Ethics in AR – Mary Brydon-Miller
This week I’m writing from the Teaching Research Ethics Workshop at Indiana University, Bloomington. This is the third year I’ve attended the workshop…first as a participant and now as faculty. The event is organized by the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions and brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to spend three days discussing strategies for improving the teaching of research ethics from a grounding in basic philosophical concepts to very concrete pedagogical strategies. It’s really one of the most amazing workshops I’ve ever attended…although you have to be prepared to work! They send out a reader before the event that’s over 400 pages long…and that doesn’t even include the supplemental materials!
The Poynter Center also supports the work of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) which was founded in order to “encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching of high quality in practical and professional ethics by educators and practitioners who appreciate the practical-theoretical aspects of their subjects”. This year’s conference was held in Cincinnati and the students in the Action Research Seminar presented on their First Person Action Research projects. One component of APPE is the Responsible Conduct of Research Educational Committee which is working together to try to improve research ethics education.