What are ethics?Ethics are concerned with how we should decide what is right and what is wrong.

In educational research teachers and researchers often look to their professional association for guidance. In the UK this is the British Educational Research Association (BERA).

BERA publish ethical guidelines framed around a researcher’s

• responsibilities to participants

• responsibilities to sponsors of research

• responsibilities to the community of educational researchers

• responsibilities to educational professionals, policy makers and the general public

GSoE ethics procedures The GSoE ethics procedures are based on published guidelines such as the BERA ones and largely centre on a researcher’s responsibilities to their participants.

More information about each ethical issue mentioned on the GSoE form is given on the following slides.

1. Researcher access/ exit 2. Information given to participants3. Participants right of withdrawal4. Informed consent5. Complaints procedure6. Safety and well-being of participan

ts/ researchers7. Anonymity/ confidentiality8. Data collection

9. Data analysis10.Data storage 11. Data Protection Act12.Feedback13.Responsibilities to colleagues/ aca

demic community14.Reporting of research

1. Researcher access/ exit

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Think through how you will approach your participants. How will you do this sensitively, mindful of their day job, their preferred methods of communication and/or state of health. Some questions to ask yourself are:

• Will you need to rely on previous contacts? • Will you need to seek permission from a gatekeeper first (n.b. this is always the

case for a school)• How old are any children or young people to be involved; does this mean

engaging with parents or students first?

Then plan for what you will do when you have finished collecting data to ensure that participants are thanked, any questions they may have are dealt with and any youngsters are suitably cared for.

2. Information given to participants

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You need to consider what will participants need to know and when will they need to know it. Think through your proposed data collection(s) from the point of view of the participant. How would you react to your requests if you were in their shoes?

Planning ahead well will help avoid surprises like key participants taking up their right to withdraw. The information you give participants needs to be carefully designed so as it is appropriate to their age and ability to understand it.

There may be a need for a combined information and consent form or perhaps it could be incorporated at the start of a survey. In that case, how will you know they have read it?

3. Participants’ right of withdrawal

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Participation in educational research is voluntary and participants and/or their parents/carer as appropriate should have been fully informed about the project before it starts. However, it is possible that someone becomes uncomfortable about being observed or completing an interview or questionnaire survey and expresses a wish to stop participating. This must be accepted at face value and any appropriate exit procedures such as debriefing offered to ensure participants leave the research without any detriment.

This can be difficult if the researcher is a teacher or a school based colleague researching their own practice and the participants their students, you wouldn’t allow a student to leave a lesson in school, for instance. In this case the research must have been cleared with line management, and parents if appropriate. Having a complaints procedure will also help.

4. Informed consent

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Participants need to be fully informed so that they can give their consent to participating in a research project in the full knowledge of what will be involved. Where participants are young, unwell, have learning difficulties or are unpractised in the language you are using particular care should be taken to give out information in an accessible form.

Where knowing about the research may impact upon the results and you wish to explore a situation without first giving out full details you must clear this with both your supervisor and the senior management of the institution where you are conducting the research. Please contact the a member of the GSoE ethics committee to discuss any more complex situations like this.

5. Complaints procedure

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Participants should be clearly informed as to how they may make a complaint about the conduct of the research. If you have planned it well it is unlikely that this will happen however, a means of contact for someone other than you as the principal investigator should be made available to all participants. Again this can be a challenge if you are a professional working in education and investigating your own practice, please discuss how to proceed with your line manager.

If you are a current student with GSoE then please include your supervisor’s email details in any information or informed consent forms in case any participant wishes to pass on a comment on the project or a complaint.

6. Safety and well-being of participants/ researchers

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As in any situation people’s safety is paramount. Think through where and how you are going to collect data and any possible hazards. This might be as obvious as keeping the cable for the video camera coiled neatly in a corner or as unclear as how to deal with an irrational parent or upset child. These kind of events are, of course, very unlikely, if you have planned well with your participants’ well-being in mind.

Also don’t forget to think about yourself, there is the issue of the well-being of the researcher and his or her own safety - both physically and emotionally.

7. Anonymity/ confidentiality

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Participants, even when they are large institutions such as schools or colleges, should not be identifiable in any report of a research project nor in any of the data stored for it. This can be a challenge at times and requires carefully checking that all names are erased, any pictures are suitably pixellated and that alternative identifiers are added to the data set so as an individual’s different contributions can be matched.

Information gained during the research should be held in confidence and used only for the purposes agreed with the participants however, that said, if relevant, you should be mindful of your duty of care and discuss any concerns with an appropriate professional. If, given your proposed methods, this may be a possibility, please discuss further with your supervisor.

8. Data collection and 9. Data analysis

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How will data be collected and could this cause either the participants or anyone working alongside them concerns? Using video or photographs needs permission from anyone who might be caught on film and, in the case of minors, their parents too. Also will the proposed method for data collection be both inclusive of and accessible to all the proposed participants who may well have varying abilities or additional needs?

Member checking, when the researcher returns the draft data to the participant to check they have recorded their views accurately can be helpful to check both accuracy of, say, transcription of an interview and validity of your analysis of its content. Another way of improving reliability of data analysis especially where you feel your views may affect what you see in the results is to involve a second researcher.

10. Data storage and 11. Data Protection Act

Data needs to be stored safely – this means on the University network which is encrypted and, if you use your own laptop, with password protection. This is one of the provisions of the UK Data Protection Act which states data must be held under secure conditions.

It also states data must be collected and processed fairly and lawfully with the purpose for which it was collected made clear to the data subject. Data should be obtained only for the purposes agreed and data held for one purpose should not be used for another e.g. contact data from one project should not be used for recruiting to a different one.

Collected data should be relevant to the purpose for which it was collected, and not excessive. If you are creating an interview schedule or questionnaire survey, ask yourself, how does including that question help me answer the research question. If it doesn't, think again.

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12. Feedback and 14. Reporting

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Many participants are pleased to have the opportunity to participate in research and are keen to know the outcomes. They may also want to know the results of any tests they took as part of your project. How can you supply them with this information in an accessible form and, if giving out test results, what kind of debriefing may well need to be organised?

Also participants need to know how and where the results of any research project will be reported and who to. They may even wish to waive their right to anonymity and you will need to discuss with key professionals such as their head teacher and your supervisor as to whether that is appropriate.

13. Responsibilities to colleagues/ academic community

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As a student or staff member with GSoE you are a key member of the educational research community and expected to work in a way that brings credit to the educational profession. Getting involved with research nearly always means engaging with the public (though they may be in school at the time) and needs to be thought of as an opportunity to showcase education and the role of academic research.

Your research project should be planned with sensitivity towards your participants’ needs and expectations and accurate reporting of their contribution. Also don’t even think about activities such as fabricating results or plagiarising other colleagues’ work.

Other sources for guidance on ethicsDepending on your proposed research topic and participants another professional association’s guidelines may be more relevant. Try, for example,

BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy);

BPS (British Psychological Society)

SRA (Social Research Association) 

SPA (Social Policy Association)

BPS Ethics Guidelines for Internet-mediated Research

More links at the GSoE Ethics page.