Ethics in School-Based Action - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Ethics in School-Based Action Research Ethics in School-Based Action Research Name Course Lecturer Date 1. Ethics in School-based Action Research A research is conducted to deliver the most probable aspects of the phenomenon under investigation (Billig, 2000). Research generalization is affected by various ethical shortcomings and therefore it is expected that each research strategy should ensure complete and comprehensive ethical considerations. In this case, where the research was carried out in an institution with close influences; from the principal, teachers, appointed team and students there are various ethical considerations that should be well thought-out, paramount and which would result to a sound research outcome for this institution (Cohen et al, 2000). Precisely, it is very critical to establish real data and responses as this might have detrimental effect on students learning in case they are not carried in the right manner. Ethics protect the social nature of research and rights of research participant (Billig, 2000). To begin with, voluntary participation is an aspect of ethic that mainly may directly be involved with school set up. It is very possible for the hierarchical influence including the stakeholders of the school and the principal to influence close teachers to participate in assessment research or response in a particular manner. In this regard, when people are coerced into a research the data credibility is undermined (David et al, 2001). Voluntary participation is very relevant if researchers like in this case are relying on captive audiences such as the students who are under the strong influence of their teachers considering their age. In close relationship, there is need for informed consent where the participants in this case the researchers, participant, teachers and the students ought to be prepared enough to be at the centre of the research through self-will and capacities to hold on to the requirements and deliverables. Consent, would result to more informed data, as the willingness would not rely on the some pre-determined requirements but also additional criticism that would advantage the outcome of the research (David et al, 2001). Another major ethical principle in school based research is the involvement of participants in the research planning and execution (David et al, 2001. In this case, investigators should recognize they have an obligation to participants and the school which should not end when the research project is completed. By and large, investigator must try and engage the people under investigation in the planning as far as possible, as well as in the implementation of research projects. Participants’ roles, obligations, and rights must be well clarified. This is vital in ensuring that participants do not accept or imply commitments they are not able to deliver. The ethic of participants’ involvement is therefore related to the principle of honesty. Participants should be advised not to conceal relevant information which may negatively affect the satisfactory conduct of the research at hand. By doing so, honest is guaranteed in the research (Billig, 2000). In this case, participants in AK-7primary school must be therefore willing and ready to be honest with the information. Information includes provided through observations or otherwise. Autonomy of participants is a foundational principle of respect for people being interviewed, the relationship they have with the participants and more so the perceptions of participant in the research study. Students ought to feel no implicit pressure but feel free from the teachers interviewing them (Israel & Hay 2006).Students have the right not to conduct the research and therefore this means their decision should be respected and not lead to any consequences. Even if the researchers conducting the process are available and devoted to carry out the research, they have no authority to demand cooperation from the students. Crookes (2003), states that, this is because they have academic freedom to point out their opinions. For an effective process to be carried out concerning this new technology being improvised to the school, it is advisable for teachers to explain the benefits associated to the system. The relationship between teachers and students may be positive or negative; hence, participation freedom may affect not only ethical issues of consent but also validity of data collected and quality of findings. If the researcher becomes a member and plays a role in the system under investigation, issues surrounding role conflict, role ambiguity, and role definition are frequently significantly greater than when a researcher is outsourced from outside with an open intention to carry out the research. If carried out by a teacher who has several duties in school setting, then roles related to data analysis, data collection and research tasks may not be clearly defined (Fitzgerald et al (2006). In addition to this, Campbell (2001) states that, development of ethical standards, are built in basic principles related to respect for staff and students, justice, and kindness. Therefore, the teacher who acts as a researcher must implement professional skills and judgment in the finest concern of a student. Evaluation of students’ performance in this research should be considered, having been analyzed and proper judgment given by the teachers. The researcher should carry out their interviews for the best interest of the students. Whenever language on ethical principles and policies is not developed, then articulation that helps the teachers carry out their responsibilities and duties as researchers becomes a miss. This means in an action research, the teacher researcher may have challenges in fulfilling requirements of traditional research models that involves research by outsiders. To add on that, maintaining and building trust is an essential factor while conducting research amongst the teachers and the students. Trust ought to be built in between the students and their teachers for an effective research to be carried out. According to McNiff et al (2003), maintaining a powerful relationship helps most people grow and learn freely. In a school set up it’s the duty of researcher to ensure ethical practice is observed in all stages of the research. Whenever unequal relationship is abused, this results to lack of trust. Nevertheless, with observing these ethical issues and assistance from management of the institution and students fraternity, this makes the project successful and favorable results obtained because views from both the students and staff are given opportunities to comment on their findings. The Action Research Team formed realized that the principle of confidentiality was relevant where it was previously relied on 'captive audiences' for their subjects especially in the mathematics subject. Closely related to the concept of charitable contribution is the requirement to the entire running of this school’s project. Essentially, this meant that prospective research participants should be fully informed about the usage and risks involved in using the equipment and the care required while handling them. Nevertheless, that program may have beneficial effects, persons allocated to the programs may be aware of their rights to equal access to services are being abridged as the software may be hard to understand and implement. Confidentiality may not be much of a problem where the contractual intercession clause at issue includes confidentiality protections. However, pre-dispute arbitration agreements are often silent on the question of confidentiality between the teachers and the students. The parties, in their haste to seal the deal, often do not think of the way forward. If they do think about the confidentiality issue, they may be unsure what their position would be in the context of that particular project (Israel & Hay 2006). Anonymity is another key factor to be observed completely during the teaching period. This submits concealing the distinctiveness of teachers and students in all endeavors resulting from the research carried out. There are myriad issues surrounding anonymity, but anonymity is an essential part of social learning. It provides a reassurance of fortification to participants, curtails or eradicates their menace of partaking, and engrosses the active effort of the Action Research Team to remove any traces of participant’s personality from the data. Consequently, students and faculty should assume that all responses are strictly and completely confidential unless predetermined otherwise, thereby taking active measures to eliminate any trace of respondent or subject identity from the results (David et al, 2001). Lastly, they should assume focus on equality to all participants in the Action Research Team research, whether actively or passively engaged in providing information to the project, would enjoy and expect equal treatment of students during the teaching process unless clearly stipulated otherwise. Indeed, for ethical reasons, students and faculty should err on the side of caution in clarifying equality with all the sources of their data. Maintaining this code of conduct is more difficult and time consuming, but to do otherwise is irresponsible and unethical. Bad social interactions hurts everybody involved, including the respondents, the researchers, the institution, and any future research projects. Perhaps the easiest way to cause harm to those parties is to violate the code of confidentiality that exists between a researcher and a respondent. Conversely, the easiest way to protect those parties is to follow established disciplinary guidelines that protect effectiveness and minimize risk of misusing the equipment. Every teacher ought to focus on every student equally to share the information. This is regardless of the gender or social background of the students (David et al, 2001). 2. Research ethics and a formal statement about the specific ethical issues in own research proposal Part two involves a research on a topic about the effectiveness of social stories in targeting the aggressive behavioral patterns of a student who has autism in a year two classroom between the age bracket of seven and eight. The collection of data will involve the teachers as close monitors and mediators in cases when the students with autism get seized by aggression either in classroom, the playground or any other learning activities. According to (Robinson, 2011) autism is characterized as a communication disorder. Practically, people with autism have a hard time accepting other people’s opinions. Due to this challenge, subset of parents especially from the students own families will be interviewed in order to give their views, opinions and even experiences that their children report or observe during as they stay with them. In such a research, the collection of data is very important especially because it takes into consideration several things. Some of them include the reaction to peers, siblings, and strangers. As the discussion that follows argues, special ethical issues that are relevant with such a study confront the researcher. Possible solutions as well as alternatives should be considered for a comprehensive and objective research outcomes. The first important thing to consider will be to ensure any offensive language while communicating during the recruitment process, the structuring of questionnaires and interviewing of participants. Autistic people find it hard to interpret some signals from people as they speak to them. It can be easily misleading to recognize their sarcasm, and any logical interpretation may be a very wrong emotional assessment (Robinson, 2011). There are phrases that are taken to be hurtful and irritating, therefore, as a researcher, phrases which may provoke aggressiveness among the autistic students will be avoided. This will call for the use of common words which will ensure clarity for a right feedback. In short anything that may hurt the informants will be avoided at all costs. It is true that even a well intentioned research may fail to foresee various ethical problems (Chambliss & Schutt, 2012) at least at the communication level; there will be the use very simple and clear language. After the research, the informants will be debriefed about the outcomes of the results. In the process of debriefing, it will be explained to them as to why and what is expected to be drawn from the research. Another thing that will be maintained during the research is the obtaining of informed consent. This means that the participants in the research will not be compelled in any way to give any information. They will have to consent voluntarily, be informed on this research as well as comprehending whatever will be told them. This will be done in a language that is fully understandable, detailed and long enough to show the various processes that will take place in the research. In case of any deception (if required by the design of the experiment), the researchers will not disclose the information before or during the experiment except at the part of debriefing the participants as mentioned above (Chambliss & Schutt, 2012). This will explain what has happened and why it was so. It will be expected to substitute for the informed consent before the experiment. Some participants may find it hard to give informed consent especially the students about their teachers because they may be choosing to comply with a request from their instructor. The legal guardians will therefore have to give informed consent in written form. This will help in a better understanding of the students. The research will also take into consideration any forms of deception except where it is necessary as explained above or in other limited circumstances. This is something that may occur if subjects are misdirected on the procedures of a research. Very frequently this happens in order to make events appear as the conditions in the real-world. Mostly, the goal is force information into what one wants to be true of the subjects. Maintaining of privacy together with confidentiality will be the other factor to consider as Chambliss & Schutt (2012) advice. This will make sure that the researcher protects the subjects and prove his/her commitment to the required standards. This will have been included in the informed agreement on consent. It will include things like using of anonymous identities, locking of records and creating of special codes to identify any participants if needed. This will help in minimizing the risks of access by unauthorized parties. Throughout the research, honesty as well as openness will be maintained. This will be aimed at the obligation to any other researchers and scientists in this field of study. Disclosing the methods and presenting of honest findings will be of dire necessity. In addition, the assessing of any conclusions and procedures will be left open to any other researchers who will want to know how the research was conducted. The methodology will be fully detailed and also supplemented by appendixes that will contain the instruments of the research, websites and any contact information. In case of any biases or other motives involved in the research, an acknowledgement will be made of them for more honest results. Once everything has been clarified, the information will be published to maintain openness and honesty and welcome any forms of criticisms to the experiment as well as other thoughtful conversation (Chambliss & Schutt, 2012). Since this research will be focusing on giving of results that are valid and reliable, it will justify the use of human subjects (Fouka & Mantzorou, 2011). Personal prejudices or interests will not be entertained at all as mentioned above. If the findings acquired will not be valid, that is, they cannot give any justification to the research, then it will have no risk on the human subjects and the information will not applied anywhere. However, if the results obtained are valid and will be found to confirm the research, appropriate application will be encouraged. References Billig, S. H. (2000). Research on K-12 school-based service-learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 81(9), 658-664. Campbell, E. (2001). Let right be done: trying to put ethical standards into practice. Journal of Education Policy, 16(5), 395-411. Chambliss, D. F., & Schutt, R. K. (2012). Ethics in Research, Chapter 3, In Making sense of the social world: Methods of investigation, p.39-58. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education. Routledge. Crookes, G. (2003). A practicum in TESOL: Professional development through teaching practice. Cambridge University PressShaftesbury Rd, London David, M., Edwards, R., & Alldred, P. (2001). Children and School-based Research: ‘informed consent or educated consent'? British educational research journal, 27(3), 347-365. Fitzgerald, L., Lilley, C., Ferlie, E., Addicott, R., McGivern, G., Buchanan, D., & Rashid, A. (2006). Managing change and role enactment in the professionalized organization. London, NCCSDO. Fouka, G., & Mantzorou, M., (2011). What are the Major Ethical Issues in Conducting Research? Is There a Conflict Between the Research Ethics and the Nature of Nursing? Health science journal, 5, (1), 3-14. Israel, M., & Hay, I. (2006). Research ethics for social scientists. SAGE Publications Limited City RoadLondon Robinson, J. E. (2011). Ethical issues in autism research. Available at: Ross, L. F., et al. (2010). Human subjects protections in community-engaged research: a research ethics framework. Journal of empirical research on human research ethics: JERHRE, 5(1), 5. Read More