Introduction
This dissertation aims to explore the ethical implications of exploitation in the workplace – focused particularly on the charity sector. It will be an exploratory piece with the purpose of investigating whether the use of free labour such as internships and volunteerism coupled with low paid temporary employees constitutes “exploitation”. It will be undertaken through primary research in the form of semi-structured interviews and a qualitative methodology.
Research Approach
Before embarking on a research project, it is imperative that the approach is determined both by epistemology and ontology. Epistemologically, the two main leanings are positivism and interpretivism (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The approaches cover opposite ends of the spectrum with positivism being underpinned in the natural sciences with groundings in fact whilst interpretivism has a social science background concerned with understanding human actions. Further, it is important to define the research ontologically. In regard to the ontology, the opposing schools of thought are objectivism and constructionism. The former implies that “social phenomena and their meanings have an existence that is independent of social actors” (Bryman, 2012). Whereas, constructionism asserts the notion that social phenomena comes from social interactions between respective entities. Therefore, after considering the nature of the research, it is most appropriate for an interpretivist and constructionist approach to be taken. The rationale for this is that, the aim of the research is to gain understanding of the social issue of exploitation in the workplace. Ethical issues are notoriously subjective in regard to opinions (Ryan and Bernard, 2003). Thus, to appropriately gain understanding, it will be vital to collect data through interpretation of human emotion and spoken language rather than relying on a positivist and objectivist facts and figures style of data.
An inductive “theory generating” approach (Bryman and Bell, 2015) will be undertaken and thus, it can be affirmed that qualitative research is the most appropriate research style. Qualitative research is concerned with gaining an understanding of how participants process their experiences within themselves, which can notoriously be complex and ambivalent as emotions are inherently private (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2003). This research aspires to develop the existing literature through gaining an insight into opinions of managers and employees in the charity sector. Therefore, it is advantageous to conduct qualitative research as it naturally generates more detailed data that can provide a more meaningful understanding of the ethical issues apparent in the charity sectors workforce. Ultimately, it would be inappropriate to obtain these insights through the alternative, quantitative, method as you cannot deduce human emotion and opinion to facts and figures in a significant way because the suggestion of a “standardised opinion” is an oxymoron (Bell and Thorpe, 2013). Thus, the qualitative research method of a semi-structured interview will be used to enable greater opportunity for the author to react to social cues in interviewees such as body and verbal language to ensure the research question is being explored in the greatest of depth.
Data Collection
It was apparent that the most convenient and logical way of obtaining detailed insight into the opinions of those within the charity sector was through the use of interviews. Stemming from this, it was decided that a semi-structured approach would be used rather than the alternatives of structured and unstructured. The reasoning for this is that it is believed that a structured interview could generate data that is stale and invaluable due to the questioning method being too rigid and not allowing for fluidity of conversation (Creswell, 2014). Contrary to this, unstructured interviews brought the risk of the data not answering the question of which it intended as the researcher would be unable to steer the interviewee away from lengthy irrelevant stories or anecdotes. Thus, semi-structured interviews will be beneficial as the author will be able to be prepared with specific topic of conversation that need to be discussed in relation to the research question but still allow for leeway for the interviewee to articulate themselves how they wish (Bryman and Bell, 2015). This is an important factor in regard to a qualitative research approach, as it allows for the interviewees to drive the research and help to eliminate opportunities for the researcher to practice bias by strict structured questions that perpetrate a narrative that the interviewee does not necessarily believe but has been coerced into saying (Lee, 1999).
Upon consideration of the feasibility to conduct semi-structured interviews, it became apparent that the subjects were to be taken from a convenience method of sampling. Due to the sensitive nature of the research topic gaining access to willing participants is limited to pre-existing contacts and thus, convenience sampling is most appropriate (Saunders, 2012). Six interviews will be conducted, comprised of; three managers and three employees from six separate charities based in either Newcastle Upon Tyne or Belfast. This division is crucial to gain a wider understanding of the issue, as it is well-known that employees’ interpretation of how they are managed can differ from how managers feel they are behaving. The investigative, “theory-generating” nature of qualitative research renders this sample appropriate as the data does not need to be quantified into objective facts (Rugg and Petre, 2007). Further to this, it is believed the range of different organisations in different geographical positions will provide meaningful conclusions to the research question.
Data Analysis
The data will be analysed through transcribing the recorded interviews in a Microsoft Word document. Transcribing post-interview is considered to be most useful as trying to transcribe whilst in the interview can be distracting or potentially make the participant less at ease which would compromise the quality of the data collected (Bryman and Bell, 2015). It is deemed most appropriate that a thematic coding analysis will be used. This method will help to organise the research into common themes that will be discussed in interviews and in the existing literature. However, it will be imperative to take care when categorising data into themes to ensure something is not misinterpreted and included in an unsuitable category (Gibbs, 2007). Qualitative data can become overwhelming due to the vast amount of material that can be collected, therefore the use of thematic coding will be beneficial to help create clarity and vacillate comparability between different results.
Limitations
It is inevitable that a research project will have limitations. In order to appropriately assess the validity of the research, understanding what the limits of the research are and managing how impactful they will be is crucial.
Primarily, the major limitation of conducting a qualitative research piece is the subjective nature of the data. When discussing ethics opinions can be vast and extremely diverse in both their articulation and interpretation. Therefore, it has to acknowledged that interview responses are subsequently transcribed by the author and become the product of a mix of interviewee’s interpretation of their own work life and the author’s interpretation of that account. Thus, the data can be thought to be easily prone to bias on both sides of the scenario and thus, a key limitation is that the data may not be able to be viewed as a generalisable fact in the same way quantitative research derived objective facts can (Bryman and Bell, 2015). To alleviate this concern, it will be crucial that the interviews are recorded and saved to allow for re-analysis of the data to ensure that nothing was missed or misinterpreted in the first listening of the research. Further to this, it will be vital to be highly attentive whilst interviewing to watch for any non-verbal indicators such as body language and facial expression to facilitate accuracy in the reporting of data (Kvale, 1996).
Although this research has not made claims to be a study of the full population and by nature qualitative research does not have an end goal of generalising populations, the sample size and geographical scope must be considered a limitation (Bryman, 2012). It would not be feasible timely or financially for this project to span beyond the author’s home bases and connections for interviews. Thus, it can be said that the research could generate data that is a misrepresentation of the wider UK views on the issues. Along with this, a smaller sample group carries the risk that some characteristics and types of people will be either over-represented or misrepresented which will unknowingly create gaps in the research, limiting the accuracy and viability (Golafshani, 2003). However, contrary to this, having an even split geographically between English respondents and Northern Irish respondents should help to decrease the chances of the research being unable to be replicated or generalised as although it only covers a small group of two cities, there is potential to gain a grasp on the bigger picture due to data coming from two jurisdictions.
Ethical Issues
Due to the very core of this research project being involved with ethics, consideration of the ethical issues whilst conducting research is crucial. Upon conducting a research task, it is necessary that all ethical issues and possibilities are considered from the beginning of the process to ensure that the research is done without any harm caused to others (Bryman and Bell, 2015). Conducting primary research on a sensitive issue pushed the ethical implications of said research to be at the forefront of all decision making throughout the entire process. Ultimately, it will be of benefit to the value of the data as creating a comfortable environment that interviewees feel safe to share their true opinions without fear of consequences will decrease the chances of participants feeling the need to play down or feel embarrassed about something.
One ethical issue involved with conducting semi-structured interviews with participants of whom the author has existing connections with, is the notion of informed consent. Consent is considered to be informed if they have been educated to a great enough depth to voluntary agree to all risks and outcomes that the research may bring (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Depriving participants of the right to make an informed decision and give consent is ethically abhorrent and can put the researcher at risk for liability to battery and negligence. Therefore, to ensure all participants are able to give informed consent prior to interview, a detailed fact sheet of the exact purpose and intentions for the research will be given and a clear declaration of their right to remove consent without consequence will be provided. Further, due to the existing links the author has, due diligence will be ensured by being wary of using coercive language and reiterating the right to withdraw from the study at any point.
Confidentiality, anonymity and data security are imperative for research of this type to be considered ethically appropriate. Discussing issues regarding working life, particularly views on the serious and sensitive topic of exploitation could cause serious harm to partakers if they were able to be identified from the publication of results. Therefore, all respondents will be assured that any names of persons or organisations will be changed beyond scope for identification (Berg, 2004). Along with this, full disclosure will be given in regard to who has access to the data produced and caution will be taken to ensure it can only be accessed by those who have to, of which are: the author, supervisor and examiner. Aforementioned, it would detrimental ethically and to the results of the research for participants to feel uneasy at any point, therefore assurance will be reiterated throughout that anything they share will be kept entirely confidential and not discussed with any parties inside or outside of the research project. Legally, issues of data protection have been highly topical in today’s climate with the introduction of GDPR policies. It is unethical and illegal to put participants at harm due to negligence to properly secure data. To minimise risk, the use of portable devices will be limited and any data will be stored on encrypted software within the university. Following this, upon completion of all formalities in the dissertation process all data will be deleted and removed from any form of permanent storage (Quinlan, 2011).