Read the case study below. What ethical issues can you identify? How would you suggest the individuals in this case study change their plan?

Aishah and her team are preparing to implement a new educational program across their local public school system. The educational program aims to increase the number of students who graduate from secondary school. It was previously piloted at a single school, where it seemed to increase graduation rates.

The program has the support of local teachers and school administration. Parents have been told about the program. Many of them have expressed how excited they are to include their children in the program, and some have even stated that they might stop paying for private tutors for their children if the program is implemented.

One of the program$$s funders is also very excited. They are interested in closely studying the program to see whether it can indeed increase graduation rates. If the program is successful, it might be implemented in school systems across the country. This donor has asked Aishah to use a control group to study the effectiveness of the program.

They would like Aishah and her team to randomly sort the students in the school system into two groups. Students in the first group will receive the services included in the educational program. Students in the second group$$the control group$$will receive a different set of services that have been proven to not affect graduation rates. To avoid influencing the participants, students and parents will not be told which group they are in$.$ At the end of the two$-$year program, graduation rates between the two groups of students will be compared. If the graduation rate of students in the program is significantly higher than the graduation rate of students in the control group, the program will be expanded.

Aishah and her team have never implemented this type of M&E process before. Aishah needs this donor$$s money, but she is a bit uncomfortable with their plan. If she followed her donor$$s instructions, would there be any ethical issues?

Question $1$

Analyze the case study above. What are some potential ethical issues that Aishah and her team might encounter if they follow their donor$$s instructions? If relevant, please name which ethical principles this plan would violate. Describe exactly why you believe this plan would violate this principle$($s$).$

Question $2$

What suggestions would you make to Aishah and her team? How might they change their plans to avoid ethical issues?

Example of Anticipating Ethical Issues

Now that you have learned about a few ethical principles, let$$s prepare for our project. Ethics is a part of every phase, process and tool in the M&E system. One way to ensure that you are thoroughly prepared is to consider each step of the data collection and management process one at a time.

What are the questions, issues and dilemmas that you and your team are likely to encounter as you implement your M&E plan? If you are able to identify these problems ahead of time, you may be able to avoid them.

Let$$s tour the M&E system and take a look at a few places where ethical questions tend to be relevant:

$1.$ PLANNING

When you are planning your project, you should also be planning for potential ethical issues.

Example: You have decided to conduct an evaluation that includes interviewing beneficiaries. The government in your country requires you to submit your evaluation protocol and tools for approval by the national ethics committee for any research that includes interviews with individuals. This process is expensive and can take many months, so you decide not to do it $$ hoping that no one from the government will find out. When you complete your data collection, you learn that a number of complaints were submitted to district government offices about the questions you were asking and the behavior of your interviewers. And although your analysis of the data raised many interesting findings, you can$$t publish your results because this would further highlight the fact that you didn$$t seek approval from the national ethics committee. How could you have made sure that your planning process included this required review? Can you foresee other consequences of not seeking prior approval?

Questions to consider at this stage include: Which ethical principles will your team adhere to$?$ If ethical issues come up$,$ how would you deal with them? Are there specific ethical issues that you anticipate you will need to deal with? How will you incorporate the discussion of ethics in M&E in staff orientation and training? What steps will you take to ensure that your ethical standards are being adhered to by staff $($and any external evaluators$)$ at each stage of the process?

$2.$ DATA COLLECTION

How will you keep sensitive data confidential? What data should be considered $$sensitive$?$ What exactly do you mean by $$confidential$?$ How will you ensure that your participants give informed consent for their participation? Ho