“The university is the foundation of ethics”: Views of postgraduate students on an MA Education course towards research ethics

Abstract

Scholarship has emphasised the importance of teaching research ethics within the university context, yet also highlights the challenges involved. Two key barriers may be identified: the conceptualisation of research ethics, and the language found on applications for ethical approval. More recently, studies have drawn on the idea of threshold concepts, and troublesome knowledge, whereby students are introduced to notions that challenge their way of thinking and transform understanding in a way that cannot be reversed. However, work in the area of teaching research ethics remains limited, with the perspective of Masters students in the social sciences particularly under-represented. Addressing this lacuna, this paper presents findings of a two-phase study conducted with students on an MA Education course at a research-intensive university in the UK. Students’ final dissertation project asks them to conduct a small-scale research study which also requires the submission of a full ethics application for all projects. While research ethics are taught as part of the dissertation module, students nonetheless appear to struggle to understand or engage fully with the ethics process. A mixed-methods approach was used explore the perspective of a cohort of predominantly international students and how their initial understanding of research ethics at the start of the course developed following research ethics teaching. Findings indicate that students began with a vague conceptualisation of research ethics, which became more nuanced during the course; students also highlighted the role of the institution in creating an environment where ethical practices are paramount. Our findings provide a significant contribution in presenting additional knowledge in the area of student perceptions of research ethics and adds to calls that while responsibility for PGT research ethics teaching may lie at course level, effective teaching should be underpinned by an institutional ethos whereby research ethics are held in visibly high regard.