Navigating Ethical Dimensions: Promoting Inclusive Research Practices for Students With Learning Disabilities

• In Event: Ethical Lessons Beyond Institutional Review Board Approvals: Rethinking Ethics in Qualitative Research

Abstract

Despite the pressing demand to improve the knowledge on neurodiversity for more inclusive classrooms, students with learning disabilities continue to experience significant challenges in educational research inclusion and participation. Among the issues of their inclusion is the pervasive stigma on their capacity in providing informed consent and engaging in research activities (Iacono, 2009). Their exclusion is added by the strict regulations posed by IRB and some schools in conducting research with minors and vulnerable participants. Studies indicate that there is a perception among researchers that ethics boards wield significant power over their studies, often leading to an overestimation of potential risks associated with research participation (see McDonald et al., 2009, Klitzman, 2011). Furthermore, inadequate training of IRB members in alternative epistemologies and qualitative research paradigms has been suggested as a contributing factor to the difficulties researchers encounter in obtaining project approvals (Lincoln & Tierney, 2004). For school-based research, the complexities of obtaining approvals are further compounded by the intricate navigation of the politics and power dynamics within the school system (i.e., the hierarchy among the school district, principal, teachers, parents, and students), traditional notions of gender and identity where heterosexual women are assumed to be more nurturing and less threatening, and concerns related to maintaining confidentiality of the students (Leonard, 2007; Swauger, 2009).
This session will invite participants to pause and reflect on the ethical dimensions of research and its implication toward the research with students with learning disabilities and their involvement in research. Pausing, as Patel (2014) argued, “...is useful, even necessary, particularly in these modern times in which colonial projects have shaped technology, knowledge, and connection” (p. 357). Pausing and reflection provide instruments for scholars to examine the taken for granted notion of ethics and its intersection with ableism. Importantly, such critical practices hold significant importance in charting out the orientations of future research to be more inclusive to all bodily representations and abilities.
Drawing from my experience in navigating hierarchies of power in an investigation on the literacy practices of a student with a rare neurological disorder, I will facilitate a critical dialogue on the ethics of researching individuals with learning disabilities, the current state of educational research on individuals with learning disability, and the intricacies of navigating the institutional hierarchies and the power structures inherent within the research process. The pauses will be guided by the following questions: 1) How does the interplay of the complexities in researching students with learning disability have a direct impact on our understanding of their experiences in the classroom and the perpetuation of ableist instructional practices? And 2) In what ways can we establish an anti-ableist research tradition that challenges prevailing biases and promotes inclusivity? By engaging in this dialogue and reflecting on these questions, we can collectively explore ways to enhance the ethical dimensions of research involving individuals with learning disabilities and foster a more inclusive research practice.

Author

• Wisnu Agung Pradana, National University of Singapore