There's no ethics here!

Increasingly education research students are drawn to forms of research that are researcher-centric, such as desk-based systematic literature reviews and autoethnographic studies of personal experience and practice (Doloriert and Sambrook, 2009). Whilst most UK universities require ethical approval, I remain perplexed by frequent claims from both students and supervisors, that such studies have no ethical considerations, with ethical scrutiny consequently perceived as a barrier or chore. Do such studies really lack ethical issues? This article asks whether it is realistic to claim that there are ‘no ethics here’, and argues that the role of education ethics committees goes beyond simply project approval, namely the promotion and maintenance of ethically literate researchers.

Increasingly education research students are drawn to forms of research that are researcher-centric, such as desk-based systematic literature reviews and autoethnographic studies of personal experience and practice (Doloriert and Sambrook, 2009). Whilst most UK universities require ethical approval, I remain perplexed by frequent claims from both students and supervisors, that such studies have no ethical considerations, with ethical scrutiny consequently perceived as a barrier or chore. Do such studies really lack ethical issues? This article asks whether it is realistic to claim that there are ‘no ethics here’, and argues that the role of education ethics committees goes beyond simply project approval, namely the promotion and maintenance of ethically literate researchers.