Practice, Participatory Research and Creative Research Designs: The Evolution of Ethical Guidelines for Research

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss dilemmas we have experienced as researchers within communities of action. We summarize briefly the guidelines and ethical standards for research with human subjects,1 standards that formed the core of our socialization into the ethics of behavioral research. Until recently, these ethical standards and guidelines have evolved among various occupational groups with relatively little attention to the intersection of research methodology and ethical considerations. We describe how federal guidelines on research with human subjects have evolved and some of the effects these guidelines have had on research within the professions. Our personal experiences with ethical issues in research beyond university walls provide examples for discussing some of the inevitable dilemmas encountered in participatory and action-oriented research for change. Specifically, we explore the meanings of informed consent when one is engaged with communities in struggles for justice and/or in challenges to injustice within dominant institutions on behalf of those who are not being well-served by these institutions. Our experiences suggest limitations in applying abstract ethical guidelines and standards to such cases. We elaborate several dilemmas raised by creative research designs characteristic of much outreach scholarship for ethical standards and guidelines of selected occupational groups. Also, in an appendix we provide a summary of additional resources, both in print and on the World Wide Web, regarding ethical issues on social research.KeywordsEthical StandardOccupational GroupParticipatory Action ResearchAmerican Educational Research AssociationTest SecurityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.