Ethical considerations and moral obligations in educational research

Education

Ethics in Education Research

What is your assessment of the arguments here?

I think that the arguments that are made are very sound in nature. When research is conducted using human beings then it is very important to make sure that are ethical considerations are taken into account. Ethical issues are especially important in research that is conducted in the area of education. These studies often involve a person in their work and sometimes their personal lives which is why it is so important.

Ethical questions are often at the heart of many issues that surround research. Questions that surround democratic processes in the conduct of research, the rights of participants, and access to and use of the knowledge that is produced are typical ethical issues. Because of this it is very important when planning research to make sure that all of the bases are covered before any research is conducted. This ensures that the research is conducted in the most ethical manner possible.

Educational research is special because it involves people and their lives. It is also important because it has such far reaching implications. Any educational research must be able to show the connections between its specific focus and the broader context. Research that is done in an educational setting is so often used as the benchmark for how things are done and how things should be. This is another reason why it is so important that it be carried out under the strictest ethical conditions. The bottom line is that when people design research studies they must take into account all of the consequences that might come from their research. It is possible that their research could affect more than just their immediate question at hand. The consequences can be endless.

Do you believe that educational research is a moral and political enterprise in the sense outlined?

I think that educational research is definitely a moral and political enterprise as outlined. So many people do research today not just based upon a burning question that they have but based on a political or moral agenda that they have. It is these often hidden agendas that bring out the questions of ethics into the picture.

Often times research is conducted based on claims that it is in the best interest of the people and therefore assumes a view of what that interest is. The problem lies in that what the researchers believe is best for people, may truly not be. Research can also have important effects on people which therefore entail moral obligations both in its conduct and in the recommendations that come from it.

Research can be seen as political because it is being done by institutions which are subject to the rules of public policy which can cause conflict of interests. It is also an institutional activity which itself involves and affects power relationships. It is often thought that it can enable people to control and change elements of social practice in order to meet their own objectives.

There appear to be a lot of outside influences that can have affects on educational research. These influences must not be allowed to guide how research is performed or even the topics on which research is done. All research must be done in an ethical way so that hidden agendas cannot be met. Research should have a purpose and it should be to help the greatest amount of people and not just one specific person or group. Keeping educational research on a straight and narrow path is the best way to make sure that the results are the most useful for the most number of people.

If not, what alternative views are relevant to this issue?

Some people feel that research should be conducted just for the sheer idea of doing research. They do not feel that there is any need for rules and regulations and that they should be able to do whatever they want and however they want to do it. They feel that no matter what their reasoning is for conducting the research that something good always comes from it, although some things are more apparent than others. Some think that if they can somehow get people to participate in research studies that it shouldn't matter if the people know what they are getting themselves into or not. That because it is in the name of research that anything should go.

Another view is that if there is something to be researched and proved then there should not be any rules on how they get to the end proof. Researchers are unethical when they knowingly do sloppy work. This sloppy work can take the form of careless reporting or computation, deliberate bias in favor of a particular point-of-view, or poor supervision of field workers or of the data collection process.

A second category of unethical practice arises when researchers manipulate their data in order to reach a self-interested outcome. This happens when there is suppression unfavorable data, sampling which is likely to produce a favorable result, or the privileged misuse of information. A third category is fraud. This category includes plagiarism of text, the failure to acknowledge the source of an idea or the contribution of others, and the fabrication of data or events. These are all examples of how poor research practices can lead to very biased research. In the end this type of research does not really do anyone any good. The participants suffer, the sponsors of the research suffer and the general research community along with the general public all end up suffering in the end.