ETHICS COMMITTEE
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
APPLICATION FOR ETHICAL APPROVAL
NOTES:
THIS APPLICATION AND ANY ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS MUST BE SENT ELECTRONICALLY TO Leeann.Stevenson@glasgow.ac.uk
THIS APPLICATION FORM SHOULD BE TYPED NOT HAND WRITTEN.
ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED. “NOT APPLICABLE” IS A SATISFACTORY ANSWER WHERE APPROPRIATE.
NO EMPIRICAL RESEARCH SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN PRIOR TO ETHICAL APPROVAL BEING GRANTED.
PLEASE NOTE - THAT COPIES OF PROPOSED QUESTIONNAIRES OR A LIST OF QUESTIONS THAT WILL BE INCLUDED IN ANY QUESTIONNAIRE SHOULD ACCOMPANY THIS APPLICATION FORM - THIS IS COMPULSORY.
PLEASE READ PAGE 2 OF THIS FORM CAREFULLY TO DETERMINE WHAT SECTION YOU SHOULD BE COMPLETING - A OR B.
UNIQUE INTERNAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER – LBSS / 10 / 0070_
(Issued by the Ethics Committee Secretary)
Project Title:
Behavioural Drivers in an Industrial Buying Context. (Working Title)
Date of Ethics submission (i.e. the date you submit this form to the Committee Secretary):
20 February 2011
Name of all person(s) submitting research proposal:
Alan Aitken
Position:
Student or Staff? : Student
If Staff: Staff No: ________________
If Student: Student No: 7607771 UG or PG: PG
Full Course Name: N100 Management Studies. Qual: K93
School/Group/Institute/Centre
Business School / Faculty of Law Business and Social Sciences /University of Glasgow.
Address for correspondence relating to this submission:
4 Cavendish Place, Troon, Ayrshire. KA10 6JG.
Name of Principal Researcher (if different from above e.g., Student’s Supervisor) N/A
Position held
Post Graduate Research Student (Part-time)
230
SECTION A
ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED.
“NOT APPLICABLE” IS A SATISFACTORY ANSWER WHERE APPROPRIATE.
1. Describe the purposes of the research proposed and the research participants.
Please note that we need to know enough about your proposed research so that a judgment can be made on whether the ethical issues have (a) been identified and (b) that sufficient measures have been incorporated into the research design and proposed data collection techniques to address the ethical issues raised.
The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of what drives the behaviour of industrial buyers as they attempt to agree commercial terms with their suppliers. Research participants will be recruited from procurement professionals who have enrolled on the professional networking website, ‘LinkedIn’. Access to the appropriate groups is facilitated by the membership of the principal researcher. Research participants will be given sufficient advanced information to allow them to give informed consent as to their decision to participate in the project.
2. Please give a summary of the design and methodology of the project.
Please note: that copies of proposed questionnaires or a list of questions that will be included in any questionnaire or interview should accompany this application form (Compulsory not optional). Please also include in this section details of the proposed sample size, giving indications of the calculations used to determine the required sample size, including any assumptions you may have made. (If in doubt, please obtain statistical advice).
In addressing the research question a case study approach to data collection is adopted. At the core of this element of the data collection exercise respondents are asked to complete an online diary relating to the purchase of an important, ‘modified rebuy’ Where practical the completion of the diary is coupled with a semi- structured interview of the respondents to clarify the responses given. The qualitative nature of the data gathered using case study techniques implies an emphasis on the qualities of the entities and on processes and meanings that they contain.
They are not experimentally examined or measured in terms of quantity, amount or intensity.
Although sample sizes are not considered statistically relevant, it is hoped that in excess of 20 completed Diary-Interviews can be completed to give some level of richness to the data. Copies of the instructions given to respondents, together with the ‘data fields’ that are to be completed
‘online’ are appended.
3. Identify which of the following ethical issues apply to your project. Describe what the issue(s) is and what action you will take in respect of this/these.
Issues Actions
Anonymity of research subjects
Organisational confidentiality may be compromised if either the identity of the individual respondents, the organisations that they represent or the details of the commercial negotiations in which they are involved to enter either the public domain or to be acquired by competitors or suppliers.
Respondents who wish to remain anonymous can provide the data under an alias. Respondents are not required to disclose the identity of the vendor with whom they are negotiating, the precise nature of what is being traded, or the commercial terms that apply to the trade.
231
Issues Actions
Any other ethical issue raised by the proposed research
The potential exists to expose dubious commercial practice in the course of conducting the research.
It is considered improbable that the research instrument, which is based on self disclosure by experienced professionals, will uncover such infrequent practices.
While any illegality would require to be referred to the appropriate authority this eventuality is considered unlikely in the extreme and therefore the residual risk is considered acceptable.
Confidentiality of research data
The greatest potential risk to would be the loss of commercially sensitive information.
The primary data will be collected online via a commercially provided, secure server hosted by Smartline International Ltd., Canterbury Business Centre, 18 Ashchurch Road, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8BT, United Kingdom.
Access to the site is password protected. Subsequent processing of the resulting data will be undertaken only by the principal researcher and will be conducted under password protection. Data will be destroyed on completion of the research project.
Informed consent Respondents are commercially aware procurement professionals who participate with the full knowledge of the potential risks associated with the breach of commercial confidentiality.
Instructions provided to the research subjects explicitly explains both the nature of the data to be collected and also explains how the data will be utilised in the research process.
Recruitment Procedure
Research participants will be recruited from procurement professionals who have enrolled on the professional networking website, ‘LinkedIn’. Access to the appropriate groups is facilitated by the membership of the principal researcher, and will be augmented by ‘postings’ on relevant web forums to ‘canvas’
support. Research participants will be given sufficient advanced information to allow them to give informed consent as to their decision to participate in the project.
Consistent with the case study approach adopted interviewees are to be selected on a ‘non- probability’ basis. It is acknowledged that this has no statistical foundation and is based largely on the accessibility of suitable participants to the researcher.
Risk to research subject
The greatest potential risk to research subjects would be the
breach of commercial
confidentiality.
This risk is mitigated by the previously explained measures to limit the amount of commercial data collected and the security measures associated with its storage.
Risk to researcher There is little anticipated direct risk to the researcher. The potential exists for the researcher to be the subject of litigation should commercial loss result to respondents.
Residual risks to the researcher are regarded as both minimal and acceptable given the measures taken regarding the nature of the data collected and the measures taken to maintain its security.
232 4. Who are the investigators (including assistants) who will conduct the research and what
are their qualifications and experience?
The research will be conducted solely by the principal researcher who is a part-time research student in the Business School. In addition to a Masters degree in Management the researcher has 30 years of commercial management experience. ‘Double coding’ of transcripts to facilitate analysis will utilise ‘anonymised’ data.
5. In cases where subjects will be identified from information held by another party (for example, a housing association) please identify who the gatekeepers or intermediatories are, what their relationship with the research subjects is, and what arrangements you intend to make to contact interviewees or respondents, e.g., will you provide an information sheet to the intermediatories etc.
Not applicable.
6. Will payment or any other incentive, such as a gift or free services, be made to any
research subject?
If so, please specify and state the level of payment to be made and/or the source of the funds/gift/free service to be used. Please explain the justification for offering payment or other incentive.
No specific incentives will be offered to participants. Participants will be given the offer of a précis of the research findings which, as practitioners in the research field, may be of general interest.
7. Will the intended group of research subjects, to your knowledge, be involved in other research? If so, please justify..
No
8. Date on which the project will begin and end.
Example – Start Date: XX December 2003... and End Date: XX February 2004 Start Date: 01 March 2011 and End Date: 30June 2011
9. Please state location(s) where the project will be carried out.
As much of the research is relies on completion of internet based diaries, it is independent of location. The location of any subsequent interviews will be arranged to suit the respondents. Many of these interviews may well be undertaken by telephone.
Name_______________________________________________________ Date 20 Feb 2011 (Proposer of research)
233 COMMENTS FROM SUPERVISOR
Applications from students must be submitted via / by the student’s supervisor.
Confirmation or comment on the accuracy of the account given above:
The application is accurate and I agree with the content.
Comment on the research ethics risks involved in the project:
As stated on application.
Name: Professor Robert A. Paton Date 7 January 2011 (Supervisor of student)
ANY COMMENTS FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL/GROUP/INSTITUTE/CENTRE
(if necessary):
Name ______________________________________________________ Date ________________
(Head of School/Group/Institute/Centre)
Send completed form to Leeann Stevenson Leeann.Stevenson@glasgow.ac.uk