Towards a Model of Critical Ethics to Inform the Research Process in Postgraduate Research

Abstract

The ethics narrative has become embedded in the contemporary research process, as evident in the emergence of Ethical Committees in faculty and both public and private organisations. Ethics have been codified, made visible and accessible as text artefacts in the forms of (both voluntary and regulatory) codes, statements, conventions, guidelines, principles, procedures, practices. In this short paper I explore this codification of ethics from the period post WWII, detailing some of the milestone text artefacts. Note the case of ethics in social science research and the professions, and then focus on ethics in educational research. Finally I deliberate on the practical application and considerations for my own Doctor in Education (D.Ed) research in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), suggesting a critical ethics model that aligns well with my current research and scholarship process. The rationale for this latter section is that it might serve as an indicator for novice researchers at postgraduate level towards developing a critical ethical Positionality to inform research methodology and methods.