ERIC Number: EJ892228
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Jul
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0951-8398
EISSN: N/A
"That Is NOT What's Happening at Horizon!": Ethics and Misrepresenting Knowledge in Text
Rallis, Sharon F.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v23 n4 p435-448 Jul 2010
This paper analyzes the ethically important moments that helped build, then break, and then negotiate the relationship between researchers and schools during an ethnographic-type study conducted by the team of researchers from a prominent private university. I posit that the researchers' unskilled approach culminated in producing written representations of the schools that were ethically problematic. To quote one school: "That" is NOT what's happening at Horizon!" Guided by simplistic understandings of procedures, rather than by articulated moral principles, the researchers were unable to scrutinize and interrogate their data in light of the context from which the data were collected. They thus failed to examine reflexively the knowledge they produced in their written representations. My critique uses a framework that counters harm with benefit and authority with respect, drawing on both consequential and non-consequential ethical theories, and emphasizes an ethic of care. (Contains 3 notes.)
Descriptors: Private Colleges, Educational Researchers, Participation, Communication Skills, Qualitative Research, Achievement Gap, Urban Schools, Effective Schools Research, Experience, Research Methodology, Self Efficacy, Competence, Science Process Skills, Validity, Ethics, Moral Issues, Faculty Publishing, Descriptive Writing, Literary Styles, Perspective Taking, Theory Practice Relationship, Trust (Psychology), Misconceptions, Epistemology, Hermeneutics, Value Judgment, Participant Satisfaction
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A