Reflecting on Ethical Considerations and Methodological Dilemmas Within a Multiyear Participatory Action Research Project

• In Event: Methodological and Ethical Challenges in Action Research

Abstract

Members of a multiyear participatory action research project reflect on our roles, relationships, and our response-ability to students (Ellsworth, 1996), as well as ethical and methodological dilemmas (Gallagher, 2018) that we have encountered. Each year we choose a central text that engages with issues of social injustice, and invite students to respond creatively in ways that matter to them. In this presentation we share three examples, one from each year of the project, guided by the following questions: What does it mean to make space for others’ intentions, desires, and interests in our collective work? Who participates and in what ways? How are our ethical commitments sustained, especially as research team members join at different points in a multi-year project?

Authors

• Rob Simon, University of Toronto

• Sarah Evis, Toronto District School Board 

• Ben Gallagher, University of Toronto

• Ashleigh Anne Allen, University of Toronto

• Bishop Owis, The University of British Columbia

• Ty Walkland, University of Toronto

• Doug Friesen, University of Toronto

• Lindsay Cavanaugh, University of Toronto