It's funny, when I start to think about ethics within the realm of educational research I can't help but come to the realization that ethics are ensuring that no real definitive conclusions can be reached. And I say thankfully for the simple reason that the scientific method really does not apply to research done in an educational setting. For instance, a control group will never receive a "placebo" education. Meaning, researchers would never knowingly offer a substandard or false education in order to prove the effectiveness of another.
This is a crucial characteristic that not only separates educational research from medicinal, it also speaks to the sheer number of educational interventions that exist. It also unfortunately speaks to the number of bogus/ineffective interventions out there too. This is a double-edged sword that, as an educator, I must walk and be aware of when doing research or simply Google-ing lesson plan ideas. Believe me, there's a lot of crap on the internet.
I digress, but it's this human element combined with the fact that you really need to keep the best interests of the student in mind when conducting any research in education that speaks to the separation I spoke of a paragraph ago. And do me, this need to provide the means for a child/student to access the best possible outcome should be the crux of any educational research. At the heart of all research should be the student. Whether they are divided into groups, classes, or treated as individuals, good educational research needs to somehow, regardless of topic or stated research problem answer simple questions like "what helps students engage in learning, what helps students retain learning, and what helps students apply learning".
The text mentions ten specific guidelines that must be adhered to when conducting research with humans. They are all great, but unless I missed it, there was little abut keeping personal information confidential. The issue of confidentiality is especially important when I think about my particular research problem in regard to athletic activity and self-esteem in learning disabled students. When we're talking about personal things like a clinical diagnosis and issues of self-image, sensitivity to your research subjects must also be a component of your research as, in this case, key details like names, school names, and school location may actually prove to be counterintuitive.
Good reflection on this topic. I think you really got to something important when you explained how every act of educating is a research treatment in a way. Sometimes I worry that we spend too much time concerned with "doing no harm" as researchers and not enough thinking about the harm that is done by the schools that many of our students are suffering through.
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