disadvantage.’ 10 However, with practical matters such as time restraints, interviews
were conducted with the help of translators from the organization, both of the same
age bracket as participants, who therefore helped reduce the distance between
researcher and participants.
The questions asked during the focus groups can be found in the appendix at the end
of this thesis.
Ethical considerations
Finally, ethical considerations were an essential part of this research. With any field
research ethics must be carefully considered, particularly when interviews are
involved in the research process. Davies breaks down relationships involved in social
research into five categories: between researcher and sponsor; researcher and various
gatekeepers; researcher and their colleagues (and their discipline); researcher and the
general public; and finally, researcher and research participants.11 Ethics are of
particular concern for the latter category as this includes the research encounter itself,
and will potentially have the most ethical implications. The following points were
considered when conducting field research:
Verbal consent will be given by all interviewees who wish to take part, and
information regarding the project and what it will be used for will be given before
any conversation.
History of aggression in Myanmar towards those who speak out about politics
could cause subjects to fear speaking openly about such issues as hate speech and
political figures/ the government, therefore interviews and comments will be
anonymous unless they wish otherwise.
Due to the sensitive nature of politics in Myanmar, particularly with the upcoming
election, interviews will be subject to the depth of which the interviewees wish to
discuss.
10
Malinowski, B., (2001) Malinowski Among the Magi: The Natives of Mailu, Volume 1, Psychology
Press, pp.108,109.
11
Davies, (1999) p.46.
- 11 -