Initially I wanted to use focus groups for my primary research. One focus group comprising of staff members and one of students. However, my tutor directed me to this paper which highlights the ethics and problems of using focus groups which are very valid and applicable to my project.
The problem of whether of not one can speak one’s mind in a focus group is particularly important and relevant to this project. In both the students and staff group, there is a diversity of age, experience and cultural background. Some younger member of staff might feel less inclined to comment or vice versa.
This problem is also relevant in the student focus groups. A native English speaker from the West with a familiarity of the decolonising context will feel more confident in contributing whereas an international student might not as encouraged.
There is a need to balance out between avoiding or closing down potentially distressing discussion and silencing the voices of certain participants to whom such discussion may be important or beneficial. This balancing is quite a tricky thing to do.
On further research and reflection, I decided to change format to one-to-one interviews with staff and an interview like questionnaire for students. This is encourage them to speak their minds and take their time to respond to questions. This method is more labour intensive but will yield significantly better results I believe.