Fieldwork for language education research in rural Bangladesh: ethical issues and dilemmas

Abstract

This contribution documents the author’s lived experiences in his fieldwork for his PhD research in the field of English as a second/foreign language in a familiar social setting in Bangladesh. The account suggests that insider researchers can helpfully draw on their tacit knowledge of local social and cultural norms and values to understand their research participants and their experiences, and behave with them in socially and culturally appropriate ways. However, it also shows that the insider perspective is more complex and problematic than is commonly assumed. To what extent local researchers are true insiders is questionable, particularly if they have social status differences with their research participants and, more crucially, if they are trained in Western academia and Western ethical norms. The major focus here is on the relevance of the ethical codes emphasized by the ethics committee of an Australian university to fieldwork in rural Bangladesh. The discussion that follows highlights personal ethical dilemmas, which resulted from an irreconcilable gap between the expectations of research ethics in Western academia and cultural realities and behavioural norms in the developing society. Implications of these ethical issues for fieldwork in developing countries as well as for institutional review boards are suggested.

Keywords:

• ethical dilemmas
• institutional review board
• researcher identity
• lived experiences
• Bangladesh

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Nanette Gottlieb, Roland Sussex and Richard Baldauf to my PhD research and of Jo Grimmond who provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft of this paper. Two anonymous reviewers of the IJRME provided useful comments and feedback which I have incorporated into the final version.

Notes

1. It is common practice in Bangladesh to address teachers as ‘Sir’ by students (and other people), even if the latter were never taught by the former.

2. Every Bangladeshi citizen has a permanent address which remains his/her address forever. My permanent address no longer exists because the home as well as my village was destroyed by the river. Even then my passport carries this address since it cannot be changed.

3. This is evidenced by the ethical dilemmas described and analyzed in this paper. Although I obtained ethical approval for my research and the fieldwork, I could not abide by the ethical prescriptions of the IRB when faced with real people and their economic, social and cultural values and givens.

4. Copied from the feedback of the Ethics Committee on my ethical clearance application in July 2006.

5. I had not enclosed Bangla translations of the documents because the Committee or the School did not have access to this language.

6. Bangladesh has made significant progress in spreading the mobile phone network throughout the country. Mobile phone numbers are treated as private and confidential information in the West. However, this is not so in Bangladesh, particularly in rural areas. One can easily obtain someone’s mobile phone number from another person and make a phone call. The issue of privacy or confidentiality is not relevant here.