Debating Point: Student research and ethics

Abstract

Ethical codes of practice have largely ignored student project work, although there has been some discussion that it ought to be treated as a special case and handled by less stringent ethical review. However, if ethical review is about safeguarding the interests and rights of those who volunteer to participate, then there can be no case for accepting less stringent ethical criteria just because the researcher is a student. In this debating point article two issues are addressed. First, the principle must be established that student research is conducted under competent supervision and it is therefore the supervisor’s role to ensure that the student discounts any methodological strategy which places the participants at unacceptable risk. Second, and perhaps more controversially, the question of ethical review is raised for student classroom or field exercises which involve collecting data from human participants to meet practical coursework requirements. The proposal is made that these exercises should also be subject to ethical review and a further proposal is made about how this might be handled for large numbers of students on course.