Ecology and ethics in participatory collaborative action research: an argument for the authentic participation of students in eduational research

Abstract

A conception of action research is offered that is collaborative, participatory, targets ethical issues and includes students. Collaboration is 'organic' in that all members share the goal of the research and are interdependent in pursuing that goal. Participation is authentic, requiring a continuing negotiation of planning, roles, power differences and language. An ecological approach to ethics is examined in which the research community is regarded as an interconnected, interdependent, holistic system of language, relationships and ideas. A rationale for the authentic participation of students in research is offered based on ethical requirements, improved research benefits and professional enhancement. EcologyRelationships and interconnections describe the ecology of the classroom community. What affects a single member affects the entire class. There is also a symbiotic exchange between the classroom and its environment. That environment includes the physical structure of the school, the administration, the atmosphere of the school community, parental involvement and the influence of the community at large. Individual students are interdependent with their classmates, while all are interdependent with their environment. There are levels of interdependent communities. These can be listed from the microscopic to the global: from the individual as a coherent organisation of body parts and cells, to the family at home, to the classroom at school, to the school as a coherent organisation of classrooms, to the community around the school, to the city community and its politics, to provincial, national and global communities.

Opening Up to Student Voice: Supporting Teacher Learning Through Collaborative Action Research

“…CAR promotes the involvements of all significant actors relevant to an issue or area of focus, including students. Together CAR participants work in authentic ways to re-examine and propose new practice whilst taking account of factors within the broader social context that impact on action possibilities (Collins, 2004;Kemmis & McTaggart, 1989). In this research CAR provided the vehicle for students and teachers to work together as partners to co-construct effective pedagogy.…”

When practice takes precedence: conceptions of inquiry and the link to ethical posture

“…We have teased out from an emergent and continually developing process the strands that weave together to form our ethical posture. Collins (2004) discusses ecological ethics that emphasise the complexity of 'systems' and the fact that members of ecological ethical systems are concerned with language, relationships and ideas in a holistic regard for their culture. We shall now discuss four linked layers of the ethical posture that we have teased out: Ethical rationale.…”

“…So, ethics was un-situated in our experience of ethical codes. Collins (2004) refers to the difficulties of ethical codes and suggests that moral discourse and moral reflection must be a central theme in collaborative action research. Hammersley (2009) refers to the extreme positions of principalism (ethical codes) versus particularism (ethical practice), arguing that neither is sufficient.…”

Ethical Issues in Researching Immigrant Youth Physical Activity: A New Zealand Perspective

“…Minimalist codes relate to mandatory codes or procedural ethics. It is otherwise called utilitarian ethics meaning "ethical thought based on utility" [7]. These codes consist of ethics that are foundational in nature, for example, informed consent, no harm and confidentiality that researchers need to take with utmost importance.…”

“…Again, with respect to the ethics of reciprocity, we considered power relations and the issues of knowledge production [24]. In doing this, we used Foucauldian perspective stating that power can be both repressive and productive [25].…”