Ethics in Educational Research

• NATIONAL RESEARCH ACT OF 1974 - The federal government in 1974 passed this legislation that applies to all research performed by or under the supervision of institutions receiving federal research funds.
• NATIONAL RESEARCH ACT OF 1974 - This act requires that all proposed research involving human subjects be reviewed and approved by an authorized board before the study begins.
• One important stipulation of the law is that colleges and universities engaging in research with human subjects form an institutional review board (IRB) that must review and approve each research proposal and certify that the research will comply with ethical guidelines.
• BELMONT REPORT (1979)

  1. Protection of the human subjects from harm (physical or mental) 


  2. Respect for participants’ right to know the nature and purpose of the study and their right to give or withhold consent to participate (the right of informed consent) 3. Respect for subjects’ privacy
• FULL REVIEW - Involves an inspection of all aspects of the research by all members of the IRB. It is used when board members believe that participants may be exposed to substantial risk or when minors are included as participants.
• EXPEDITED REVIEW - Conducted by only two or three members of the board. It is used when the study is judged to involve minimal risk to the participants. It might be used for a survey study of faculty members in a department.
• EXEMPT REVIEW - It does not need to meet all the IRB guidelines but may need a cursory inspection. It typically involves research that takes place in familiar educational settings without changes or interventions.
• PROTECTING SUBJECTS FROM HARM - The federal regulations require a determination of whether the subjects will be placed “at risk” by the research procedures.
• A subject is considered “not at risk” if the researcher can demonstrate that the physical, mental, and social risks involved in the proposed research are no greater than those encountered “in daily life or during the performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests.
• If the subjects are “at risk,” then the researcher must be able to argue that:

  1. The value of the knowledge that is likely to be gained exceeds the potential harm
  2. All subjects will be fully informed of the risks in the procedures, and the voluntary and written consent of each subject will be obtained
  3. Appropriate medical or other support services will be available to subjects who participate
• OBTAINING INFORMED CONSENT

  Another stipulation of the National Research Act is that the researcher must obtain informed consent from research participants.

  Consent should be voluntary, informed, and granted by a competent individual.
• An informed consent statement has two purposes:

  1. To enable potential research participants to make an informed choice as to their participation in the study
  2. To document their decision to participate
• Researchers sometimes do not tell participants the true purpose of the study but instead use deception.
• Passive Deception - Participants are not told untruths but are simply not given all the information about the true purpose of the study
• Active Deception - Participants are deliberately given misinformation about the true purpose of the study
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, also called the Buckley Amendment, was designed to protect the privacy of students’ educational records.
• The major provisions of FERPA that have relevance for researchers are:

  1. Parents or eligible students (age 18 or in postsecondary school) have the right to inspect and review the student’s educational records maintained by the school.
  2. Schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s educational record.
  3. Schools may disclose without consent “directory” information such as student’s name, age, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance.
• Anonymity - It refers to the process of protecting the identity of specific individuals. No identification is attached to the data obtained; not even the researcher knows who contributed the data.
• Confidentiality - It refers to the process of keeping the information obtained from individuals during a study secret and private. Participants in a research study must be protected from the risk that information they give during a study could be released to outsiders.
• ETHICAL CONCERNS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH - Qualitative research plans may have to be altered as the study gets under way. If it becomes necessary to change the focus or design of the study, the researcher needs to get an amendment approved by the committee.
• PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS - Researchers have an obligation to report all their findings fully and honestly, even if the findings contradict their expectations.
• Other Ethical Guidelines:

  1. Professional Obligations
  2. Ethical Concerns in Qualitative Research
• SIMILARITIES IN PHILIPPINE RESEARCH SETTING

  1. Republic Act No. 10532 (Philippine National Health Research System Act of 2013)
  2. Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB)
  3. Research Ethics Committees (REC)
  4. Republic Act No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012)