Comments on the new book by Zachary Schrag, Ethical Imperialism A History of the IRB and Social Sciences, posted by Mary Brydon-Miller

You all remember Ronsencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet. “Peripheral to the main action, they stumbled onstage and off, neglected or despised by the main charactes and destined for a bad end” So they are described by Zachary Schrag in his recent book, Ethical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965-2009, in which he likens their plight to that of the social sciences in the development of current human subjects review processes. In this volume Schrag traces the history of the IRB and the ways in which the social sciences have been increasingly brought under the control of these bodies without having had significant involvement in the process of creating them.

As Schrag points out, the IRB system was designed to address issues facing medical and behavioral sciences and based on four assumptions:


1. Researchers know more about their subjects’ condition than do the subjects themselves.

2. Researchers begin their work by spelling out detailed protocols explaining what hypotheses they will test and what procedures they will meploy to these those hypotheses.

3. Researchers perform experiments designed to alter subjects’ physical state or behavior, rather than simply gathering information through conversation, correspondence, and observation.

4. Researchers have an ethical duty not to harm their subjects.



But while these assumptions may apply to medical and some forms of psychological research, they don’t do a good job of recognizing and addressing the ethical issues facing researchers in other social science fields, and certainly don’t begin to respond to the ethical implications of action research where we acknowledge that our community partners know more about their experience than we do, where we co-generate meaningful research questions that may change as the process moves forward, and where we create knowledge together through a variety of methods.  We do agree about not causing harm, but don't impose this on our partners with the same patronizing attitude that seems to pervade much other human subjects research.



This week is the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics conference (where, by the way, this blog is going to be featured in a discussion of ways to use electronic media to teach ethics!) and Schrag will be visiting Cincinnati and meeting with members of our Action Research Center and other students and faculty colleagues. We’ll continue this discussion of his book together in next week’s post.

Scientific - Spiritual Cosmology - Alan Wight

For my AR class, I have been asked to describe the values that inform my research.  I am firmly rooted in a scientific-spiritual understanding of the universe.  Bradbury and Reason (2001) provide an excellent introduction to this point of view in their "On the nature of the given cosmos" (p. 8).  Please a take a moment to view the linked video below, and the read the accompanying words.

This is the Universe, Can you Comprehend it?  - Video link. 

Biopolitan Poetry for creating an Earth-Centered Consciousness.

Cat's Eye Nebula

And the universe asks---what are you compared to me?

Dude, I am you!  Our human consciousness formed from you.  We are one version of your awareness, privileged to reflect back upon this great mystery.

I am humbled by the awesomeness, the grandeur, the scale, the age, the beauty, the violence, and the astonishing---mind blowing distance of our every expanding reality.  The cosmic elements collected and as our star gathered enough mass fusion burst forth, and photons of light energy exploded in all directions.

Eventually the Earth gave birth, and now we can see,

and taste, and touch, and feel and breath. 

It is from this spiritual and scientific understanding that I approach the world. This humility transforms into the highest respect for Gaia, our planetary emissary.  We are one of many forms of Gaia’s awareness.  We exist here because we coexist with everything else on Earth.

Sun's Radiation and the Earth's Magnetic Field (artists interpretation)

A step back reveals the potential precariousness of our current endeavors.  The mad ambitions for money, parceled out-private property, power, domination, and control.  These are the cultural values repeatedly whispered and extolled.

Our economic practices and actions do not reflect the reality of our biosphere, of this larger living entity.  

The expansionist, Promethean, Frontierist, planet – plundering mentality is insane.

Therefore, I actively embrace alternative Earth-Centered paradigms.  From the cosmopolitan, and declaration of ‘citizen of the world’ I advance the key value that informs my thoughts and research. 

This is the concept of biopolitansim: the identification of humans as one life form, one culture, one group of earthlings among many; we are a human community that only exists because of all the other Earth’s communities.  We need to respect and protect all other species and ecosystems and foster an appreciation for other ways of knowing.

It is the values of this Earth-Life-Community Ethic that I heed, and from here, from this moral point that I proceed.

Notes: 

Peter Reason and Hililary Bradbury-Huang (Eds).  2006.  "On the nature of the given cosmos."  Handbook of Action Research.   p. 8  Los Angles: Sage Publishing.

A Brief Pause to Consider Confucius posted by Mary Brydon-Miller

I want to pause in my examination of the structured ethical reflection to offer my sincere thanks to Juanjuan Zhao for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss the connections between Confucius and Action Research. Thanks, too, to John Elliot and Ching-tien Tsai for their insightful examination of this topic.

"Learning without thought is pointless.  Thought without learning is dangerous"  Confucius (The Analects of Confucius, Book 2, Passage 15).

"Master Zeng said, each day I examine myself on three maters.  In making plans for others, am I being loyal to them?  In my dealings with friends, am I being trustworty? Am I passing on to others what I have not carefully thought about myself?" (The Analects of Confucius, Book 1, Passage 4)

Update from the World Congress of Action Research posted by Mary Brydon-Miller

Just back from Melbourne and the World Congress of Action Research.

Me and my canine friend Lucy at a beachbox on Brighton Beach

The Melbourne Skyline

Robin McTaggart and Jacques Boulet at the World Congress

I can’t possibly do justice here to all of the brillant work that was presented and will hope to be able to invite some of the folks I heard speak to post to the blog themselves over the next few weeks, but highlights from the event included Budd Hall’s address on the knowledge democracy movement, Yoland Wadworth’s book launch, and Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s presentation on Māori methodology and her search for decolonizing methodologies. I’ve always really admired Smith’s work and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to hear her speak. Marie Brennan’s talk was also an amazing analysis of neoliberalism and education.

David Coghlan, Pat Maguire, Rosalie Holian and I had a session on ethics and action research in which we discussed the ways in which covenantal ethics and the model I dicussed in the blog earlier could be applied to insider action research, teacher action research, and community-based action research. I especially appreciated the discussion that followed our presentations and the feedback we received from those attending the session, which will certainly inform the next iteration of this idea.

We also had a session on global networking in which we presented a first draft map of action research sites around the world and shared this blog site with everyone! We’ll post the map to the blog as soon as we get it updated with all the sites we gathered from folks at the WC. You’ll be amazed to see the diversity of sites from all around the world engaged in various forms of action research…it’s really inspiring!

But of course the best part of such events is always seeing old friends and meeting new ones and the four days were filled with such moments. It was wonderful to see everyone and thanks to Jacques, Mish, Meg and all the other folks at Borderlands and ALARA for their warm welcome.

Ramadhan Reflections posted by guest blogger Intisar Khanani

Ramadhan Reflections

This Wednesday finds us at the midpoint of the month of Ramadhan, the Islamic month of fasting. You’ll find as many explanations for the importance and value of fasting as you will find Muslims, for Ramadhan is both an intensely personal and a community-oriented experience. One of the five “pillars” of Islam, the fast of Ramadhan involves abstaining from food, drink and sexual intercourse from dawn to sunset for a full lunar month. But the physical fast, while teaching self control, will power, and compassion for those in need, is only the tip of the iceberg, inculcating values and building toward positive action.

As much as the combination of reflection, transformation and positive change are hallmarks of action research, they are also the focus of the month of fasting. The beginning of the month of Ramadhan heralds the start of additional optional prayers that take place after the night prayer as well as during the deepest part of the night (called Taraweeh and Qiyaam respectively). These prayers focus on the recitation of the holy Qur’an, from beginning to end, and offers Muslims the opportunity to remember and reflect on the messages and teachings of the faith. The days of fasting, followed by the nights of prayer, strengthen the spirit and refocus the believer on a goal that exists on two planes: the physical, in which one learns to be in tune with one’s body, treating it respectfully and recognizing its limits while not being ruled by it, and the spiritual, in which one learns to be in tune with one’s faith, increasing one’s god-consciousness and striving to improve oneself. Each day involves a cycle of reflection and action that continues to build through the end of the month, with the last ten nights of Ramadhan considered among the most sacred of the year, prime for additional worship and even seclusion in the mosque for prayer and reflection (called Itikaaf).

Ramadhan ends with the preparation for Eid, a three-day celebration beginning on the first day of the new month, complete with parties, new outfits, gift-giving and desserts galore. However, there is one key requirement of believers that precedes the celebration of Eid: to give charity equating to a certain amount of food to those in need in your community, such that everyone can engage in the festivities without worrying about meals. Thus, after a lunar month of fasting, reflection, and refocusing, the first step to move into the rest of the year is community-focused positive action--and celebration. Which, as any action research knows, you can’t do without. This yearly cycle refocuses the believer, offering a lifelong approach to renewing one’s faith and moving towards action, and providing a fascinating faith-based mirror to the process of action research.

Engaging issues of power and privilege posted by Mary Brydon-Miller

In the case study described earlier (see below), the basic principles that seem most salient to me are respect and democratic practice. As is so often the case, the researchers made a genuine attempt to live by these principles. They made a point of including a diverse group of participants, insisting that the miners and sex workers have an opportunity to take part in the process rather than assign “expert others” to speak on their behalf. They attempted to hold the meetings at a site that would signal to the participants that their participation was valued. And they consciously tried to accommodate the participants’ needs by providing financial support. So why didn’t it work?

I have found that using the language of “stakeholders” often masks profound differences in power and privilege in research settings. And by overlooking the issue of power it’s easy to assume that once we identify all those affected by an issue the magic of democratic practice and participation will somehow make things right. Rather than pretend that getting everyone around a table somehow erases the influence of power, action researchers need to engage these questions in a more critical and challenging manner. Pretending not to have power doesn’t make it go away. But pulling rank is worse. How can we acknowledge the power and privilege that we carry with us and put it to work to further our common goal of achieving positive social change? The first step is to recognize our own positions of power. Peggy MacIntosh’s now well-known metaphor of the knapsack of privilege is a helpful way to enter a discussion of how privilege works. If we could all begin by honestly acknowledging our own positions of privilege and work together to consider how these very tangible assets can be to use in addressing the issues our community partners have identified, we might establish a framework for using power and privilege in a productive manner.

Here's the case study if you didn't get a chance to see it earlier

In an effort to address the problem of AID/HIV transmission you have established a research project designed to bring all the stakeholders to the table. This includes local physicians and other health care providers, community leaders, sex workers and union officials representing local miners who have high rates of AIDS/HIV infection and who often transmit the virus to their wives and other sex partners. In order to make clear the importance of this effort and to show respect to the participants in the process, you arrange to hold the meetings at a regional conference center with state-of-the art facilities. Unfortunately, when you have your first meeting, few of the union members and none of the sex workers you have contacted attend, despite your work to provide stipends to cover travel costs and other expenses. In the interests of moving forward, you decide to go ahead with the meeting, in hopes of increasing participation next time.

Centering on our Values and Strengthening the Core posted by Mary Brydon-Miller

I often use the metaphor of dance or yoga when I introduce the idea of using self-reflection in order to examine how our values inform our practice as action researchers. Both dance and yoga emphasize the importance of centering--drawing attention to the core muscles that support the body and finding a position of balance.  They also stress strengthening these core muscles in order to provide this balance and to allow the practitioner to move with grace, fluidity, and balance. When the core muscles are strong the body is able to respond to forces that would pull it out of balance and we are able to use our bodies in creative and unexpected ways. Just watch the dancers in Pilobolus if you want to see a remarkable example of the miraculous ways humans can use balance and strength to work together to create amazing art.

Or take a yoga class and feel how your body responds as you move through the poses in the Sun Salutation.

Just as strengthening the physical core allows us to move gracefully and prevents us from falling despite unexpected obstacles in our path, so strengthening our ethical core can provide us with stability and balance when our work as action researchers leads us into unpredictable dilemmas or conflicts—and as we all know expecting the unexpected is something every action researcher must learn to deal with.

So how do we go about building a strong ethical core? I encourage my students to start by articulating the values and principles that have the greatest meaning to them and by critically examining how they embody these values in their practice as action researchers.  If you value social justice, how does your practice reflect this principle? If you see yourself as a caring person and this aspect of your self-image is important to you, how do you embody caring in your interactions with others?

This past year the students in my action research course engaged in a first-person action research project focused on how their own value systems inform their practice. I’ve invited some of them to share their projects and what they learned through the first-person action research project in next week’s post.


The images included in this post were found through Creative Commons

Critical Reflection and the World Congress - Mary Brydon-Miller

“Being value neutral is not a pretense action researchers uphold!” In her recent note from the field “What is good action research?” Hilary Bradbury Huang, the Editor-in-Chief of ARJ, makes clear why it is so important that action resesarchers spend time reflecting on their own values and the principles that guide our shared practice. In “Why Action Research?” Davydd Greenwood, Patricia Maguire and I queried all of the members of the Editorial Board of Action Research asking them what had drawn them to become involved in doing action research. Based on the responses we received, we summed up our shared value system by suggesting that as action researchers “we commit ourselves to a form of research which challenges unjust and undemocratic economic, social, and political systems and practices.” (Brydon-Miller, Greenwood, & Maguire, 2003, p. 11). We went on to offer specific principles of practice: “a respect for people and for the knowledge and experience they bring to the research process, a belief in the ability of democratic processes to achieve positive social change, and a commitment to action” (p. 15). This “moral obligation to react against inequality and injustice and to endeavor to contribute to change through our research work” (Härnsten & Holmstrand, 2008, 171), should be reflected at each stage of the research process, from the initial definition of a research question or issue through the development of strategies to implement the recommendations of the research to bring about positivechange and to disseminate the findings so that others might learn from our example. At this year’s World Congress of Action Research, my colleagues David Coghlan, Rosalie Holian, Patricia Maguire, Randy Stoecker and I will be considering how we might develop a system for conducting critical reflection on the values that inform our practice as action researchers at each stage of the research process. Over the next few weeks leading up to the World Congress I will be exploring what kinds of ethical issues we might identify at each stage of the AR process and I would welcome your comments, experiences, and insights into the process.

Revisiting "Strategies for addressing ethical concerns in action research" Mary Brydon-Miller

In 2006 Davydd Greenwood, Olav Eikeland, and I edited a special issue of ARJ focused on ethics and AR. We concluded that special issue with a short list of proposals for “encouraging greater attention to and depth of reflection on the quetsion of ethics and action resrac and the challenges this presents” (p. 130). Over the next few weeks, I want to revisit that list of recommendations and consider what progress has been made in implementing some of our suggestions, and how we might continue to move forward to address the concerns raised there. I’ll start this week by considering the final category, the challenges facing “journal editors, conference organizers, reviewers, and others with leadership roles both within the academy and in community organizations”. We suggested the following:




· “encourage authors and presenters to include an honest discussion of the ethical challenges they faced in the process of conducting their research;



· devote special attention to a consideration of ethical issues in research by hosting conferences, developing special issues of academic journals, and encouraging other forms of scholarship examining these concerns; and



· develop venues for more inclusive discussions of research so that pertinent information reaches a broader audience.”



I wish I could say that I thought we’d accomplished all of these goals. But while I see progress, I think there is much that remains to be done. While some authors do address these issues, we have yet to develop a policy that requires or even strongly encourages authors to incorporate a discussion of ethics into the manuscripts they submit to ARJ.



In terms of conferences, I do know that we will be offering a symposium at the upcoming World Congress of Action Research focused on ethics and AR, and considering specific ways in which we might incorporate a more critical examination of the ethical implications of our work across the action research process. And there are extremely useful discussions of research ethics generally in publications including the Handbook of Social Research Ethics, the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, and Teaching Ethics, all of which have or are considering incorporating discussions of action research.



And, of course, my hope is that this section of the ARJ Community blog, will serve as a sounding board for discussions of the ethical challenges of action research. We’d welcome hearing your comments, questions, strategies, and challenges.

In it for the Long Haul - Mary Brydon-Miller

This past week my son, Rhys, spent the evening at a Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) meeting discussing efforts to stop the development of a new coal ash dump in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. When I first learned of the Appalachian Land Ownership Study in the 1980’s I had no idea that I would one day move to Kentucky myself and that my son and I would become KFTC members. At the time, living in New England, the issues facing Appalachian communities seemed remote, but Billy Horton’s description of the project published in Voices of Change: Participatory Research in the United States and Canada brought home to me the struggles of activists across the region to uncover the inequities in tax policies that continued to impoverish the people and destroy the local environment. So I was excited to read Shaunna Scott’s recent ARJ article, “Discovering What the People Knew: The 1979 Appalachian Land Ownership Study” in which she examines the legacy of the Land Ownership Study, both for practitioners of participatory action research as well as for the people of the region. Scott’s article reminds me of the importance of taking the long-view when considering action research and of remaining mindful of the ethical implications our work can continue to have years later. Scott describes KFTC as “an organization which continues to develop grassroots leadership in Kentucky and provide a voice for citizens in the state legislature,” and describes other organizations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Alabama that also continue to support the work originated by the Land Ownership Study. Scott also notes the personal impact the project had on those involved, people like John Gaventa, and Susan Williams who continues her work as Education Director of the Highlander Education and Research Center . This potential for our work to continue to influence practice should inspire and energize us, but at the same time it should caution us to take the time, as Scott suggests, to consider how to support not just the research component of the project, but the action steps we will take as a result. And to critically examine the ethical implications of our work, now and in the future.

Ethics, Authenticity, and Teaching Action Research - Mary Brydon-Miller

In a meeting with a student today to discuss her comprehensive exam, I said that I had a new standard question I would ask every student to address.  That question is to describe your ethical stance and to discuss how your proposed research embodies that position.  But how do we help students to articulate their own values and to understand how those values might inform their practice?   This seems to me to provide an excellent opportunity for a first-person action research project, and this was in fact the focus of the first assignment the students in my own action research course worked on this year.  Ethics education often focuses on learning theory and, where it does engage ethical questions, these are often put to the students in the form of case studies.  While this can be an extremely useful mechanism for generating discussion and critical analysis, it often fails to engage students at a more personal emotional level—to challenge students to grapple with the ethical implications of their own decisions and their own actions.  To ask the difficult question—what do I believe and how does my research reflect those values? 

David Coghlan’s exploration of the relationship between first-person action research and the notion of authenticity provides a useful strategy for articulating and then acting upon our values.  In this article Coghlan discusses the key aspects of authenticity as outlined by Bernard Lonergan, i.e. that we should seek to be attentive, intelligent, responsible, and reasonable. (ARJ, 6 (3), 351-366). David’s description of his own response to a difficult moment during a consultation and how he draws upon these qualities reminds me of my admonition to students that action researchers must expect the unexpected, and must be prepared to act upon their own values in those moments.  David’s experience provides a wonderful exemplar of what it means to be true to our beliefs.  

Ethics - Mentors

Think about the person who did the most to mentor you.  What three words would you use to describe this individual?  This is the question I asked the participants in last week’s Teaching Research Ethics workshop to consider.  Then I asked them to write down these three words on post-it notes and we collected all of the contributions and created a concept map in which we tried to organize the terms by theme.  I also took the post-it notes with me following the session and after copying them all into a word document, I created a wordle image based on the words.  If you have used wordle before, it’s a website (go to www.wordle.net) that takes a text and creates an image that represents the most often occurring words in larger type while less often occurring words are included in smaller type.  The resulting “word cloud” gives you a visual sense of which words are most central in the text.  Here’s the word cloud we created from the words we collected.  While words reflecting knowledge, scholarship, and experience appear, it’s clear that the most compelling characteristics of a good mentor are qualities like patience, generousity, encouraging, kind, compassion….the values associated with a caring and supportive individual.  What does this have to do with ethics and AR?  I’d argue that it is in the context of a mentoring relationship that most of us learn the values that will guide our actions as scholars.  Our actions establish the model our students and others who look to us for guidance will use to create their understanding of what it means to be an ethical action researcher. Take a minute to look over the wordle image and think about those you mentor.  How are you reflecting the values these participants identify as most critical to a positive mentoring relationship?

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.

Mary Brydon-Miller, PhD

Ethics and Action Research

Just because it's action research doesn't make it ethical. In fact, the ethical implications and potential complications of doing work in organizational and community settings makes it all the more important that we consider carefully the ethical issues involved in AR. In 2006 Davydd Greenwood, Olav Eikeland, and I edited a special issue of Action Research focused on Ethics and AR. At the time we observed that while action research “offers its practitioners the opportunity to engage communities as equal partners in addressing important concerns while improving practice and deepening our shared understanding of critical issues”, at the same time it “raises a unique set of ethical challenges, many of which have been overlooked in the literature to date” (p. 129). I continue to be interested in exploring the ethical challenges and implications of action research and hope that this blog might be a useful forum for extending that dialogue. I’ll be posting my thoughts along with links to articles and resources I think might be of interest every Wednesday, but would also like to invite you to submit descriptions of ethical dilemmas you’ve faced in doing AR or other related issues. I’ll try to offer my take on as many of these questions as I can, and will also open up the blog for responses from other readers to encourage more dialogue about this topic.

One issue that comes immediately to mind is the role of institutional review boards or other human subjects review bodies in deciding if an action research project should be allowed...sometimes against the will of the community. So, who's in charge? Should IRBs/HEBs be allowed to make the determination? Should local participants be allowed to put themselves at risk in the interests of conducting a research project. For an interesting look at this issue see Lundy and McGovern's discussion of their AR project in the North of Ireland in ARJ 4(1).

Let me know what you think and what ethical questions or challenges you've encountered. See you next week.