Ethical and Epistemological Dilemmas in Equity-Oriented Collaborative Community-Based Research

• In Event: Action Research and Human Subjects: Protections, Innovations, and Interests in the Production of Educational Research

Abstract

University researchers increasingly collaborate with communities to solve pressing social problems. This is true in education research as scholars seek to understand sources of educational inequalities through studies of community organizing (e.g., Mediratta, Shah, and McAlister, 2009; Oakes and Rogers, 2006; Warren and Mapp, 2011) and through practitioner inquiry (e.g., Zeichner, 2009). By involving students, teachers and parents as research partners, this mode of research can yield more warranted findings and more responsive and equitable policy solutions. Yet it poses complex, and often ignored, ethical questions. This paper investigates ethical questions at the core of equity-oriented collaborative community-based research (EOCCBR). These questions are not adequately addressed in existing codes of ethics, nor in the common standards for the protection of the human subjects of research.
The following questions ground our contribution:
• What does informed consent mean in the context of EOCCBR, given that this model of research in many ways dissolves traditional differences between researcher and research participant/subject?
• What do confidentiality and anonymity mean in the context of EOCCBR, especially since such research focuses communities on their specific problems and often employs new digital technologies for conducting and disseminating the research?
• What ethical issues arise related to the epistemic standing of participants in EOCCBR, given that this research model seeks to respect the epistemological contributions of all participants while also meeting research norms that warrant findings and conclusions?

As more researchers strive to produce scholarship that addresses contemporary policy problems by involving impacted communities in all phases of the research, it becomes critical to establish a comprehensive understanding of the ethical dimensions of this work. We reviewed research in the social sciences and public health that raised ethical issues in regards to community-based research. We also reviewed codes of research ethics from various professional associations and governmental entities, and codes promulgated by indigenous communities to guide interactions with researchers. We discovered that only a handful of the research articles engage with these ethical dilemmas from the perspective of philosophical ethics. Moreover, guidance provided by existing codes of ethics often neglects foundational questions.
The time is ripe to address ethical tensions inherent in community-based research as social scientists increasingly call for revisions to Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines, and as the federal government considers revisions to the Common Rule that regulates human subjects research in the US. With policy reforms pending alongside the growing prevalence of community-based research, it is especially imperative to examine the ethical questions these research approaches pose.
References
Mediratta, K., Shah, S., & McAlister, S. (2009). Community Organizing for Stronger Schools: Strategies and Successes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Oakes, J. & Rogers, J., with Lipton, M. (2006). Learning Power: Organizing for Education and Justice. New York: Teachers College Press.

Warren M.R. & Mapp, K.L. (2011). A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform. New York: Oxford University Press.

Zeichner, K. M. (2009). Teacher education and the struggle for social justice. New York: Routledge.

Authors

• Ronald David Glass, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Anne Rebecca Newman, University of California - Santa Cruz