Ethical and Legal Issues in Educational Research

Ethics can be defined as set of moral principles and rules of conduct. Application of moral rules and
professional codes of conduct to the collection, analysis, reporting and publication of information about
research subjects’ in particular active acceptance of subjects, right to privacy, confidentiality and
informed consent is called as research ethics. According to Collins dictionary, ethical means in
accordance with principles of conduct what are considered correct, especially those of a given
profession or group. Ethics emerge from value conflicts. Research ethics are codes or guidelines that
help reconcile value conflicts. It provides guidelines for the responsible conduct of research and to
ensure a high ethical standard. Ethical codes in research stipulate areas of responsibility to participants
(subjects, clients, respondents), to colleagues and professional associations, and to sponsoring agencies,
the public at large, or society.

Main reasons for need of ethical approval in research:

Ethics approval for research with human participants is needed for the following reasons:

• To protect the rights and welfare of participants and minimize the risk of physical and mental
discomfort, harm and/or danger from research procedures.
• To protect the rights of the researcher to carry out any legitimate investigation as well as the
reputation of the University for Research conducted and/or sponsored by it.
• To minimize the likelihood of claims of negligence against individual researchers, the University
and any collaborating persons or organizations.
• Because Research Funding bodies and refereed journals increasingly require a statement of
ethical practices in applications for research funds and/or as a condition for publication.

Ethical issues are present in any kind of research. The research process creates tension between the
aims of research to make generalization for the good of others, and the rights of participants to maintain
privacy. Ethics pertains to doing well and avoiding harm. Harm can be prevented or reduced through the
application of appropriate ethical principles. Thus, the protection of human subjects or participants in
any research study is imperative. Hence, a researcher needs to adhere to an ethical code of conduct.

Major ethical and legal issues in educational research:

Seeking Permission from the Authority: The researcher or the experimenter should seek the permission
from the concerned authority before conducting the research for example heads of organizations,
parents or guardians etc.

• Approval of research project by academic institution.

• Permission from authority where one is going to conduct research e.g.:- manager of organization,
community leader, head of family and so on.

• The researcher should not make use of hidden cameras, microphones, tape-recorders without the
respondent’s permission. Similarly, private correspondence should not be used without the
respondent’s permission.

Informed Consent: Consent to participate is the fundamental component in research ethics and should,
in all circumstances, be valid, voluntary and informed. It is a process in which a participant consents to
participate in a research project after being informed of its procedures, risks etc. The subjects should be
informed about the purpose of the research. The researchers should explain the procedures to be
followed in the research completely to the participants along with the risks and benefits involved. It is
unethical to collect information without the knowledge of participant. While dealing with school
children (minors) or mentally challenged student parent’s or guardian’s consent should be obtained.

Confidentiality and Anonymity: The researcher should maintain strict confidentiality about the
information obtained from the respondents. Sharing information about a respondent with others for
purposes other than research is unethical. No information about the personal details of the respondents
should be revealed in any of the records, reports without the respondent’s permission. Identify the
subjects not by their names but by the number assigned.

Freedom to Withdraw or Participate: Participants must be informed that they are free to withdraw
from the experiment at any time without penalty. If you have a strong relationship with the participants
you must be extra careful to make sure that they really do feel free to withdraw or participate.

Avoid unethical questions: The researcher should avoid asking questions about family income, age,
marital status and so on. These are unethical questions.

Avoiding Bias: Bias is deliberate attempt either to hide what you have found in your study or to highlight
something to its true existence. The researcher or experimenter should always try to avoid biased
attitude. Don’t get emotionally involved with participants. Bias could occur at any point in the research
process from the very identification of the research questions, through the research design, to the
drawing up of research instrument, to the writing up of and dissemination of work. Bias is to be avoided
because it reflects covert distortion of the reality that the researcher is seeking to analyze.

Respect for human dignity: This is the cardinal ethical principle underlying research ethics and is
intended to protect the interests and the physical, psychological or cultural integrity of the individual.
Respect participants culture especially their moral and legal standards. Researcher should see things
from the view point of participants whether he agrees personally or not.

Appropriate Methodology: It is mandatory on the part of researcher to use appropriate methodology. It

is unethical to use inappropriate methodology.

Avoiding Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a practice of using or copying someone else’s idea or work and
pretending that you thought of it and created it. It is the presentation of others’ ideas as your own. It is
still plagiarism even if you do not do it intentionally. It can take many forms:

• Quoting someone’s words but not properly citing the author’s information.
• Paraphrasing an idea and not citing the source.
• Using someone’s image, audio, video, spreadsheet, etc without proper citation.
• Buying or submitting some else’s research paper.
• Using all or parts of a speech found on the Internet without citing.
• Not expose your research to two organizations at the same time.
• Citing a source with fake bibliographic information. Style of referencing is also a legal issue
because references give complete information.
Avoiding Falsification and Fabrication: Falsification of data is the selective alteration of data collected in
the conduct of scientific investigation. Falsification also includes the selective
omission/deletion/suppression of conflicting data without scientific or statistical justification e.g.
altering data to render a modification of the variances in the data. Fabrication is inventing or making up
data.eg completing a questionnaire without interviewing participant.

Feedback: The respondents/subjects/participants should be provided with the reasons for the
experimental procedures as well as the findings of the study if they demand so. Feedback is very
important both from ethical and practical point of view. Participants have assisted you and you have a
responsibility to inform them about results. Feedback is also important in order to seek co-operation on
follow-up visits. Care should be taken while disclosing results before participants.

Safety of the research participant: The primary concern of the investigator should be the safety of the
research participant. This is accomplished by carefully considering the risk/benefit ratio, using all
available information to make an appropriate assessment and continually monitoring the research as it
proceeds. In an experimental research, which may have a temporary or permanent effect on the
subjects, the researcher must take all precautions to protect the subjects from mental, psychological,
physical harm, danger and stress.

Reference:

Ethical and Legal Issues in Educational Research. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-

applied-research-(IJAR)/recent_issues_pdf/2014/June/June_2014_1401710518_7354c_40.pdf

Answer the following questions:

1.What is an example of an ethical issue? Explain briefly.

2. Why do research ethics matter?

2. How can you avoid ethical issues in educational research?