To tell or not to tell? reflecting on ethical dilemmas in stakeholder research

Abstract

The paper explores some ethical dilemmas arising out of stakeholder research into the careers guidance process associated with Training Credits (TCs), somewhere in England. TCs are an experimental means of funding training for school leavers, normally between the ages of 16 and 18. This paper describes dilemmas faced by researchers in one school. The immediate problem surrounded the extent to which critical information about careers guidance processes in that school should be fed directly back, as there was a conflict between the perceptions and interests of different stakeholders in the process. This in rum raises more general issues. We question the effectiveness of interpretive research as a means of somehow empowering stakeholders, and identify a conflict of roles between a critical interpretive stance on the one hand, and an emancipatory approach on the other. While some proponents of collaborative evaluation assume both can co‐exist, our experiences suggest otherwise.