Safeguarding in Research: What about the researchers?

Safeguarding in research often focuses on the participants, but what about the other person in the room? How can we protect our researchers so that they can safely lead research projects even when the unexpected happens?

It is fair to say that when conducting research, we often think about the ethical considerations from the point of view of the participant. We do a tremendous amount to accommodate the people that we invite to take part in our research sessions; we consider potential for harm and put appropriate safeguards in place, ensure flexible timings, sensitivity to personal situations, informed consent, and withdrawal without penalty.

However, our participants are not the only ones taking part in these sessions. As researchers, we spend a significant amount of our time delving into the worlds of participants to understand how they think, feel, and behave. By doing so, we may open ourselves up mentally and physically to potential vulnerabilities or scenarios.

As researchers, we enter a session with a set of objectives; we are looking to draw on insights from our participants to help shape or improve a product or service. We also take on the responsibility of placing users at the heart of any service and ensuring their voices are heard. Therefore, with determination to meet these objectives, we may place our own wellbeing secondary to that of the users’. We may plough on when, in fact, we should stop.

Here are some of the challenging scenarios our researchers have faced, followed by our suggestions for safeguarding measures.

Expect the unexpected in your research sessions

When speaking with fellow researchers on this topic, we came across several thought-provoking examples where researchers have been made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe. We’ll introduce these scenarios now, then share how to address them and lessons learned.

How would you react if a participant asked you out for dinner? It sounds farfetched but this has happened to one of our colleagues. She rightfully didn’t feel safe leading a research activity with this participant. Especially when the session was scheduled to take place in-person and at the end of the day when the office was nearly empty. How would you have felt trying to navigate this situation?

What about a participant who doesn’t want to take part in a group activity you have prepared? Or participants who join the research to complain about the service or product you are testing? Many of us have probably been in a similar situation whilst facilitating sessions. How have you reacted in that scenario? Would you ask them to leave, or would you try to diffuse the situation?

Now, how about a participant who joins a remote session while driving? When preparing a participant for a remote research session, we remind them that they should be in a quiet environment with a good internet connection, and account for many other scenarios in our consent forms. However, it is hard to prepare for a participant joining the session while driving their car. Take it from one of our researchers, it’s a scary and anxiety inducing situation. Suddenly you’re in a position where there are serious consequences if you do not end the call. How do you process this situation in your head? What do you say to the participant, and how do you say it?

Top tips on how to safeguard researchers

Confidential telephone services for loneliness and suicide prevention prepare their staff and volunteers for unpredictable situations. There are guidelines in place for when a volunteer or employee feels uncomfortable because of something a caller has said. They don’t attempt to define exactly what these guidelines are and when to act on them, because they understand that everyone has different boundaries. However, their staff know that the guidelines are there if, and when, needed.

How can we learn from this? How can we tackle these scenarios? If you are upset or emotionally distressed, it becomes increasingly difficult to find a constructive way of moving the conversation to a safe place. Again, guidelines need to be created and shared prior to needing them.

What can we as researchers do to safeguard ourselves?

· Set your boundaries as a researcher: do you require any safeguarding for the research that you are planning? (Spoiler: most likely yes!)

· 3 step warning: remind the participant that if they repeat a particular behaviour after two further warnings, you will have to end the session.

· Have a buddy present: it’s best practice to ensure that you are not alone with a participant and there is always someone there physically or virtually

· Have a support system: make sure you have people to talk to following a research session, especially if difficult conversations or topics have been discussed

· Don’t be afraid to cut a session short: if you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, you have the freedom to stop the session

· Build your safeguarding guidelines or policy into your research ops: make sure you research ethical considerations, plans, and operations so user researchers have a formal document or policy to fall-back on. It will give us legitimacy and confidence to think of safeguarding more inclusively.

With these safeguarding measures, researchers who feel unsafe or uncomfortable in a session would be able to call on a buddy to support them, or maybe talk about the distressing topics and how it made them feel, or even have the strength and backing to end a session when they feel it necessary.

Final thoughts

We will never predict what will come up during a user research session and for many of us, that is one of the reasons why we do what we do and why our clients invest in user research. But gathering insights should not come at your own expense.

We know participants find reassurance in the consent forms. We believe that researchers will also find reassurance in having a process in place too.

User research is at the root of many government and private sector services. We matter as researchers; if we don’t feel safe in our job, it will impact the quality of insights we uncover. Let’s make the topic of safeguarding in user research a two-way conversation.

Co-written with Juliette Fournier, User Research Consultant

Many thanks to Tamanna Akther, Emily de Courtenay Wellum, Daniel de la Rubia Molina, and Prerana Sabnis for sharing their user research stories and helping us write this blog post.