Unit 5 – Task 1 – Referral 1 – Talia Matharu

Ethical Considerations- I will make sure I have informed consent from every participant in my investigation – making sure they know everything participating entails. This is important as it wouldn’t be ethically sound to get them to engage in the investigation without knowing what is expected of them and the testing they will undertake. For example, they may not want participate due to a specific area of testing that they didn’t know would be expected of them, but now feel obligated to continue participating as they have already agreed, even though they opposed to something. Also they will need to know they are consenting to the results from the study, (BMI and results from their lifestyle questionnaire) will be publish for the public to see although the results will be anonymous. I will make sure I don’t to pressure anyone into participating if they don’t want to, because it is unfair on the participant. Also they will not be willing to engage fully into my investigation and may answer my questionnaire inaccurately which would affect the reliably of my results, thus overall affecting the validity of my investigation. I will maintain the confidentially of the subjects by keeping their names anonymous, as BMI and lifestyle are two things people can feel very personally about and if their name was linked to their results it may leave them feel upset or ashamed but also may leave them open to negative comments from people. Due to some of the participants in my study being under the age of 18 I have had to consider getting parental consent. According to the guidelines set by the Royal College of Pediatrics, they suggest it there is any possible risk to the underage participant then parental consent should be obtained. After careful consideration I have decided due to the nature of my testing (weighing and taking height) there is no possible risk to the participants, I therefore will not be getting parents’ consent. They should have the right to withdraw at any point during the investigation; participants should have the right to withdraw at any stage in the research process because it is there right to free will. When a participant chooses to withdraw from the research process, they should not be pressured or coerced in any way to try and stop them from withdrawing, this also link to the ethical consideration of not pressuring participants.

Legal Considerations- A legal consideration is to keep the names of subjects anonymous, which I will do my assigning each participant a number that they will be referred to in the investigation. I will have to follow the duty of confidentiality by keeping their names anonymous because the information I will be gathering relates to height, weight and lifestyle and this stops any stigma or negative association that may infer with such information as it can be quite personal and a sensitive subject. The data I retrieve from the participants should only be obtained for the purpose of the research, this will be carried out by having a well-planned method and a questionnaire designed specifically to obtain the accurate information about lifestyle that is relevant to my investigation. After the investigation has been completed following the data protection act I will destroy any unnecessary information I may still possess. I will need to make sure I comply with the health and safety care act 1974, to ensure the protection of the individuals involved in my investigation and to assure that maximum care is taken over them. Even though my research isn’t physically demanding and there is no perceived risk.

Validity and Reliability- When my research is finished the aim is for it to be valid. I will have achieved this by answering the questions I initially asked at the outset of my research. Through getting all of my measuring and data collecting right and it being reliable, I will then achieve overall validity. I will measure height and weight to calculate BMI like I initially set out to do, then compare this with the drink each subject purchased will then indicate weather there is a link between BMI and sugared drink intake, the initial aim of my research. To also ensure reliability and validity I will make sure the exact same process is repeated when collecting measurements, also the per-written transcript will be spoken to the participants and will be delivered exactly the same, this ensures they all received the same instructions, so hopefully all the follow the same process when completing the questionnaire. To ensure for reliability it will have a clear method, which allows for the investigation to be easily repeated by others. My method needs to be clear and instructive, otherwise it may not be easily to follow and repeat; the smallest error could results in a variation in carrying out the investigation and also the results. The findings from my research cannot be applied to all college students, as the investigation is carried out on a small sample group in a specific geographical location.