A topic in research methodology
Ethics…
"…the subject matter of ethics is the justification of human actions,
Schwandt, 2001: 73
especially as those actions affect others."
Research design has to consider ontology (the nature of what we are researching), epistemology (our beliefs about the kind of knowledge it is possible to generate about the research focus, and how that knowledge can be generated), and axiology. Axiology concerns values.
All research has to be informed by a strong sense of ethics. This is especially important in a field like education which has values at its core.
"As researchers (as well as teachers) we wish to act morally, and to be seen as doing so. We generally think of research as a good thing, as it allows us to develop new knowledge; and as educators we tend to see knowledge as having higher value than ignorance. However, research has costs and consequences."
Taber, 2013: 223
Ethical issues need to be considered during research design, whilst carrying out the research, and whilst writing up any report (such as a thesis).
Guidelines:
Professional and academic organisations often issue guidelines on the ethical conduct of research – such as those issued by the British Educational Research Association. (The schematic below, the ethical field, is informed by the BERA guidelines.)
Guidelines are not rules, but principled points of advice that need to be interpreted in the context of particular studies.
Ethical issues
Ethical issues include, inter alia:
- Obtaining voluntary, informed, consent
- Anonymity in reporting research
- Following authorship conventions
- Respect for intellectual property: avoiding plagiarism and infringement of copyright.
Ethical research design
Research design is also an ethical issue, as studied which are poorly designed so as to be unlikely to generate reliable new knowledge make demands on resources (and usually other people) that cannot be justified by a reasonable expectation of knowledge generation. This would include rhetorical research set up to produce expected outcomes rather than test ideas or discover new insights.
Read about rhetorical research
Ethical practitioner research
There may be particular ethical issues to consider when a practitioner such as a teacher undertakes research in their own practice: e.g., in their own classroom with their own students.
Read about ethical teacher research
Sources cited:
- Schwandt, T. A. (2001). Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
- Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
My introduction to educational research:
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
