The role of research ethics committees: Friend or foe in educational research? An exploratory study

Ethics committees have an important role to play in ensuring ethical standards (e.g. BERA, ESRC, RCUK recommendations) are met by educational researchers. Balancing obligations to participants, society, institutions and the researchers themselves is not, however, easy. Researchers often experience the ethics committee as unsympathetic to their research endeavour, whilst ethics committees find some research approaches do not make ethical implications sufficiently explicit. This potential for misunderstanding is evident in the literature, but studies investigating how participants perceive this relationship are missing. This research comprises a novel empirical study which explores researcher perceptions of research ethics committees. Fifty-five participants in higher education departments of education responded to an online survey. Open and closed-ended questions were used to collect data on roles, methodological stance, experiences of the research ethics committee, perceived tensions and examples of good practice. The results indicated that contemporary educational researchers regard research ethics committees as friends when researcher and reviewer are transparently engaged in a shared endeavour. When this shared endeavour breaks down, for a variety of reasons—including apparently unreasonable demands or mutual misunderstanding—the research ethics committees can become foes. The difference between foe and friend lies in the quality of communication, clear systems and a culture of respectful mutual learning. The contributions of this study have practical implications for the ways that education researchers and research ethics committees relate to one another within university settings, both to alleviate areas of tension and to arrive at a shared understanding which will enable best ethical research practice.     

Ethics and truth in archival research

The complexities of the ethics and truth in archival research are often unrecognised or invisible in educational research. This paper complicates the process of collecting data in the archives, as it problematises notions of ethics and truth in the archives. The archival research took place in the former Czechoslovakia and its turbulent political history influenced the way data were accessed and collected. The article analyses the productive power of archival institutions and their guardians, and examines the ethical dilemma of discovering sensitive information. Archival institutions hold the secrets that, once uncovered, can have powerful ramifications. It will be argued that the nature of truth in the archives is complex, and the author complicates and challenges the perception that archives are ethically neutral research spaces that do not need to consider approval from research ethics committees.     

A survey of five first-level hospital ethics committees in Urumqi, China

This paper presents the results from a survey of first-level hospitals in Urumqi, China. The survey had two parts: the first part was aimed at understanding the operation of the ethics committees of first-level hospitals, including the process for electing members and the variety of members’ backgrounds. Information was also gathered about the establishment of criteria, operational rules and regulations, and standard operational procedures. The aim of the second part was to investigate the level of understanding among technicians and doctors about the function of the ethics committees. This paper identifies and analyzes some deficiencies found in the operation of hospital ethics committees, offers some constructive suggestions for improvement, and promotes the role of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region hospital ethics committees.     

Silences of ethical practice: dilemmas for researchers using social media

Social media, such as social network sites and blogs, are increasingly being used as core or ancillary components of educational research, from recruitment to observation and interaction with researchers. However, this article reveals complex ethical dilemmas surrounding consent, traceability, working with children, and illicit activity that we have faced as education researchers for which there is little specific guidance in the literature. We believe that ethical research committees cannot, and should not, be relied upon as our ethical compass as they also struggle to deal with emerging technologies and their implications. Consequently, we call for researchers to report on the ethical dilemmas in their practice to serve as a guide for those who follow. We also recommend considering research ethics as an ongoing dialogical process in which the researcher, participants, and ethics committee work together in identifying potential problems as well as finding ways forward.     

Codes of Ethics on Assessment Practice: confronting a quandary or inculcating ethical character? — overview of two sample documents

This article reviews two examples of ethical codes produced to provide a set of standards, principles, or guidelines for professional conduct relating to educational assessment. Both codes classify professional responsibilities under key functions of assessment described in the article. The commentary identifies as important uses of the Codes self‐regulation of ethical standards within the profession and facilitation of teaching about ethical conduct. Although institutions and bureaucracies are increasingly regulating professional and research practice through ethics committees, it is argued that ethical behaviour is likely to be more effective and more pervasive when developed through education, reflection and deliberate modelling. Similarly, such behaviour is more likely to be sustained through peer scrutiny and professional self‐regulation than through monitoring via bureaucratic control. Such a stance implies the need for ready access to ethics codes widely known and endorsed within the profession.     

高校学术道德委员会对教师的教育功能初探

近几年来,有部分高校成立了学术道德委员会,专司校内学术道德问题的调查与处理。本文就学术道德委员会对教师的教育功能进行了探讨,认为学术道德委员会可以在宣传与普及学术规范、引领正派的学术风气、对教师进行警示教育、帮扶教师重视学术研究质量、对违规教师进行批评教育等方面发挥其教育功能。     

医学实验教学中动物伦理观教育的思考

实验动物是医学实验教学中最重要的实验对象。笔者从基础医学机能实验教学视角阐述了加强医学生动物伦理观教育的必要性,并从学校成立实验动物伦理委员会、开设实验动物伦理学课程、提高教学人员动物伦理意识、规范实验操作、将“3R”原则应用到机能实验学的课程中等五方面提出建议,旨在为医学实验教学过程中提升学生的动物伦理观提供参考。     

Codes Are Not Enough: What Philosophy Can Contribute To The Ethics Of Educational Research

Formal codes of ethics are not the best way of addressing ethical issues arising in educational research. Philosophers have often exaggerated the importance of such codes, although philosophy has little to contribute to them. What we need rather is a closer attention to the ways in which ethical decisions about research are actually made. Moral theory can contribute here by clarifying this process and identifying helpful procedures and strategies, such as those used by institutional review committees in arriving at good judgements. New and unfamiliar situations require us to extend our existing abilities, not to return to first principles and set up formal codes.     

An ethics of community and care for practitioner researchers

The ethical considerations that university students have to be concerned about when undertaking research projects are a matter for a range of publications and committees. This article considers the terms of reference of ethical considerations in students’ research projects, given the number of researchers who are now doing research within their own organizations. We argue that as practitioner researchers, they are insiders who have insider knowledge not only of systems but also of people. We raise the issue of whether the ethical considerations practitioner researchers have to reflect upon ensure that, as researchers, they sufficiently take account of their position within the researched community and how an ethics of care could be invoked to safeguard these personal and moral relations to others within a research project. We use the work of research students in the UK and Cyprus being undertaken for a professional doctorate as a case to illustrate these points.     

Straw Godzilla: Engaging the academy and research ethics in artistic research projects

Abstract

In Australia, the university ethics approval process is guided by the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. The National Statement does not provide a hurdle to be overcome or avoided, nor is it a Godzilla-like monster that must be slain for truth to survive. Rather the National Statement provides an affirmation of an abiding respect for all life and a mechanism for beginning the intelligent questioning, theorization and contextualization for a work of art. Focusing specifically on the emergent discipline of artistic research, this article addresses the question of how the supervisory process may take on the ‘spirit’ of the National Statement to engender genuine ethical debate, rather than merely focus on the instrumental obstacles that seem to get in the way of the research. It specifically addresses the emergent field of artistic research and the concomitant resistance to ethical regulation of artistic research, in which bureaucratic instrumentalism and compliance or censorship are considered to potentially emasculate the vitality of an art work and the ability of art to serve as a truthsayer or agent provocateur. In this, the attitude of the supervisor toward research ethics in artistic research is considered a key factor in determining their students attitudes towards the ethics process. This article will present several initiatives undertaken with the intent of more fully engaging supervisors and students with research ethics.     

The coverage of ethics in research methods textbooks

Ethics is one of the most important topics in criminal justice and criminological research, yet it is also one of the most neglected. Indeed, it is common for professors to merely gloss over ethical issues at the end of their research methods classes, or to exclude them completely. The present study attempts to determine if such disregard for ethics carries over into the coverage found in criminal justice research methods textbooks. Eleven research methods textbooks that are commonly used in criminal justice and criminology were analyzed, and coverage of ethics was found to vary greatly across the books. Unfortunately, we also found that some important issues within research ethics are being omitted in the majority of the books, and we make recommendations toward expanding the coverage of research ethics.     

Editorial

In this article I make two claims with respect to the ethics, truth and politics of qualitative research. The first is that confronting ethics, truth and politics in research is in effect a confrontation with the self. Although this may appear to be self‐evident, in qualitative research in particular, such an assertion needs to be consciously made and recognised.

The second related claim is that there is no single set of rules or practices that govern the ethics, truth and politics of a research project. In effect, the ethics, truth and politics of a research project are contextually driven and simultaneously contextually bound. This does not imply that a laissez‐faire ‘anything goes’ approach is defensible. On the contrary, the qualitative researcher is constantly and consistently called upon to consciously and deliberately engage with the ethical, truth and political implications of his research and writing. For the researcher ethical epiphanies are rare. Confronting and making an ethical decision is a demanding process, not an event in the life of a researcher. To extend this second point beyond the boundaries of South Africa, I draw on the works of local and international philosophers of education who offer similar arguments.     

Children’s lost voices: ethical issues in relation to undertaking collaborative,practice‐based projects involving schools and the wider community

The growing emphasis on teachers as ‘reflective’ and ‘expert practitioners’ has led to a noticeable increase in action research involving a wide range of educational practitioners as well as professionals from the academic community. In the light of the complex demands frequently faced by action researchers, this article examines the ethical considerations involved in conducting a collaborative action research project which is concerned with children’s experiences of transition from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3. By exploring a range of theoretical and practical perspectives the discussion focuses on the problematic issue of ‘informed consent’. The article argues that, as a result of having to comply with the regulations imposed by institutional ethics committees, educational researchers, particularly when working with children, are often restricted in exercising the moral autonomy and professional discretion required to negotiate the complex, potentially conflicting imperatives confronting them.     

我国伦理学研究中的方法论倾向及其缺陷

我国伦理学研究在取得令人关注的成果的同时，在基本原理和基础理论研究方面，尤其是在理论体系的建构方面却难以突破，伦理学教科书从理论体系到具体内容，基本上还是“几十年一贯制”。产生这种现象的原因是多方面的，而伦理学研究中存在的方法论倾向及其缺陷是一个不容忽视的原因，要改变这一状况，必须克服以往伦理学研究中以哲学的一般原则取代具体的伦理分析，以阶级分析代替对现实生活的考察，以及理论研究脱离实际，局限于某种既定的理论框架和模式，满足于对现行方针政策的道德诠释等倾向，摒弃伦理学研究中保守、僵化、封闭的思维模式和研究思路，鼓励理论探索和学术创新一这是伦理学自身发展的需要，也是社会主义道德建设和现实生活对伦理学提出的客观要求。     

科学研究是涉及伦理评判的实践活动

科学研究作为一种社会性的实践活动,从科研目的、科研目标的确立,到科研手段的应用、科学研究的过程和科学研究的后果,以及作为科学研究活动主体的科学家,都不是与伦理无涉的纯粹客观的,因此科学研究是涉及伦理评判的社会实践活动。     

Strengthen Party Leadership in Educational Work and Thoroughly Implement the Mass Line in Educational Work

The Party is the highest form of the proletarian vanguard column and proletarian organization. It should lead all other organizations, such as the army, all levels of government, and mass organizations. The unity and monolithic nature of the leadership in our bases should be manifested in the fact that there is a Party committee (central bureau, branch bureau, district Party committee, and local Party committee) that is unified and that leads every organization under its jurisdiction. Therefore, it is determined that the representative organs of the Central Committee of the Party (the central bureaus and branch bureaus) and Party committees at various levels (district and local committees) constitute the highest leadership organizations in their areas and provide leadership in all Party, military, and civilian matters; Party-government-military committees in all areas are hereby dissolved. (These committees were necessarily and properly established at the time when the bases were newly created.) The nature and composition of Party committees at all levels must be changed. Party committees should be not only the Party committees in leading local Party matters but also the leadership organs for all Party, military, and civilian matters in their areas (but they are not joint conferences). Therefore, their membership must include ranking Party cadres in Party, government, and military work. (The standing committees of these Party committees must also include the leading cadres in Party, government, and military work.) The membership should not comprise entirely or mainly Party workers. The work of Party committees at all levels should be to take care of all aspects and to discuss and to inspect all aspects of Party, government, and military work; they should not concern themselves with only local Party matters.     

Ethically scaling up interventions in educational development: a case for collaborative multi-sited ethnographic research

Educational interventions are often administered at scale in diverse settings as part of international development programmes. Their implementation is subject to a linear process that begins with finding out ‘what works’ at a local level, frequently through the use of randomised controlled trials, and continues with rolling out the intervention to the whole population at a national or even transnational level. This process often fails to consider the role cultural, political, and historical factors play in the perceived success of the local intervention, which can compromise both the impact and the ethics of at-scale implementation. To help address this issue, this paper argues for a definition of scalability that incorporates the ethics of the practice of scaling. It points to the potential of collaborative multi-sited ethnographic research to identify nuanced understandings of the different ethics systems endogenous to individual sites of implementation, in lieu of the universalising notions of ethics that are embedded in mainstream, linear notions of scalability. In so doing, it makes the case for multi-sited critical ethnography as a methodology of choice in researching the scalability of interventions in the context of development projects in the ‘Global South’.     

英国教育研究伦理的规范和实践及对我国教育研究的启示

研究伦理是进行社会科学研究时需要遵守的重要准则。英国教育研究学会(BERA)对研究伦理的基本内容和应用原则有着详细和成熟的规定,并在教育学研究生学术训练和学术研究审查程序中占据重要地位。研究伦理在英国的发展和实践对中国教育学界树立以人为本的研究伦理观,发挥各科研教学机构和学会组织的基础性作用,以及在国家层面形成对研究伦理的统一指导,建立与国际学术界接轨的学术规范等方面具有重要的借鉴作用。     

医学伦理教育的问题审视与路径探析

医学伦理教育存在的问题通过教学层面得以直接反映和集中体现。这些问题主要包括教学内容知识化、课程设置模块化、教学过程阶段化、教学方式单一化。政府、高校和学科是医学伦理教育供给侧的核心要素。政府是政策制定方,高校是实施执行方,学科是理论输出方,高校的实施执行结果受制于政府和学科这两个要素。政策内涵模糊导致医学伦理教育目标错置,学科地位迷失导致理论供给缺位,从而从根本上制约了医学伦理教育的发展。破解医学伦理教育的困境和危机,政府层面应加强顶层设计,完善政策供给;院校层面应优化教学模式,完善教学供给;学科层面应加强学术研究,完善理论供给。     

大学教师关系伦理的理性思考

大学教师的关系伦理存在于教育与社会、教学与科研、师生交往以及专业化发展过程中。而当前社会责任感缺失、教学与科研关系失衡、师生关系异化及学术道德失范等大学教师关系伦理错位问题的存在,必然要求我们重建和谐的大学教师关系伦理。这就需要大学教师形成独立的人格,教学与科研并重,建立和谐的师生伦理关系,同时要完善伦理规范,进一步加强师德建设。