Ethics and educational research: philosophical perspectives

David Bridges

David is Chair of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (2005-8) and founding convenor of both the BERA and EERA Philosophy of Education SIGs. He is Professorial Fellow at the University of East Anglia and Chair of the Von Hügel Institute at St Edmund's College Cambridge. Compiled by David Bridges with contributions from John Gingell, Judith Suissa, Michael Watts, Christopher Winch and support from the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain

Aims of this resource

In common with all forms of research which involve the study of human beings educational research raises questions as to (i) the obligations which are properly imposed on a researcher out of respect for the interests or rights of participants in the research and out of care for them as persons, but also, and especially where the researcher is investigating people in positions of power, (ii) the rights and obligations of the researcher in the service of wider public and academic understanding. We have to ask: what are these obligations? And, in a slightly more philosophical vein, how can we determine what they are? How do we know? By reference to what broader considerations can we resolve competing claims? This is, broadly speaking, the terrain of research ethics, which this site will be seeking to discuss and to inform.

Initially, at least, we are organising materials under the following headings. Click on the appropriate part of the menu to go to this part of the site, where you will find:

• (i) a brief introduction
• (ii) references to some of the literature
• (iii) texts in word or pdf format
• (iv) cross references to other sites.

TLRP Resources for Research in Education by Teaching and Learning Research Programme is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License