Ethics, reflexivity and access in educational research: issues in intergenerational investigation

Abstract

Educational researchers, like other academic investigators, are expected to carry out research in an ethical manner. This paper draws on the author’s experience of conducting a research study related to social justice, which examines intergenerational dynamics and education amongst British Asian families. It discusses the importance of ethical considerations, and the need for reflexivity, throughout the research project. It highlights the problems of access and the ways in which they are overcome. Significantly the paper notes how researchers, who are ostensibly knowledgeable about the ways of life of the research participants, can still go into the research field with preconceived notions about these groups or individuals. Further, it shows how these researchers can be proved wrong, and can hone their research skills by learning from these experiences.

Keywords:

• research
• access
• ethics
• reflexivity
• social justice

Notes

The author is grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council for funding the project (RES-000-22-3401) on which this paper is based.

1. Felton is a pseudonym.

2. In this paper, the term ‘ethnic minority’ refers to British citizens of colour whose families originate from South Asia, from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. The term ‘ethnic majority’ refers to White people of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish descent. I acknowledge the problems associated with this categorisation which may be viewed as reductionist, and perhaps inaccurate and insulting, since some British South Asians may not wish to be labelled as a minority, and some White British, such as the Irish may not see themselves as the majority.