Reflections on Research Ethics in Historically Oriented Science Education Research in Canada

Abstract

This chapter examines research ethics review, biomedical models of review and historical research in science education in Canada. Ethics reviews are an assessment of the integrity of research; in thinking about research ethics we are often considering research that addresses live human beings and/or other living creatures. This research is sometimes scientific in nature, quite often quantitative, and frequently qualitative in nature. In the past, health care research frequently provided ethical review protocols for all different types of research as van den Hoonaard notes (van den Hoonaard WC, The seduction of ethics: transforming the social sciences. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2011). These biomedical protocols continue to ensure that all risks to subjects are weighed and considered before the research is conducted. That these health-related protocols and approaches are an important part of research ethics is clear. In recent times however, new directions have emerged in research ethics in the field of science education. As science education researchers we must ask ourselves then; are biomedical models and approaches to research ethics also a fit for this field as we undertake historically oriented science education research? This chapter proposes to answer this question in the following way: it will argue that the biomedical model of research ethics review is not appropriate for this type of research. In support of this view, the chapter will provide a general overview of the framework of research ethics review policies, definitions and protocols in Canada. It will then look at the nature of historically oriented research in science education research in Canada. It will subsequently discuss the specificities of historically oriented research in this field and delineate the different kinds of research data sources, whether these are primary source documents, or data from science education projects. The chapter will conclude with a reprise of the discussion about biomedical ethical review in science education research that is historical in orientation.