Department of European Languages

Good practice in student projects

The following document summarizes accepted good practice in respect of student project work and you should use it as a guide to how you should carry out work for your Intercalary Year dissertation.  You should ensure that your project conforms to the following guidelines in its design, execution, and in the recording and reporting of results (whatever the medium chosen).  When you submit your project, you will be required to confirm that it has been carried out according to the following principles (not all of which will necessarily be applicable to your project).   You should make sure that any informants have a copy of this document in the relevant language.  Translations into French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Welsh are available on, and may be downloaded from, the Departmental website.

1. General responsibility to informants. You should respect the rights, interests, sensitivities, and privacy of people who provide you with information ("informants"). You should think about and respect all aspects of identity including their culture, gender, and age.  On the basis of this, try to anticipate any harmful effects or disruptions to informants' lives and environment, and to avoid any stress, intrusion, and real or perceived exploitation.   Bear in mind that different cultures have different perceptions of what is and is not acceptable: different attitudes towards religion or sexual morality (for example) may mean that some questions will be more likely to give offence in some countries (and indeed in some parts of some countries) than in others.

2. Obtaining informed consent. You must get permission from anyone who provides you with data, whether spoken or written. To do this, you should let informants know anything about your project that might affect their willingness to participate: what your objectives are, what you will need from them, how much time it will take, and how you will keep their identities confidential, if that is necessary, or if they request it. When informants are under 18, you also need their parents' permission too. If your project involves young people in (e.g.) a school or youth group, you should as a matter of courtesy provide an outline of your project (and any questionnaire, interview questions, etc.) to and obtain the assent of the person in charge of the establishment. It is desirable to have this in writing. This applies whether or not you are employed in that institution.

3. Respecting a person's decision not to participate. Informants have a right to refuse to participate in research, even if they said at the outset that they would.  It is best to plan your project so that it does not depend entirely on the consent of one or two people.

4. Confidentiality and anonymity. If you have not been given the right to identify participants, they must not be identifiable in any way (confidentiality) and in particular you must not use real names (anonymity).  You should try to anticipate ways identities might accidentally be revealed: by including identifying details, pictures, or moving images, playing voices, or allowing unauthorized access to data on your computer or in your files.  Remember that data stored on networked computers is inherently insecure.

6. Sponsors and users. If your academic project is done in co-operation with an agency, group, or company, you must usually provide an account of your work for that user. This might, for example, apply to a report you wrote on work experience.  This may raise additional confidentiality problems.  In turn, these users must understand that you have to be evaluated on your work as an academic product, and must meet academic deadlines and standards.  If in doubt, consult the Department.

This document has been adapted from Recommendations for good practice in Applied Linguistics student projects © BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS, available at http://www.baal.org.uk.