Research ethics

authority, whereas funny-looking teachers in close-ups taken from eye-level angle were understood as communicating playfulness and approachability. At this point, classes of teachers were established and labeled by anchoring them to a cultural matrix of meanings and, finally, quantified. After having established the classes of teachers included in the cover images, critical attention was also paid to classes of teachers excluded from the cover images. Since visual rhetoric is based on choices at the level of iconic and plastic language, the choices encompass both inclusion and exclusion.

The analysis of the cover images of Teacher magazine was researcher-driven.

Therefore, it must be noted that despite the critical reflection and self-reflection included in the process of analysis, my background, prior experience, and knowledge position me in relation to the topic of the study (as explicated in the introduction, pp. 21). This starting point, combined with the polysemous quality of images (Barthes, 1977), on the one hand, and the polyphasic quality of social representations (Moscovici, 1998;

Moscovici and Marková, 1998), on the other, mean that instead of objective statements, this study attempts to produce justified contextual interpretations of the topic.

secured throughout the research process. The students did not include their names in the visual and verbal data. Instead, they gave the following information: gender, age, study program, and study year. In addition, they drew on the reverse side of the assignment a symbol based on which they could identify their assignment when feedback was given. The data quotations used in the research articles were selected so that the author cannot be recognized.

The students wrote and drew by hand. I typed the answers and scanned the drawings and saved them in files on my personal computer. Individual students’ data were identified by numbering them (e.g., student 1, student 2). No one else knows the login code and usernames; thus, no one else can gain access to the data. Backup copies are stored in a memory stick, which is kept in a secure place. Similarly, the handwritten papers and drawings are kept in a secure place at home. Similar ethical measures were taken with data produced by the participating teachers. When I received the data from the teachers through e-mail, I had the opportunity to recognize the sender based on the e-mail address. However, all data were copy-pasted to Word documents without the names of the teachers and including only their gender and age. Similar to students’

data, individual teachers’ data were identified through numbers (e.g., teacher 1, teacher 2). The research did not deal with sensitive issues; for this reason, no precautions in terms of providing counseling, for instance, were arranged. The research follows the national guidelines for ethical principles of research in Finland (Finnish National Board of Research Integrity TENK, 2019; National Advisory Board on Research Ethics, 2009); hence, no ethical review statement from the ethical committee was needed.

The choice to use paintings of non-teachers instead of photographs of real teachers in Sub-study 1 was justified ethically. It was regarded as unethical to make judgments of real teachers and eventually publish the results with details of the photographs.

In order to prevent this potential harm, paintings of non-teachers were preferred to photographs of real teachers. As for the photographs of teachers in the cover images of Teacher magazine, two ethical concerns are worth mentioning. First, permission to include the images in the research article and this summary was obtained from the chief editor of the magazine and from the photographers themselves. Before granting this permission, they were informed about the topic of the dissertation. In addition, when this study examines the cover images, it does not make any claims about the teachers depicted in the cover images. Instead, the cover images are examined as a means of communicating the Trade Union of Education’s social representations of teachership.

In terms of research ethics, the study was conducted with care following the guidelines of good scientific practice (Kuula, 2011, pp. 34–35). The data analysis was conducted first before writing the other parts of the study. After completing the draft of the whole sub-study, the analysis was conducted again in order to cross-check its validity. In addition, some parts of the data were quantified in order to increase the transparency of the analysis. In terms of writing the summary, prior research was cited appropriately, and the theoretical framework and methodology were elaborated in detail. The quotations from the data concretized the participants’ voices in Sub-studies 1 and 2. Similarly, the list of the paintings in study 1 and image examples in Sub-studies 2 and 3 concretized the visual basis of the Sub-studies. In addition to procedures of collecting, anonymizing, and storing the data, these measures were taken to ensure that the research was duly conducted and reported.

Finally, the findings of the study and the inferences made based on them relate to ethics in terms of their influence on readers (Alldred & Gillies, 2005). The categories

and types of teachers as well as social representations of teachership identified and discussed in this study may contribute to the formation of social representations of teachership among the readers, thereby influencing their conceptions of and relation to teachers. Being aware of this ethical dimension of this research, I have attempted to provide the readers with tools to evaluate the study and form their own views by informing them of the choices related to the topic, theoretical framework, and methods as well as showing how the findings are rooted in the data and justifying the inferences herein made.

5 FINDINGS

This chapter first summarizes the central findings of the three sub-studies included in the dissertation. Each sub-study focuses on a different process of social representation, as exemplified in Table 2. The summary of the findings of the sub-studies is followed by the presentation of the overarching findings that can be related to teacher-student interaction, teachers’ professional identity, visual and social representations of teachership, and research methodology. These overarching findings will serve as the basis for discussion in Chapter 6.

Table 2. Research Questions and Processes of Social Representation in the Sub-studies

sub-studies Sub-study 1 Sub-study 2 Sub-study 3

research question What kinds of catego-ries of teachers do stu-dents construct when perceiving “teacher”

images?

What kinds of social representations of teachership are sug-gested by students’ and teachers’ drawings of a typical teacher?

What kinds of social representations of teachership does the Trade Union of Education in Finland communicate through the cover images of Teacher magazine?

process of social

representation anchoring

(making sense of social phenomena based on social representations;

here, interpreting

“teacher” images based on social representa-tions of teachership)

objectification (making social rep-resentations related to social phenomena tan-gible; here, visualizing social representations of teachership by draw-ing images of a typical teacher)

naturalization (disseminating social representations through symbolical expressions until they become self-evident; here, the circulation of certain kinds of teacher images through the cover images of Teacher magazine)