chapter 3 in Creative research methods in the social sciences: a practical guide (2015).
I found this chapter very useful in terms of introduction to ethics, even though many of the areas discussed here felt too advanced or far from I am planning to do. I think this chapter was complimentary to the article on ethics that I also read for our ARP unit (Banks, 2016).
What I learnt:
Ethics should be considered at every stage of the research process
Ethical issues traditionally have been though in term of risks to participants and data gathering. “However, ethics should underpin every single step of research, from the first germ of an idea to the last act after dissemination.” p.35
Theories of ethics: deontology (including ethics of justice), consequentialism (including ethics of care), virtue and value-based ethics.
“It can be helpful for researchers to review ethical theories and standpoints if they want to deepen their understanding of the philosophical basis for their decisions. Researchers may also find it useful to review ethical codes and other resources that suggest ways of putting these theories and standpoints into action.” p. 39
Transformative methodological frameworks such as feminist, emancipatory, decolonised and participatory research – they “are creatively designed to be more ethical by addressing and reducing power imbalances between researcher and researched.” p. 39.
Something that it is interesting to learn more about, especially in the context of my project that involves thinking about including our students’ voices more in my teaching. It is important to remember not to wear only one set of lenses (gender for example).
“After all, nobody is ‘only’ a woman, or a person of colour, or someone with a disability. An intersectional approach does not attempt to take into account every aspect of someone’s identity but aims to accept and reflect the complexity of identity and examine the relationships between different aspects of identity and their implications for power relations.” p.40.
Some other take outs from this chapter:
- “It is not the case that using a transformative research framework will, in itself, iron out any potential ethical difficulties. (…) [it] may help all concerned to address power imbalances and differences within the research project, but doing so will still take time and effort above and beyond that needed for core research tasks.” p.46
- Importance of the researcher well-being – it should not be overlooked. Useful advice for researchers to manage stress and emotional costs of their work – it includes “advance preparation, peer support, working reflexively and seeking counselling when necessary.” p.54