Thinking Critically and Ethically about Research for Education: Engaging with Voice and Empowerment in International Contexts

Thinking Critically and Ethically about Research for Education draws on the experiences of a range of researchers in the discipline to explore the lived realities, including ethical and methodological complexities, involved in undertaking educational research.

Using global case studies, this book examines the meaning of ethical research practice and raises questions about representation, power and empowerment in the field. It provides critical reflections from researchers, reviewing the methodologies they used in their studies and the ethical implications of these in theory and practice. The book highlights the various difficulties and realities present in education research and provides researchers with the tools necessary for refining their skills and understanding ethical research methodologies.

The chapters reflect authors’ responses to the following questions:

• What values prompted you to do this work and how did you share these with participants?
• What were the ethical considerations raised beforehand and how were these tackled in terms of meeting obligations (including to ERBs), maximising benefits and dealing with issues arising during the study and through to publication?
• What does ‘empowerment’ and/or ‘voice’ mean to you as a researcher and how did you express this to your participants?
• In what ways were the participants given opportunities to be empowered in or through your study?

With critical discussions on ethics and research practices in education research, this book is ideal for student, novice and experienced researchers looking to undertake ethical education research.

Alison Fox is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies at The Open University, UK.

Hugh Busher is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Education, University of Leicester, UK.

Carmel Capewell is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Oxford Brookes University, UK.