6 Summary of Session 4

In this session you have seen how respect is an ethical issue, and you have had an opportunity to think through challenges, such as being aware of vulnerability, voice, participation and power when conducting research.

You will also have sampled some of the rich variety of social science research conducted globally, exemplified in particular in relation to childhood, education and youth settings. We hope that this course is helping you in thinking about and knowing how to behave as an ethical researcher in your own area of disciplinary interest.

A key message this session is that being an ethical researcher means adapting to situations arising and being responsive, as well as predicting issues around relationships, power and vulnerability in different contexts. As you have seen, there might be practical issues with access, participation or safety, or you might be challenged by emerging findings that could be different from what you had expected from your literature search or assumptions about the topic. Your role is to keep noticing ethical issues, to show leadership when changes need to be made and to be aware of your responsibilities after the data collection is finished.

You can now go to Session 5.