A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Ethical challenge of student-participants using a research survey for giving course feedback




AuthorsSiipi, Helena; Uusitalo, Susanne

PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC

Publication year2024

JournalDiscover Education

Journal name in sourceDiscover Education

Article number216

Volume3

eISSN2731-5525

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-024-00254-z(external)

Web address https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-024-00254-z(external)

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/477424092(external)


Abstract

Conducting research with one’s students as participants can have various challenges. We describe one particular challenge we have encountered when conducting research surveys with participants who had been students of a doctoral course taught by us. Some participants gave course feedback in the research. This may indicate blurring of the roles of student and research participant. Blurring is problematic from the perspectives of research ethics and research integrity. Problems may arise concerning voluntariness, confidentiality and the quality of data. We suggest possible ways of preventing this blurring. These concern (1) the timing of the research in relation to the course, (2) information for the participants, (3) the recruitment practice and (4) the format of the survey questions.


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Funding information in the publication
This contribution was written in the context of a research project that received funding from the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland (Grant Number 335186) and the the Research Council of Finland (Profi 7 352788).


Last updated on 2025-27-01 at 20:02