants were not formulated in a way that could appear offensive or judgmental. It is vital for us to formulate questions in both the qualitative interview and the quantitative survey that are not negatively charged. Since the study concerns global supply chains and how these firms have handled the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not perceive this as a sensitive topic for those who participated.

Furthermore, the data material is treated in regard to the informant’s consent. Every participant consented either written or orally during the interview. The organization the informants represent is presented in Chapter 3, however the organizations have full anonymity in the analysis and discussion of the findings in Chapter 4 and 5.

When it comes to the storing of the data material it is critical to make ethical considerations. The researcher must treat information she or he has access to in a careful manner that ensures the participants confidentiality (Leseth & Tellmann, 2018). Throughout the interview process we have recorded the interviews, with consents from the informants, which we have transcribed and analyzed in NVivo. Both the recordings and the transcribed interviews has been stored in password protected computers that only the researchers have access to. Additionally, we are the only ones that has treated the research material, and when the master thesis is completed all of the files are deleted. Throughout the analysis we have taken care of the participants statements by presenting citations from the interviews. Since we utilized recordings and transcriptions, we have ensured that the statements are cited correctly. However, since we chose to interview in Norwegian, the citations are translated to English. Still, we believe that the citations correspond with what the informants expressed during the interview.

Another vital principle in research is to avoid plagiarism of other researchers work. Plagiarism is considered as a significant violation of the research ethic (Thagaard, 2013). In the development of our research process, we have used the preliminary project as a starting point for the theoretical framework and improved it from the feedback we received from our supervisor and the sensor. Furthermore, we have used the theory as a foundation to discuss the findings from the interviews and questionnaire. Additionally, we have utilized literature to support the methodological choices we have done throughout the research process. Hence, we have shown good research ethic by referring to the author and the year the literature was published. The references are listed alphabetically after the conclusion of the master thesis, which provides a more detailed description of all the sources we have utilized. This allows the reader to control the references, and to read more about the topic.

Throughout the research process we have followed the ethical guidelines in a good manner. We have shown a moral responsibility and taken care of the organizations and participants in a good way.