Anna Traianou

Ethics in qualitative research : controversies and contexts

The ethics of qualitative research has long been an important topic for methodological reflection and discussion, but in recent years it has also become a prominent part of research methods ‘training’. There are several reasons for its growing salience. One is the fact that developments in bio-medicine stimulated a growth of ethical regulation in the field of health research, which subsequently spread to other areas of social inquiry. This process occurred first in the United States, but has taken place in many other countries as well, and it is a development that has particularly sharp consequences for qualitative research, because the model of inquiry on which regulatory guidelines and arrangements are based is often at odds with that approach. At the same time, the fragmentation of qualitative research into a diverse array of paradigms has generated conflicting attitudes towards what counts as ethical research practice. For instance, on top of older conflicts between those adopting what we might call moralistic versus Machiavellian stances, more recently there has been rejection of ‘liberal’ approaches to research ethics in favour of feminist, child-centred, communitarian and postmodernist ones. Another factor behind the growing concern with ethics has been increased use of the Internet as both a means and a field of qualitative inquiry and the growing use of visual data. These generate some distinctive issues about the nature of research participants, their rights and researchers’ responsibilities towards them. This text has two main aims. One is to explore different perspectives on research ethics and the controversies these raise. Too many discussions of research ethics imply a bland consensus, instead of tackling the sharply conflicting views to be found amongst researchers and among other stakeholders. The aim here is to explore the grounds for these different positions, and to engage with their implications for key aspects of the research process. There is a discussion of different forms of ethical argument - relating to intention, consequences, rights and obligations - drawing on the philosophical literature, given that these lead to potentially very different views on the part of researchers about their responsibilities: as regards to whom are they responsible, and for what. The ethical issues covered include harm, respect for autonomy, exploitation, privacy, and representation. The second aim of the book is to explore the situated character of ethical judgments: that they always take place in, and are affected by, particular contexts; and that very different conclusions may be reached depending upon the circumstances involved, for example the nature of the people being studied, in particular whether they belong to vulnerable or to powerful groups in society. Ethical judgements are examined in relation to: funding arrangements, access negotiations, data collection strategies, and the presentation and dissemination of research findings. In each of these areas, consideration of ethical issues are grounded in discussions of how they arose and were dealt with in particular studies. There is also a chapter dealing with the issue of the control and regulation of research: from contractual obligations, through the development of professional codes, to the surveillance role now being performed by ethics committees within universities and other institutions. The book aims to facilitate critical reflection on ethical issues as these arise both in the course of doing research and in assessing the work of others. Given the way that current developments are forcing ethics up the methodological agenda, this is especially important at the present stage in the development of qualitative research.

Moralism and research ethics: a Machiavellian perspective

This article notes the increasing attention given to research ethics in recent years and focuses on two of the reasons for this: the growth in ethical regulation and the emergence of some kinds of qualitative research that foreground ethical ideals. It is argued that both involve forms of moralism or ethicism, in other words ‘the vice of overdoing morality’: they treat values that are external to the task of research as if they were central to it; and/or they require that researchers observe ‘the highest ethical standards’. The misconceptions and dangers involved in each of these sorts of moralism are discussed.

Teachers' Adequacy of Subject Knowledge in Primary Science: Assessing constructivist approaches from a sociocultural perspective

In recent years, increasing emphasis has come to be placed, both by researchers and by policy‐makers, on the adequacy of primary teachers’ subject knowledge of science. Within research, this emphasis has been linked to the rise of constructivist ideas about the significance of establishing children’s prior conceptions of scientific concepts for effective teaching. In this article I examine two constructivist approaches to teachers’ adequacy of subject knowledge within UK research on primary science education. In each case I provide a critique of the assumptions they make about the nature of knowledge and how it develops. I do this from a sociocultural perspective, which views knowledge and learning as necessarily situated within communities of practice. My aim is to assess the implications of this perspective for understanding teachers’ adequacy of subject knowledge.

Understanding Teacher Expertise in Primary Science: a sociocultural approach

In recent years much emphasis has been placed, both by researchers and by policy‐makers, on the role that subject knowledge plays in the classroom practice of primary teachers. Within UK research on primary science education, this emphasis is often linked with constructivist ideas about effective teaching. In this article, I explore the implications of applying a rather different approach, based on sociocultural theories of cognition and learning. These stress the situated nature of knowledge and the complex interdependence of learning and action. Above all, these perspectives treat expertise as defined in action by relevant communities of practice. Thus, in this article, I draw upon data from an in‐depth qualitative case study of one primary science teacher who is recognized in her local environment, and more widely, as an expert practitioner. I examine her views about subject knowledge, and her beliefs about the learning and teaching of science. I also investigate her practice. One outcome of this study is the conclusion that teacher expertise is eclectic in character, drawing on a variety of pedagogical strategies and theories of learning in dealing with the contingent situations faced in the classroom. I conclude by suggesting that this aspect of primary science practice is particularly important today, given that currently influential views configure teaching in terms of abstract standards concerned with level of subject and pedagogical knowledge.

An Alternative Ethics? Justice and Care as Guiding Principles for Qualitative Research

The dominant conception of social research ethics is centred on deontological and consequentialist principles. In place of this, some qualitative researchers have proposed a very different approach. This appeals to a range of commitments that transform the goal of research as well as framing how it is pursued. This new ethics demands a participatory form of inquiry, one in which the relationship between researchers and researched is equalized. In this paper we examine this alternative approach, focusing in particular on two of the principles that are central to it: justice and care. We argue that there are some significant defects and dangers associated with this new conception of research ethics.

Foucault and Research Ethics On the Autonomy of the Researcher

This article uses the later writings of Foucault as a means of reflecting on research ethics, and in particular on the notion of researcher autonomy. It is suggested that such autonomy is a precondition for ethical practice, and also for sound research, and it is noted that it is under threat today, not least from creeping ethical regulation. Foucault’s philosophical position is outlined, noting the shift that took place in his later writings. There have been only a few attempts to use his ideas in thinking about research ethics, but we examine how they have been applied in relation to the ethics of anthropology. This is followed by a discussion of some widely recognized, and quite serious, problems with Foucault’s position. Finally, a number of positive and negative lessons that can be learned from his work are presented.

Making science education evidence‐based? Reflections on a Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) study

There are some important ambiguities in discussions about the implications of ‘evidence‐based practice’, both for educational research and for the work of teachers. In this paper we explore several of these through examining the Evidence‐based Practice in Science Education (EPSE) study—part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), a major UK research initiative that is explicitly committed to improving the contribution of educational research to policymaking and practice. The field of science education is in some ways a critical case, given that the notion of evidence‐based practice treats scientific research as a privileged source of evidence. We examine the assumptions built into the EPSE study, and how these relate to the classical medical model of evidence‐based practice, and to some other approaches to educational research that are concerned with closing the gap with practice.

Science Teaching: A Dilemmatic Approach

In this paper, I examine the nature of primary science expertise using an ethnographic and sociocultural approach and a theoretical analysis that conceptualises educational practice in terms of the resolution of dilemmas. Using data from an in-depth investigation of the perspective and practice of a single teacher, I discuss some of the dilemmas faced by this expert science practitioner as she tries to find the most successful ways for facilitating childrens learning. The dilemmas I discuss here describe tensions around how scientific knowledge should be presented to children, how children learn science and modes of pedagogy. I show that while some of these dilemmas arise from a conflict between the teachers own ideals and the external requirements placed upon her, others reflect important tensions within her own values and commitments. I argue that a language of dilemmas allows us to understand pedagogic practice as dynamic in character, as frequently involving difficult choices, in which ideals are traded off against one another. This dilemmatic perspective contrasts sharply both with those views of primary science teaching that treat it as the authoritative transmission of basic skills or facts and those that treat it as the acting out of a coherent ideology.

What Is Ethics

While the world of implementing poverty programs in resource poor settings is messy and complex and full of difficult tradeoffs that have ethical implications, the fact that researchers are now engaging with these issues, often quite directly, is in our view a very positive development... if we think research is a valuable endeavor and generates important lessons, then researcher involvement in these questions should be encouraged. – Glennerster, Rachel and Shawn Powers (2013), Balancing Risk and Benefits: Ethical Tradeoffs in Running Randomized Evaluations.

Making science education evidence‐based? A brief reply to Millar, Leach, Osborne and Ratcliffe

In their rejoinder to our article about their work on evidence‐based science education, Millar et al. (2008) claim that we misrepresented their position, and that our argument was false or unclear in key respects. In this brief reply we argue that their criticisms are misdirected, and that they fail to engage in the sort of dialogue that is necessary if the important problems surrounding the relationship between research and educational practice are to be resolved.