Preparing and supporting PGT students to conduct ethical research
Incorporating ethics in the PGT curriculum to support students in thinking about ethics throughout their research. Integrating research ethics into more areas of teaching will help students think about ethical principles throughout their research - not just for compliance or the formal research ethics review.
Research ethics include:
- our professional and personal values
- purposes of research
- effects of research (including environmental considerations, responsible innovation and open research practices).
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What students need to know and do
All PGT students should be able to critically assess research, consider research ethics and apply ethical principles to their own research, far beyond working with data from live participants.
Students working with secondary data, literature-based or archival research, theoretical and practical work must also be aware of questions about ethical research practices.
Why integrating research ethics into teaching is important
Embedding thinking about research ethics as an ongoing part of developing criticality can help manage time limitations within the one-year PGT curriculum.
Schools may find it helpful to develop specific examples of questions about ethical research that need addressing in their discipline.
Making ethics visible when discussing any research (not just when talking about research methods or the research process), will help students see research ethics as:
- Fundamental
Research ethics are integral to the whole research process, rather than a one-off event of approval. This supports preparation of research and will help research run more smoothly.
- A mindset
Develop an ethical mindset about research, rather than viewing research ethics as solely about compliance or as fixed or definitive.
- On-going
Increase awareness of research ethics as part of our ongoing lifelong academic development. As researchers we need to negotiate new contexts, new methods, and face new ethical complexities for which there are no fixed answers.
- Contextual (depends on the situation)
Recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all answer and there are many dependencies and variables in research ethics. What is appropriate (or sensitive) in one context, discipline, or method may not be in another. This relates to researcher reflexivity as well as participant perspectives.
- Impacted by culture differences
Consider different cultural understandings of research ethics, the histories of different approaches to ethics and the role of colonial world views in their development, and consideration of what this means for students’ own research contexts.
- Complex/problematic
Understand that ethical issues in research are not always straightforward: use of existing research literature can help students grapple with how ethical challenges can be negotiated, rather than trying to do the least risky or most easy research.
- Not just related to participants
Research ethics go far beyond data from living participants. They incorporate research questions (purpose), design, data collection, analysis (process), outputs (product), through to potential impact and consequences of research.
How to support students’ understanding of research ethics
Consideration of ethical research can be embedded in the curriculum and critical reflection in a range of ways, such as:
- Using practical examples
Explore both positive and negative examples of ethical practice in research.
- Making research ethics relevant to people’s lives
Consider the impact of research on the researcher, on the researched, and on those who might use the research. This will vary by background and cultural context of the researcher as well as of the participants. Different contexts will have different cultural and regulatory frameworks, and ethical research needs to be sensitive to context.
- Prompting discussion and reflection
Use a range of tools to give students the opportunity to consider what could be done rather than what should be done in different circumstances.
- Reflecting on ethical issues surrounding different types of research
Consider that innovative methods are likely to need good ethical reflexivity (continually being aware and responding in the moment).
- Reflecting throughout the process.
Ethical consideration in research does not end when consent forms are signed. Opportunities to reflect should be available to students throughout the research, even after ethical approval has been received.
- Discussing complexity (both practically and conceptually)
Give students confidence to discuss challenges that they are facing. If they don’t, their reflection can be superficial.
- Considering the role and expectations of different partners
Give consideration to who else is involved (such as funders, sponsors, researchers and participants) to help students develop an understanding of different pressures in their research agenda, and how best to negotiate those.
- Online resources to complement in-class activity
Students can use online resources, interactive and reflective activities, and use of decision scenarios independently to promote reflexivity.
Engaging with ethical review processes
Including research ethics in the curriculum will help students understand the important points to include in an ethics application.
Students may need help with completing the research ethics application. They will need support to understand its value.
Members of Departmental and Faculty Ethics committees can contribute to the student’s training by explaining the process of review and feedback.
There is potential for ethics committee decision letters to include contextual information that can help explain their arguments, suggestions, and decisions.
Supervisors' role
Providing training and support for supervisors in supporting students’ development of ethical thinking in research can help raise the institutional profile of research ethics.
Supervisors can further support students understanding of research ethics by:
Creating a discussion space
Supervisors have a clear understanding of their students’ research so are well placed to help students develop their understanding of ethics. They can help to create a space for discussion and thought.
Having a sound understanding
Supervisors need to have a sound understanding of ethical principles in research as well as ethics review processes. They play a key role in the students’ learning and in many cases will check or even sign off students’ research ethics approval submissions.
Dealing with problems
It is important for supervisors to understand how to deal with research ethics breaches, research misconduct and what sanctions are appropriate.
Meeting our expectations
Different cultures and contexts will lead to different considerations of what ethical research entails, but the expectations of the institution always need to be clear and taken seriously: supervisors need to be on board with this.
Questions
If you have any questions, contact your School or Faculty Research Ethics Chair.
