The methodology section is done!

After almost a week of non-stop typing, I finished my methodology section and the paperwork for the university ethics approval process last Thursday night and submitted everything on Friday morning. I am pretty chuffed that I actually managed to write 12k in two days and have high hopes that similar spurs of productivity will help me next year when it comes to writing up the thesis!

In the end, one of the toughest issues to write about were the ethical implications of working with children and working with informed consent. Because there are 15 focus children in my study who I want to closely monitor and interview, both they and their parents have to agree that they want to take part in the study. Unfortunately some of them have been chosen because they have a very low attainment level and so I had to find a compromise between working ethically (and letting them know why they had had been chosen) and not causing harm. I am hoping that by framing the selection in a positive manner (eg 'We have chosen you because you have this target level this year') I can justify my way of researching.

Generally, my research design included quite a lot of different factors:

You can find the introduction to the methodology chapter here. If, incidentally, you research with children, too, and would like to share your experience of working with informed consent with kids and their parents please get in touch! It would be great to find out more about how other academics work in the area. Of course there are plenty of examples in books, but hearing about first hand experience is always more exciting!