On dodgy ground? Problematics and ethics in educational research

Abstract

This paper considers some of the decisions that researchers take and raises issues around researcher reflexivity, identity, values and ethics. It focuses attention on researchers and reflects on how the research they do, the topics they investigate, the methodologies they espouse, the methods they use and the writing/reporting styles they adopt, can have implications both in terms of their career development and with regard to their personal integrity and moral positioning. It is something of a truism to state that the sorts of research that get done depend upon the decisions researchers make. However, the relationship between research completed and in the public domain and individual researchers' choices is by no means a simple or straightforward one.