Chapter 4 • Ethics in Educational Research

• Regardless of the approach used to conduct research, researchers must ensure that participants receive the following:
  
  • Protection from harm
  • The right to voluntary and informed participation
  • The right to privacy
  • Researcher’s honesty with professional colleagues 
• All research participants must be protected from unnecessary and atypical physical or psychological harm.
• Participants have the right to informed consent, which is a combination of informed and voluntary participation; they must provide informed consent to participate.
• Informed consent is typically provided by signing a form that describes what participation in the study will entail.
• When participants over the age of 18 agree to participate in the study, they are providing their consent.
• Minors involved in any research study can provide only assent, because they are not of legal consenting age.
• An informed consent form should always include the following:
  
  • A brief description of the study
  • A description of participant activities and duration of involvement
  • A statement indicating that participation is voluntary and may be terminated at the participant’s discretion
  • Description of any potential risk as well as potential benefits
  • A guarantee that all data will remain confidential and anonymous
  • The researcher’s name and contact information, as well as contact information for an official office
  • An offer to provide a summary of the findings of the study
  • A place for participants to sign and date the form 
• Accurate disclosure is when the researcher informs participants only of the details that will directly impact them as participants in the study.
• Privacy can be attained through an assurance of anonymity, where identities are kept hidden from the researcher. 
• Privacy can also be attained through assurance of confidentiality, where identities are known but not disclosed to people outside of the study.
• Regarding privacy, confidentiality is the minimal practice.
• Researchers have the important ethical obligation always to report their findings in a complete and honest manner.
• Ethical issues may be difficult to identify at the outset of a qualitative study, due to its emerging nature.
• Ethical dilemmas may arise during qualitative studies, due to the intimate nature of data collection and the close involvement of the researcher with participants in the setting.
• Researchers must ensure that their involvement and investment in the research setting do not jeopardize the quality of the research.
• Institutional review boards (IRBs) are committees at colleges, universities, or research institutions that review and approve research studies.
• Three categories of IRB review are exempt from review, expedited review, and full board review.
• Be sure to familiarize yourself with the process used by the IRB on your campus so you provide all the required information on your application.
• Two online courses for formal preparation to conduct research with human participants are offered by the National Institutes of Health and the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative.