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.     

Diffraction or reflection? Sketching the contours of two methodologies in educational research

Internationally, an interest is emerging in a growing body of work on what has become known as ‘diffractive methodologies’ drawing attention to ontological aspects of research. Diffractive methodologies have largely been developed in response to a dissatisfaction with practices of ‘reflexivity’, which are seen to be grounded in a representational paradigm and the epistemological aspects of research. While work on ‘reflexivity’ and ‘critical reflection’ has over the years become predominant in educational and social science research methodology literature, our reading indicates that there is still important conceptual work to be done putting these two practices – reflection and diffraction – in conversation with each other and exploring their continuities and breaks as well as examining the consequences for research methodologies in education. This article raises important questions about how the concepts of diffraction and reflection are defined and understood and discusses the methodological implications for educational research.     

The ‘subject of ethics’ and educational research OR Ethics or politics? Yes please!

This paper outlines a theoretical context for research into ‘the subject of ethics’ in terms of how students come to see themselves as self-reflective actors. I maintain that the ‘subject of ethics’, or ethical subjectivity, has been overlooked as a necessary aspect of creating politically transformative spaces in education. At the heart of egalitarian politics lies a fundamental tension between the equality of voices (or ways of being) and the notion that one way of being or one voice may be deemed more legitimate than another; which in turn puts the equality of beings into question. Building from Michel Foucault’s work regarding ethics and subjectivity, I suggest that a ‘subject of ethics’ can be viewed, in part, as a series of relations of self that form the horizon upon which a subject comes to work on themselves relative to moral codes and power relations. Ethical relations of self can be a useful concept for those interested in educational research that furthers social and ecological justice. In the conclusion of this paper I also discuss the limitations of locating ethics entirely within a constituted human subject.     

Antidote or antagonist? The role of Education Reform Advocacy Organizations in educational policymaking

In recent years, a new breed of political organizations has had remarkable influence in American educational policymaking. Proponents of neoliberal reform, these groups have been labeled as Education Reform Advocacy Organizations, or ERAOs. I situate these organizations within the larger network of Intermediary Organizations (IOs). To understand the ways that ERAOs influence the policymaking process, I explore the role of Stand for Children, a national ERAO, in helping to pass neoliberal reform of teacher job security in Massachusetts. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), I explore common frames evident in debate about the organization’s role in the state, and I rely on data from key stakeholder interviews, observations and policy artifacts to characterize competing arguments about the organization’s political motives. I pay particularly close attention to how the organization’s political identity shaped, and was shaped by, its attempts to build an advocacy coalition in the state. Throughout the case, I investigate how competing identities bumped up against each other in ways that would have a major impact on the policymaking process, and I use my analysis to generate questions about what it means for ERAOs to sustain their success over time.     

The multi-paradigmatic character of contemporary educational action research: a promising perspective or an underlying threat?

From the very first moment action research started to be used in the social research field until now, it has presented significant variations. Action research looks like a mosaic of theoretical and methodological approaches, named differently from time to time and/or from place to place: for example, practitioner inquiry, practitioner research, teacher research, participatory action research, and so forth. The basic aims of this article are to find the reasons for this and to discuss the implications of the phenomenon. Starting with the first issue, we could ask ourselves: why do we today find so many and considerable variations in action research approaches in the literature? The evident reason is because action research draws upon many theoretical paradigms that – in some circumstances – are not only different, but also contradict each other. Hammersley states characteristically that action research draws upon positivism, pragmatism, hermeneutics, critical theory and postmodernism! After such claims, we can easily wonder: how can such a multi-paradigmatic approach compose cohesive methodological proposals? We can also pose another crucial question: although we can easily understand that this multi-paradigmatic nature is a real advantage which gives action research a pluralistic essence, is it really ‘a strong indicator of the power of action research to reinvent itself according to local needs’ as Somekh stated, or might it at the same time conceal serious risks?     

Full house or Pandora's box? The treatment of variability in post-Piagetian research

This commentary focuses on the conceptual implications of analyses of individual differences in francophone post-Piagetian research. These analyses are viewed as preoccupied by the "American question" of measurement and method, instead of attempting a theoretical account of the issues raised by intraindividual and interindividual variability in development.     

Christian pedagogy? A research report on the Christian profile of an educational institution in Germany

The article reports about an empirical study among the educational staff of one of Germany’s biggest Christian educational institutions, the ‘Christliche Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands e.V.’ (Christian Youth Work of Germany, CJD). It tried to find out what ideas and attitudes the respondents had concerning the Christian profile of the institution and their own educational work. To this end, a questionnaire with mainly closed-ended and some open-ended questions was administered to the 6000 educational staff. The 934 responses are not representative but still give illuminating insights into the chances and problems of a ‘Christian pedagogy’ as proclaimed by the CJD. They show that a Christian profile of education is approved of by most of the CJD staff, even by many of those who do not believe in God. The results are interpreted and discussed in the context of current developments in Germany’s denominational private school sector, but imply perspectives for an international context as well.     

The "tipping point" for educational research: The role of pre-service science teachers’ epistemic beliefs in evaluating the professional utility of educational research

Teachers’ engagement with and in educational research has become an aspiration in many countries. However, this has been counterbalanced with decades of research on the perennial theory-practice divide. This study provides new perspectives by considering the role of epistemic beliefs in pre-service science teachers’ (PSSTs’) acceptance or rejection of “Education Studies” from their Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Individual case profiles demonstrate how PSSTs compare knowledge in science with knowledge in education. Certain belief profiles can be seen to present barriers to evaluating education research as valuable. Thus, we argue for epistemic development and support with boundary crossing in ITE.     

Can research realise a bit of utopia? The impact of action research on the policy of childcare in Flanders

For the past 10 years, there has been ongoing research at the University of Ghent on professionalism in childcare (the 0–3 age group) in the Flemish Community of Belgium. This research has been inspired by the ‘Contesting Early Childhood’ movement, which is based on the premise that pedagogic research can lead to social change. The first studies dealt with the relationship between gender and professionalism (2002–2010). These ‘Men in Childcare’ studies were embedded in a campaign to increase the number of male workers. Between 2005 and 2008 a PhD study focused on the de-professionalisation that has taken place within the Flemish childcare sector. This study, ‘The construction of a new profession’, was part of a large European Social Fund project involving many partners across Europe. This article aims not only to shed light on the results of these studies, but also to delve into the influences that these projects and studies have had on political decision-making through their embedding in large ‘communicative spaces’.     

Books or laptops? The effect of shifting from printed to digital delivery of educational content on learning

Information and communication technologies can be used for educational purposes, but these devices may also pose as distractors that may tamper with the learning process. This paper presents results from a randomized controlled trial in which laptops replaced traditional textbook provision in elementary schools in high poverty communities in Honduras. We show that at the end of one school year, we fail to reject that there were no differences between laptop and textbook provision on mathematics and Spanish test scores and in non-academic outcomes related to coding and verbal fluency.     

Text or testament? A comparison of educational and literary critical approaches to research

This paper argues that a wholehearted acknowledgement of the fictionality of the research process creates scope for the development of different and challenging perspectives on experience. It is a reflective account of undertaking research which combined a qualitative analysis of women's learning experiences with textual analyses of the popular romantic fictions they studied on their course. The many parallels between literary critical research and educational research are acknowledged, but major differences between the two approaches are also identified. It concludes that the existence of these differences may restrict the construction of unusual and eccentric, but challenging and insightful analyses of fieldwork data.     

Treading on eggshells: ‘doing’ feminism in educational research

This paper explores the contradictions of ‘doing’ feminist research, and how the materiality of engaging in fieldwork magnifies the gap between ‘ideal’ versus ‘actual’ feminist ways of conducting research. Drawing on my Doctoral research with British-Pakistani mothers of children with SEND, I explore the ethical and methodological challenges of engaging with feminist methodology and how this contributes value to the research process when working with marginalized groups. I examine three principles of undertaking feminist methodology; firstly, the ethical challenges arising from conducting unstructured interviews in a non-therapeutic context with vulnerable participants. Secondly, I explore how feminist researchers can positively contribute to making a practical difference in the lives of the women they research with, thereby going beyond how feminist values of reciprocity and responsibility towards participants have traditionally been implemented in the field. Finally, I consider utilizing theoretical frameworks which help analyse data to reveal sites for social change. This paper concludes by noting that traditional feminist methods may not always be more ethical, and that as feminist researchers we must be willing to adopt a holistic view of feminist values, where the vulnerabilities of the researcher and participants are both respected and where methodology is adjusted accordingly.     

The use of citations in educational research: the instance of the concept of ‘situated learning’

This article provides a citation analysis of Lave and Wenger’s work on ‘communities of practice’ and ‘situated learning’ over the period 1991–2001. The data relate to educational research in the UK, although comparisons are made with the USA. The findings indicate that although the text was incorporated and heavily used within educational research over the period of the study there were very few citations that could be identified as cumulative. The discussion considers the value of using citations as an indicator of quality within any research excellence framework and argues the case for taking a broader, more qualitative approach to assessing research quality in the social sciences.     

The smaller the better? A review of research on small rural schools in Sweden

This review of 30 years of research in small rural schools in Sweden includes projects focusing directly upon rural education and rural schools, reports from national agencies, and official statistics. Two main foci were found: (i) the quality of education and pupils’ academic performance, and (ii) the economics of running schools in different types of demographic areas. A concordant picture stands out: (a) there are no indications that small rural schools do not provide an equally good education as other schools, but (b) the higher expenditure per pupil and decreasing population in sparsely populated areas increases the risk of school closures. The importance of the small rural school to the community receives peripheral attention at best in this body of research.     

Inequalities in educational opportunities in France: educational expansion,democratization or shifting barriers?

This paper is concerned with inequalities in educational opportunities in France and presents data collected from cohorts born between 1919 and 1973, a period characterized by educational expansion. Data from large-scale representative French surveys were compiled in such a way as to make accurate historical and international comparisons possible. The paper argues that there has been a shift in social inequalities, from entry into collège (lower secondary school) to entry into lycée (upper secondary school leading to the baccalauréat). Finally, policy implications have been drawn from international comparisons of data on the reduction of social inequality.