Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

STEPHEN D. LAPAN, PHD, is professor in the College of Education at Northern Arizona University and directs its Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program. He has conducted research, including program evaluations, and has developed and taught courses in statistics, tests and measurements, program evaluation, action research, introduction to research, and paradigms for research. Currently, he teaches introductory and advanced research courses.

MARYLYNN T. QUARTAROLI, EDD, is project director of the NEXUS Math/Science grant to Northern Arizona University project for Science Foundation Arizona. She teaches paradigms of research in education and advanced curriculum seminar classes for Northern Arizona University's Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program.

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Research Essentials: An Introduction to Designs and Practices addresses the broad spectrum of research methodologies for the student or new researcher in a practical manner.

The comprehensive approach of Research Essentials includes key interpretive and qualitative strategies. With contributions from experts in research, Stephen D. Lapan and MaryLynn T. Quartaroli offer an innovative discussion of sources of knowledge and explain the role that research plays in the social sciences and education. Their book explores research traditions, making explicit distinctions between disciplines of inquiry approaches or methodologies and data collection procedures techniques or methods and addresses topics such as ethics in research and conducting literature reviews. It includes an array of specific approaches used in designing research studies.

Each chapter includes the most pertinent and useful information about the research approach, addressing background, definitions, contrasting approaches, sampling and design alternatives, data collection and analysis, and appropriate uses of study results. The book is packed with practical examples and relevant resources from across the disciplines in the social sciences and education. Study questions placed throughout each chapter and lists of the most relevant journals, websites, and organizations enhance and provide support to student learning.

Aus dem Klappentext

Research Essentials: An Introduction to Designs and Practices addresses the broad spectrum of research methodologies for the student or new researcher in a practical manner.

The comprehensive approach of Research Essentials includes key interpretive and qualitative strategies. With contributions from experts in research, Stephen D. Lapan and MaryLynn T. Quartaroli offer an innovative discussion of sources of knowledge and explain the role that research plays in the social sciences and education. Their book explores research traditions, making explicit distinctions between disciplines of inquiry–approaches or methodologies–and data collection procedures–techniques or methods–and addresses topics such as ethics in research and conducting literature reviews. It includes an array of specific approaches used in designing research studies.

Each chapter includes the most pertinent and useful information about the research approach, addressing background, definitions, contrasting approaches, sampling and design alternatives, data collection and analysis, and appropriate uses of study results. The book is packed with practical examples and relevant resources from across the disciplines in the social sciences and education. Study questions placed throughout each chapter and lists of the most relevant journals, websites, and organizations enhance and provide support to student learning.

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Research Essentials

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

KEY IDEAS

* All research involves ethical considerations related to the well-being of the participants.

* Ethical research practices are represented by a continuum, balancing the rights of the research participant (the deontological approach) and the benefits of the research (the utilitarian approach).

* Current ethical guidelines are based on events in the history of scientific research.

* Federal and organizational ethical standards guide researchers in the decision-making process.

* Institutional review boards review research projects for their justification and ethical procedures.

* Ethical standards direct researchers to minimize potential risks for participants.

* An informed consent document informs participants about the nature of the research and their right to stop participation at any time.

* Much of the research in the social sciences involves some level of deception.

* It is the responsibility of the researcher to debrief the participants by informing them of the true nature of the research study.

* Confidentiality and anonymity are key ethical practices insuring the privacy of the participant.

* Ethics extend beyond the study to publication and presentation of research.

* High ethical standards not only positively impact the participant, but also maintain trust in the research community on a societal level.

EDUCATIONAL AND social research are generally undertaken with the hope that our new discoveries will, in some way, contribute to our knowledge of the human condition and will ultimately benefit humanity. Although researchers may not be thinking in such lofty terms when developing a project, it is an important focus that underscores the need for ethically developed and applied research practices. Ethical considerations are the foundation of quality research that contributes to the body of knowledge and protects the population that researchers are attempting to benefit. Moreover, high-quality research is the first requirement of ethical practice. The lower the quality of a social science research study, the less justified researchers are in involving human participants.

All research inherently involves ethical considerations, from the researchers and their motivations for conducting studies, extending to the well-being, freedom of choice, and dignity of the participants. Yet concern for the participant must often be balanced against the desire for progress through research.

Although the social science community generally accepts this balance, a philosophical debate exists between the deontological approach, which emphasizes respect for the autonomy and rights of the participant, and the utilitarian approach, which emphasizes weighing the benefits of the research against the risks for the participant (risks are defined in more detail later in this chapter). Researchers on the extreme end of the deontological continuum would suggest that it is never acceptable to deceive a participant in any form or cause any kind of discomfort, even if the outcome of the research is of significant value. This position is rare. Most researchers who lean this way recognize the need for deception at times and make every effort to avoid risk and discomfort to the participants. Researchers who fall into the utilitarian category believe it is acceptable to deceive participants as long as the extent of the deception is justified by the significant value of the research outcome. These researchers are usually comfortable with risk and discomfort as long as it is temporary. Researchers generally do not fall at the extreme end of the utilitarian approach, considering any level of physical or emotional pain as acceptable. In addition, research review boards, scholarly publishers, and the social science community do not condone harming research participants. Although this chapter does not attempt to resolve the differences between these approaches, it will assist the reader of research in understanding the ethical issues inherent in research studies by covering in some detail the following topics: ethical standards, minimizing risk to participants, publication, and the social impact of unethical research.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Which carries more weight for you, the rights of the participant or the benefits of the research?

2. To what degree can researchers accurately predict the potential impact of new knowledge through research?

3. At what point is the discomfort, deception, or embarrassment of a human participant unethical?

ETHICAL STANDARDS

Ethical standards are guidelines that attempt to provide direction for the decision-making processes and actions involved in conducting research. Typically government or professional organizations establish these standards. They are based on lessons learned through the history of research and on the experiences of professionals with the goal of minimizing risk to research participants. Ethical standards are the foundation for ethical decision making in research; wisdom and attention to detail complete the process.

The Genesis of Research Standards

The need for ethical guidelines in research was first acknowledged formally in response to biomedical experiments conducted on prisoners of war in Germany during World War II. The result was the Nuremburg Code, a set of ethical standards that emphasized that it is essential for researchers to have informed consent from their participants.

As a result of the Nuremburg Code, several professional organizations have developed ethical codes to guide research in the social sciences. The American Psychological Association (APA) first published the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct in 1953. The code was revised in 1972, 1992, and most recently in 2002. In addition, the American Sociological Association (ASA) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA, 2000) have developed codes specifically to guide research in their respective fields. Although organizational codes of ethics are mandatory for their membership, they are also considered the standard by nonmembers doing research in related fields.

Ethical codes have to provide for an enormous breadth of subdisciplines, topics, and methods. The authors of these codes have chosen to take a broad, all-purpose approach as opposed to publishing exhaustive volumes of guidelines in order to cover every potential risk. Consequently, they only provide minimal guidance in the decision-making process, using general admonitions (Sieber, 1994) including "[researchers] take steps to protect the prospective participants from adverse consequences" (APA, 2002, paragraph 8.04). In addition, codes can be open to interpretation, need to be revised to meet new developments in the field, and often do not address rare or unique circumstances. For example, those conducting research in an educational setting must be sensitive to the rights of parents, the agenda of the teacher, the vulnerability of the student, the political context of the school, and the privacy of the family.

Not only can codes be vague, but a study can be consistent with all...