Research Ethics: An Investigation Into Why School Leaders Agree Or Refuse To Participate In Educational Research

Abstract

The present qualitative study investigates the reasons given by 236 Norwegian upper secondary school leaders when they either accepted or refused to take part in a research project. The analysis shows that those who agreed to participate gave two main reasons, while the range of reasons among those who refused was more diverse. Moreover, when making their decisions the school leaders considered the consequences for their schools and their teachers, and to some extent, their students. These findings are discussed in relation to consequence ethics and value judgments, in the hope of contributing to a renewed perspective on research ethics. There is a tendency to consider research ethics a matter of how researchers should treat their participants to safeguard the participants’ interests. However, the findings of the present study suggest that it is equally important to understand the participants’ perspectives, which will in turn help researchers provide the information needed to better inform, and hopefully recruit participants for research projects.