Ethics
The Ethics and
Politics of Research in Education
• After a field study of deviant behavior during a riot,
law enforcement officials demand that the
researcher identify those people who were observed
looting. Rather than risk arrest as an accomplice
after the fact, the researcher complies.
• Ethical issues?
• A research questionnaire is circulated among students
as part of their university registration packet.
Although students are not told they must complete
the questionnaire, the hope is that they will believe
they must – thus ensuring a higher completion rate.
• Ethical Issues?
What has ethics
got to do with
research?
Is “pure” research
above ethics and
morality?
Is ethics and morality
to do with technology
and politics (the
appliance of research)
not research itself?
4
Ethics
• What are ethics?
• What are common ethical
issues that seem to
surface in research?
• When should ethical
issues be considered?
What is ethics?
What do we mean by research ethics?
• An ‘ethic’ is a moral principle or a code of
conduct which … governs what people do. It
is concerned with the way people act or
behave. The term ‘ethics’ usually refers to the
moral principles, guiding conduct, which are
held by a group or even a profession (though
there is no logical reason why individuals
should not have their own ethical code)”
(Wellington, 2000: 54)
What is ethics?
• Standards of conduct
• Standards that indicate how one should behave
• Based on moral duties and virtues derived from
OVERVIEW
principles of right and wrong
• Bogdan and Biklen (1998): The principles of right
and wrong that a particular group access at a
particular time.
Ethics
• Ethics: principles for guiding decision making and
reconciling conflicting values
– People may disagree on ‘ethics’ because it is based on
people's personal value systems
– What one person considers to be good or right may
be considered bad or wrong by another person
Ethics
The researcher must also keep in mind that no
method can ever be completely safe for
himself or his respondents … The ethics of
social science are situation ethics”
(Humphreys, 1970).
Discussion Scenario (s)
• After a field study of deviant behavior during a riot,
law enforcement officials demand that the
researcher identify those people who were observed
looting.
• Ethical issues?
Discussion Scenario (s)
• A research questionnaire is circulated among students
as part of their university registration packet.
Although students are not told they must complete
the questionnaire, the hope is that they will believe
they must – thus ensuring a higher completion rate.
• Ethical Issues?
Ethical Issues
• Justification for the
research
• Access to
participants/Privacy
• Informed consent
• Potential harm
12
Why is research ethics important?
• We can make harm during research
• We may be surprised with ethical
issues emerging during research
OVERVIEW
• We can make harm with the
publication of the data
Why need ethical frameworks for
educational research?
• Ethical approaches to research do not reduce the validity and
reliability of it but highlight the contextual complexities within
which it is carried out (Kelly, 1989)
• To be ethical, a research project needs to be designed to
create trustworthy (valid) outcomes if it is to be believed to be
pursuing truth.
• The generalisability of findings from one situation to another
is dependent on research being carried out ethically. Trying to
answer questions from an inappropriate sample or data set,
or choosing an inappropriate unit of analysis, may lead to
misleading findings, undermining their transferability (Bassey,
1998).
Major approaches to ethics
• Deontological Approach
– This approach states that we should identify
and use a Universal code when making
ethical decisions. An action is either ethical
or not ethical, without exception.
• Ethical skepticism
– This is the relativist viewpoint, stating that
ethical standards are not universal but are
relative to one's particular culture and time.
• Utilitarianism
– This is a very practical viewpoint, stating that
decisions about the ethics of a study should
depend on the balance of the consequences
and benefits for the research participants and
the larger society.
The role of ethics in qualitative research
•Ethical issues in qualitative research are often
more crucial than issues in survey or experimental
research, due to the special characteristics of
qualitative methodology:
•long-term and close personal involvement
OVERVIEW
•interviewing participant observation
•research is based on human interaction
•field investigators themselves are the measuring
instruments
Potential sources of ethical issues
•The researcher/participant relationship
•The researcher’s subjective interpretations of the
data
OVERVIEW
•The research design itself
(Ramos 1989)
Example: possible dilemmas at a parents’
interview
•It becomes difficult to determine whether or not the consent
given prior to research was, in fact, 'informed', due to literacy,
cognitive or psychiatric problems which became evident
throughout the research
•The issue of confidentiality conflicts with disclosures of illegal
activity, including child abuse OVERVIEW
•‘Reflective listening' and 'acceptance of individual realities' involve
reflecting back damaging personal beliefs
•The role of interviewer appears to merge with that of counselor
The participants
• The participants may not have
the experience or educational
background in order to fully
understand the implications of
the research
• They may be swayed because of
their respect of and trust in the
researcher who stands as an
authority figure
• If they are being paid for their
participation they may be
swayed by economic
considerations from a free
judgement of the risks
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Research Ethics Paradigm
The classic paradigm
The alternative paradigms
Utilitarian ethics: the classic paradigm
• Main goal: to avoid any bad consequences
• Informed consent
•the 'key issue' in research with human beings (Bogdan 1992)
•Voluntary agreement of participants
•maintains the dignity and individual autonomy of participants
OVERVIEW
•must be based on full and open information
•may be given in written format or verbally (either recorded or
not)
•problem: the role of flexibility and emerging themes in
qualitative research
Utilitarian ethics: the classic paradigm
• Avoidance of harm
• to minimize the potential risk to participants, even beyond their consent
granted
• Confidentiality
• safeguard to protect people’s identities and those of the research
location OVERVIEW
• must be assured as the primary safeguard against unwanted exposure
• Accuracy
• ensuring the data are accurate are the cardinal principle in social science
code
• fabrications, fraudulent materials, omissions and concoctions are both
non-scientific and unethical
Utilitarian ethics: the classic paradigm
• Absolutist stance
• protection of participants from harm (physical and psychological)
prevention of deception
• protection of privacy
• informed consent
• Relativist stance
OVERVIEW
• investigators have absolute freedom to study what they see fit, but they
should study only those problems that flow from their own experiences
• agenda setting is determined by personal biography, not by some larger
scientific community
• the only reasonable ethical standard is one dictated by the individual
investigator's conscience
Utilitarian ethics: the classic paradigm
• Contextualist stance
• or holistic stance
• to describe and understand events, actions, and processes in
the natural context in which they occur
• Deceptive stance
• the investigator may use any method necessary to obtain
OVERVIEW
greater understanding in a particular situation
• this may involve telling lies, deliberately misrepresenting
oneself, 'dumping' others, setting people up, using contradicting
interviewing techniques, building trust and infiltrating
Alternative paradigms: deontological ethics
• Main goal: compliance with external ethical obligations, beyond the
consent of participants
• Reciprocity
• careful consideration of benefits to both parties
• Avoidance of wrong
OVERVIEW
• e.g.. Not to lie even of it would not make wrong
• Fairness
• the researcher’s interpretation should be acceptable to the
participants
Alternative paradigms: relational ethics
• Main goal: a respectful, engaging an caring attitude to participants
• Collaboration
• receptivity and involvement
• Avoidance of imposition
• consideration of the participants’ ethical code rather than the
OVERVIEW
researchers’ own ethical beliefs
• Confirmation
• Avoidance of the researcher’s judgment about participants
• assumption of the good motives of participants at the
interpretation of their narrative
Alternative paradigms: relational ethics
• Main goal: to regard every small, interrelated elements of the interaction
between the participant, the reality, the researcher and the research setting
• Cultural sensitivity
• informed consent is also a matter of culture, communication and power
• the researcher should avoid accepting consents granted due to language
and cultural differences, hierarchy and interest
• cultural awareness and meta-communication is required to decide
OVERVIEW
whether a consent is real or biased
• Avoidance of detachment
• the researcher should recognize the participant as part of a larger system
• this system should not be harmed either
• Responsive communication
• the researcher should try to avoid the own values and prejudices encoded
in one’s language use , eg. ‘development’, ‘effectiveness’,
‘competitiveness’, ‘terrorism’
When does practice become research?
• Practice as a product of research
• Practice to be evaluated through research
• Practice as part of (integrated within) the research
process
• Power relations in educational settings
Researcherpupils
Researchercolleagues
Researchersupervisor
Q1 Ethical issues and dilemmas
1. Where pupils will be involved as participants
in a doctoral study, how (if at all) ought the
informed consent of those pupils be secured?
For example:
– (i) can teachers consent for pupils?
– (ii) can parents consent for pupils?
– (iii) can teachers consent for parents?
Q2 Ethical issues and dilemmas
2. Can we justify the use of ‘reasonably fully
informed consent’ (Cohen et al, 2000: 51) – i.e.
the deliberate withholding of some
information about the research? If so, under
what circumstances?
Q3 Ethical issues and dilemmas
3. What does the researcher do if s/he
discovers that research participants are
engaged in illegal activities and/ or
behaviour which is likely to cause harm to
themselves or others?
Q4 Ethical issues and dilemmas
Q4. How much and what kinds of
‘harm’, if any, should be tolerated in
relation to the conduct of
educational research?
Q5 Ethical issues and dilemmas
Q5. What are the ethical implications
of the use of visual data (e.g.
photographs, video) in the
presentation of one’s research
findings?
Discussion Scenario (s)
• After a field study of deviant behavior during a riot,
law enforcement officials demand that the
researcher identify those people who were observed
looting. Rather than risk arrest as an accomplice
after the fact, the researcher complies.
• Ethical issues?
• A research questionnaire is circulated among students
as part of their university registration packet.
Although students are not told they must complete
the questionnaire, the hope is that they will believe
they must – thus ensuring a higher completion rate.
• Ethical Issues?
TERIMA KASIH /
THANK YOU
