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Ethical Guidelines for Research

The McDowell Foundation acknowledges that the advancement of educational knowledge must not take place at the expense of individuals or the public. As a trustee of fund donated to support research into teaching and learning, the Foundation has a responsibility to ensure that the activities it supports respect individual and collective rights. The McDowell Foundation has adopted a set of ethical guidelines, which are laid out below. These guidelines have two purposes:

1.   to assist researchers in avoiding any detrimental effects from their research on students, teachers or others, and
   
2.   to assist researchers in protecting themselves from possible suspicion or misunderstanding as to the ethics of their work.

All applications to the McDowell Foundation for funds to support research involving human subjects must meet the standards for ethical conduct outlined in the Foundation's ethical guidelines.

Definition of "Human Subject"

The term signifies any person who is a source of data and is not acting as or assisting the researcher.

Administrative/Institutional Approval

1.   Research projects involving human subjects within the K-12 education system must be reviewed and approved by an appropriate authority within the educational jurisdiction(s) involved. Written approval from the director of education or other appropriate authority must be appended to the application for funding from the Foundation.
   
2.   Approval should also be sought and appended from the principals of schools used as research sites.
     
3.   Where research involving human subjects is conducted in a group setting outside the K-12 education system, written approval must be obtained from an appropriate authority.
     
4.   While administrative/institutional approval should not be advertised as an inducement to potential subjects, the researcher may inform them of such approval.


Individual Rights

1.   Subjects of research have the following rights:
  1.1 the right to know the precise nature and purpose of the research,
   
  1.2 the right to know any risks or benefits,
     
  1.3 the right to privacy and to assurance that information provided will be kept confidential,
     
  1.4 the right to refuse or withdraw from participation in the research,
     
  1.5 the right to accurate, respectful description of their cultural heritage and customs, and
     
  1.6 the right to discreet use of personal information.

Informed Consent

1.   Subjects should be informed about the research in a way that respects their levels of comprehension. The information should describe its purpose, usefulness, expected benefits, methodology, effects, risks, and possible alternatives. Subjects should always be told of factors that might lead them to refuse to participate.
   
2.   Participants should understand that they may inquire about the research and confer about it with an outside resource person.
     
3.   Subjects should understand that they may withdraw at any time, just as the study may be terminated at any time by the researchers.
     
4.   The degree of confidentiality that will be maintained in the study should be conveyed to participants.
     
5.   Informed consent should be obtained from participants in writing. The wording on the consent form should be as close as possible to any description of the research given to the subject orally. It should contain information essential to informed consent.
   
6.  

Where research involves children, informed consent should be obtained from parents or guardian and, where possible, the children. Children should be given individually the opportunity to refuse to participate or withdraw.

   
7.   There should be no coercion, constraint or undue inducement used to obtain consent from subjects, particularly when they are children or other individuals or groups in a relationship where a power differential could operate to their disadvantage. Individuals and groups in such a "captive" relationship should always have the power to veto others' consent.
   
8.   Where it is not practical or possible to obtain written consent, the procedures used to obtain consent should be on record.

Deception

1.   Subjects may have essential information withheld or be given misleading information only when:
  1.1 a significant research advantage could result,
   
  1.2 no other research methodology will achieve the same ends,
     
  1.3 nothing is being withheld that might cause the subject to refuse consent, and
     
  1.4 there is no risk of harm to the subject.

2.   Subjects are informed about the deception and the reasons for it subsequent to their participation in the study.


Risk and Benefits

1.   The onus is on the researcher to avoid risks to subjects or third parties as a result of conducting research or publishing the results.
   
2.   Risks to be considered and avoided may be physical, psychological, social, interpersonal, proprietary or cultural.
     
3.   If risks can be foreseen but not forestalled, the research should probably not be undertaken.
     
4.   Researchers have no right to make changes in a person's behaviour or attitudes except during therapeutic research.

Privacy and Confidentiality

1.   Any probing of private personality or affairs should be carried out explicitly with informed consent.
   
2.   It is assumed that all information received by the researcher will be kept confidential and anonymous unless the researcher has explicitly stated otherwise and received the subject's agreement. The researcher will explain to subjects the steps being taken to ensure confidentiality and anonymity.
     
3.   If confidentiality or anonymity cannot be guaranteed, participants should be made aware of the fact and its possible consequences.
     
4.   Steps should be taken to guard against unintentional disclosure of a subject's identity through association or a combination of information.
     
5.   The researcher is responsible for the effects of the research on third parties.
   
6.  

The individual's right to confidentiality and anonymity extends to research done with institutional records.
   
7.   Publication of private materials is ethical only when it does not invade the privacy of living persons.
   
8.   Tapes and written records containing information from subjects should as a rule be destroyed following the completion of the research as marked by the publication and/or dissemination of the results. Any exceptions should be made explicitly with the agreement of the subjects involved and the approval of the McDowell Foundation.

 

Copyright

1.   Private papers, photographs, artistic works, and publications are protected by copyright, even when they are available in an archive, gallery, museum or library. Researchers may not legally use documents or articles under copyright without permission from the author, heirs, or other holder of copyright ownership.

 


Sensitivity to Cultural, Religious, Gender or Other Differences

1.   In conducting research on individuals or groups with a religion, culture, disability, gender or other factor that is not shared by the researcher, researchers must be able to give an account of themselves and their research that is acceptable to the people with whom they will be working. In such cases, a statement from the researcher recognising the sensitivity in the situation and how they are to be handled will be expected in applications for funding from the McDowell Foundation. Researchers are also encouraged to append written approval of their research from an appropriate representative of the groups.
   
2.   Special care must be taken in dealing with some groups and cultures to ensure that consent is informed. For example, privacy and confidentiality are concepts that may be interpreted differently and applied to unexpected kinds of activity by some subjects. Information must be given and consent received from the perspective of the research subjects.
     
3.   Information and materials should not be publicly exhibited, discussed or published in a way that embarasses or angers the individuals or groups associated with them.
     
4.   Researchers are responsible to groups that they have researched for doing full justice to the unique framework within which the groups operate regardless of the values and customs of the researchers. Different customs and beliefs must not be ridiculed or endangered.

 

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