What are the ethical issues involved in pedagogical action research?

Abstract

When considering ethical issues in pedagogical action research, it becomes apparent that there is an intersection between the nature of pedagogical research and the nature of action research. To explore some of the constituent elements, definitions are given of overlapping terms including pedagogical research (PedR), pedagogical action research (PedAR), pedagogical development (PedD), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Deciding which of these areas are research enquiry and which are scholarly or pedagogical development practices needs to be explicated when seeking ethical approval. The fundamental principles of ethical research are described and illustrated with fictionalized vignettes and examples from the author’s own research. These are voluntary informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, and protection from harm. Acting ethically involves making some careful and considered decisions at the research design stage, as well as in seeking formal ethical approval from the practitioner’s relevant institutional body. However, much of the standard advice given in the various codes of practice poses particular problems in action research. Balogh (personal communication, 2018) points out that action research is itself framed explicitly as an ethical endeavour that goes beyond getting ethical approval, in which action researchers see ‘ethical codes as culturally constructed entities which can also be challenged as such’. This means that in revisiting ethical issues during the course of an action research study, ‘there is a constant need to examine what one does in the light of emergent ethical considerations’.