To consider falsifying survey data?

[whitecremeegg]

I'm doing distance learning masters research. For my particular topic, participants for my research cannot be just anyone, it needs to be a particular very small 'group' of people - trying to be vague so as not to be outing.

I can't change my topic, it's work related and work are sponsoring me.

However, there are two 'gatekeeper' organisations with databases containing the details of these participants. I need access to these databases to get their contact details to survey them.

One of the gatekeepers is my current organisation, who despite sponsoring me, refuse to let me use the database. I have regular access to the database as an employee but not as a student.

The other organisation has also refused.

I'm not sure what the best option is now. I cannot change my topic or participant group. I can't go into more detail as to why without being outing. My org is sponsoring about 20 employees to do this course but I am the only one from my department so unlike the rest of the employees I can't change my topic as they have more variety in their roles than I do.

It is not a subject that is likely to cause harm - it's not the NHS, children, criminal subject or anything like that.

There are only 3 options that I can forsee:

1. Use the database anyway but lie as to how I got the participants (say it was social media or something)

1. Use social media but end up with little or even no participants. I am connected to some of the participants via my social media channels but this is only like 10 out of 300 that I'd like to survey. Participants could also NOT be from my target group

1. Falsify survey responses to make it look like I got lots of responses from social media - but again there's still the issue of social media not giving me the 'right' participants. How likely is it that universities can prove surveymonkey entries are fake?

What would you do in my position? I really would like to do things 'properly' but at this rate the research is going to be pretty crap.

I thought this course would be easy and that my organisation would be more helpful. but they are very much of the "we are paying your fees, you must do this particular topic, get on with it'.

Please don't flame me. I know it's an ethical issue but I'm genuinely stuck. I did speak to my supervisor (not about my falsifying idea) and she's been rather unhelpful. She says just to go down the social media route and keeps saying that she's not supposed to help me too much and similar to my employer, it's very much 'get on with it'.

Any help appreciated

None of the above. You must have a tutor - discuss with them how to contact your target group.

Brainstorm all the ways that these participants could be contacted. Think about incentives such as entering them in a prize draw. Get as many of the correct participants as you can, in legitimate ways. If you can't get enough, discuss with your tutor whether it's better to broaden the participant pool, or just reflect in your discussion on the challenges of getting participants. Good luck

I would go and talk to my dissertation supervisor and ask them to advise. Have you had your ethics approval?

So what would you say when the person marking your work asks how you got hold of the data? Not only do you risk being thrown off the course for cheating, but it wouldn’t surprise me if you would lose your job, too.

A person on my MRes was removed from the course and awarded a mark of zero for his masters for falsifying questionnaire responses. All fake emails needed to gain entry to online survey were all linked to one IP address.

Falsifying data for a masters is unforgiveable. Its misleading and as a lot of masters are published, youre risking your future credibility in your field by cutting corners.

Find another way. Youre doing a masters its not meant to be easy!!!! Have you spoken to supervisors?

No ethics approval yet no, I have not submitted it as my tutor said I need to attach written consent from the organisations if I am using their databases.

My tutor said to utilise social media as a back up plan - FB, LinkedIn, Twitter etc - to recruit participants. My worry is that it will still not show sufficient (or any!) responses. Tutor has been pretty unhelpful, bluntly stating that it's a masters and I should be able to do this with minimal supervision! She's also been off sick a lot and her colleague (there are only two) is not interested in helping either. This other tutor has no knowledge or experience of my line of work (my tutor has worked in my field and does)

I've tried searching and asking on student forums but can't find any other examples or get any responses there :(

This is really stressing me out. It's a 2 year masters, I'm 6 months into it, but there is pressure on us to finish this year, particularly as there's rumours the university won't be continuing the course after this year due to funding or something and my tutor is expecting twins (hence the sickness) and won't be around after July!

It's a top-up masters to my existing degree that got me into my current employment.

I was going to use surveymonkey and email the survey link to participants and/or post the link on surveymonkey (which as I said above, risks just anyone participating)

surveymonkey has the option to 'switch off' IP address tracking. I honestly don't see how they can tell the data is falsified but obviously I'd prefer to avoid that option but don't see how if I get no responses. I think my employer would be more disappointed if I had nothing to report given the money they've paid (they won't see it as being their fault for no database access!)

*post the link on social media I mean

If you think you can get 10 participants could you switch to a qualitative design?

My supervisor often said its very easy to see who had falsified data. I did psychology, and if you're "randomly" filling in questionnaires its so obvious that its not actual responses. Theres a pattern to it.

Besides, recruitment and thinking of ways to recruit IS part of the masters. You need to be innovative. Change your recruitment strategy, contact local charities/organisations, ask unis if you can advertise. Its doable.

I did the same with my Masters, using the social media route. For various reasons I had difficulties getting hold of real data and my deadline was approaching, and my supervisors had no access to the raw data, so couldn't have tracked IP addresses (I used Google surveys which didn't seem to record it). For my course it wasn't a serious bit of research and wasn't ever going to be published, it was just something to demonstrate meeting the assessment criteria so I didn't feel bad about it. I think I would worry about more detailed questions being asked about the data in your case, as you say it's supposed to be a small group, so much more targeted.

It is the job of your department to give advice on things such as access if you need it. If supervisor is off then ask the HOD or director of postgraduate research. What method of analysis do you want to use?

I can't use charities/universities - my participant group are not there.

Qualitative is difficult because it could still involve access to the database. I have 10 people on my social media I'm connected with who fall into this category but only one is based locally with the others elsewhere in the country or abroad! So not an easy option.

It does seem like social media is going to be my best option, I'm just not convinced about responses. How best can I maximise responses, given its a very very specific target group?

I was never going to ask identifiable questions or track IP addresses so I really think it will be difficult to prove any fakery but I'll certainly try the social media route and consider my options if that does not work.

Are you able to give us some idea of the sorts of participants you need? I'm happy to share links with my connections if they might prove a reasonable fit.

If you can't recruit, why not state this as part of your Masters and then do a massive lit review (as a last resort) of Gatekeepers and how they potentially silence the voices of service users?
Sometimes it's not just about the research, but how you handle the challenge of data collection.
My first PhD finding was that Gatekeepers make the child's voice secondary. And, as the children are vulnerable in my study, the non-interviews are more harmful than he interviews.

Feel for you!
If you have budget, consider using a professional panel provider, like those used in market research.
The cost per interview increases depending on how niche the sample is. For a Nat Rep sample it could be as little as £1 per person - definitely worth contacting them and asking for a quote, just give your requirements and mininum sample size.

Here are a few:
www.researchnow.com
en.madeinsurveys.com
www.toluna-group.com/en-gb

If it's mums you're after, the MN insight team might be able to help!

Your work are completely right not to allow you access to the database. I think the main reason you don't want to do the fb linedkin route is that it will take longer and be more difficult but it's the only honest way.

The uni have to allow you to finish the course. They either have to run out year two without running a new y1 intake or transfer you to another institution which will not disadvantage you. You have signed up to a two year masters not an accelerated one.

But no, you cannot falsify results. You're going to go through the whole ethics process...what is the point of that if you know you're making it up?
Plus what if your uni pushes you to publish your paper and it impacts on your field? That's not right.

Go with social media and analyse the data you acquire from it. Then when you have to write a conclusion write about how your work would have been better if you had access to the databases.

Part of a research paper is to write about sampling issues. Do that and then do a lit review. Lying about data is never okay, sorry.

There's something on Facebook where you can pay for your page to be promoted to people with a particular demographic, such as an interest or location. Would that be worth a try?