Fostering quality education research: The role of the European Educational Research Association as a scientific association

Abstract

This paper considers the role and responsibilities of a scientific association in promoting and supporting high quality research, particularly with regard to providing guidance on research ethics.

The paper reports on a survey-based study commissioned by the European Educational Research Association in 2015 which focused on educational researchers’ experiences with, and attitudes toward, the research ethics review scope and practice. The study provides insight into the role and activities of the European Educational Research Association in fostering high quality educational research. The analysis reveals the perception of academics that the European Educational Research Association might further high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society in the following ways: (i) leading the development of guidelines on ethical education research that are applicable across Europe whilst recognizing varied transnational contexts; (ii) promoting free, open dialogue and critical discussion on ethics in educational research; (iii) taking a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to ethics in educational research; (iv) informing the public about current developments in educational research; (v) developing practices of reviewing educational research in the context of research ethics; and (vi) promoting debate on ethics in the academic field of educational research. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the European Educational Research Association related to its role and responsibilities in fostering quality research.

Education research and scientific societies

Education research is a social science field that is commonly considered as multidisciplinary. It focuses on ‘a major social institution of society – education – in its various organizational forms and structures’ (Levine and Hill, 2015: 279). It seeks to describe, understand and explain education and learning at all levels of analysis and contexts from early childhood through adulthood. It studies the human attributes, interactions, organizations and institutions that shape educational outcomes. While considerable attention is paid by scholars in this field to the processes of developing critical reasoning skills and knowledge, they also address how educational contexts affect social skills, beliefs and behaviours.

The identity of education research as a field is reflected in its history and the process of its development and professionalization. It relates to the theoretical perspectives and modes of inquiry that inform knowledge production, to the position of the field within higher education institutions and research institutions, to the characteristics of degree programmes, to the formal organization of professionals in the field and their locations in the labour force, and to patterns of knowledge dissemination. Based on the history and functional characteristics of education research, it might be described as both disciplinary and interdisciplinary in its origins and trajectories. It includes features of traditional disciplines, including dedicated journals, scholarly organizations and graduate training, that help to support and advance the building of cumulative bodies of knowledge. At the same time the field also benefits from its adjacency and synergism with other disciplines and subfields within them.

Education research is analogous to some other fields in the social sciences such as psychology, social studies, sociology, economics or political science that similarly focus on human aspects of the world and major social institutions and processes. Like other social science fields, education research makes an attempt to build scientific knowledge through rigorous methods and the sound application of that knowledge. It embraces the full spectrum of social scientific methods used in other fields and has also driven the development of social science tools and methods. The development of education research is connected with the evolving role of research ethics. When Robert G. Burgess, almost 20 years ago, wrote in his introduction to the book The Ethics of Educational Research (1989) that ethical questions in education research were largely absent from debate, he could scarcely have imagined the revolutions in attention to research ethics that has since occurred. The observed increasing focus on ethical issues of educational research has been driven by a number of developments. These include: (i) the legislative changes in many countries that have required researchers to pay greater attention to the way in which data are managed and stored (ii) new technologies that have given rise to new research methodologies and new ethical challenges (iii) increasing regulation of research ethics in many parts of the world by research funders and employers of researchers, and especially (iv) the increasing rights given to children which understandably has had a huge impact on education research (see: Brooks et al., 2014: 4–5).

Regarding the distinctive features of education research, there is another, very significant reason for focusing on ethics and research – education research is conducted not only by academics, but at the same time by a wide variety of educators including practicing teachers, trainee teachers, employees of government departments and those working for voluntary agencies (Groundwater-Smith and Mockler, 2008). Many research texts provide useful advice for students and for professional researchers, but at the same time relatively few engage fully with the ethical dilemmas faced by those who are conducting research alongside professional practice (Bell and Nutt, 2012).

Professional scientific associations play an important role in the formal infrastructure of education research. Associations provide an organizational framework for scholarly interaction, communication and dissemination. Scientific societies usually embrace this purpose through convening meetings, conferences, organizing professional development courses at their meetings, publishing journals, supporting early career scholars and taking on other programmatic functions that advance their fields and the professionals within them. Associations contribute to the discussion of ethics within the educational research community and promote ethical research practices and research integrity among their members (AAAS, & ORI, 2000, April 10; Steneck, 2003). Some associations have given a great deal of attention to the matter of research ethics and their work on providing research ethics codes and guidelines. However, the situation varies considerably and the ways in which scientific associations operate varies depending on the national context (Brooks et al., 2014: 32). Countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Malta, Australia and New Zealand require formal applications for ethical approval of education research through research ethics committees (RECs). In other countries, especially in continental Europe, researchers within the field of social sciences are expected and trusted to implement such principles themselves.

The European Educational Research Association and its leadership in promoting integrity in research

The European Educational Research Association (EERA) was founded in June 1994 as a result of discussions among many national educational research associations and several major research institutes throughout Europe. The main purpose of the Association, as we can learn from its constitution, is ‘to promote science and research, education and training in the academic field of educational research for the benefit of the education and training of the European people’ (see EERA, 2010: 1). The Association achieves the main purpose through:

• organising conventions, symposiums, seminars and lectures,

• promoting interdisciplinary communication within the whole sphere of educational research,

• publishing and promoting academic publications, specialist publications and information,

• commenting on public recommendations and academic comments concerning issues of educational policies, pedagogical practice and educational research funding and policy,

• informing the public about current developments in educational research,

• clarifying training and examination issues relevant to the education professions,

• promoting young academics, especially by granting specialist awards. (EERA, 2010: 1–2).

EERA shows patterns of development and understandings of its mission to the other large, reputable scientific associations across the globe. It includes – as one of the most important functions of the organization – discussion on ethical issues and articulation of ethical standards for conducting research. EERA, as an association of educational research associations, expresses a commitment to upholding high academic and professional standards. It expects all of its member associations to promote ethical educational research through their association members. In fact, the research presented in this paper is an example of EERA’s concern for developing discussion on research ethics and its regulation, and especially the role of EERA as a scientific society in promoting research integrity.

Following the annual EERA conference in 2015, the EERA Council Board initiated a study to examine educational researchers’ experiences with, and attitudes toward, a review of the scope and practice of research ethics. A working group was formed and consisted of the following members: George Head (University of Glasgow); Milosh Raykov (University of Malta); Marit Honerød Hoveid (Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Maria P. Figueiredo (Polytechnic of Viseu); Eric Mangez (Université Catholique de Louvain); Sofia Marques Silva (University of Porto); Joanna Madalińska-Michalak (University of Warsaw) and Angelika Paseka (University of Hamburg). The members of EERA’s working group on research ethics assumed that research ethics reviews are an integral part of the research process in education. However, little is known about the research ethics process within the field of empirical studies in education.

Findings from this study were expected to contribute to a better understanding of issues related to ethics and to the development of measures that can contribute to the improvement of this important component of educational research. One of the main aims of the study was to examine the academics’ attitudes and perceptions toward the research ethics evaluation process based on triangulation of the quantitative findings from an online survey and the thematic analysis of open-ended responses collected in the same survey, and at the same time to develop knowledge on the role and activities of EERA as a professional scientific association in fostering quality in educational research (Raykov et al., 2016). The study focused particularly on ethics committees and ethical guidelines. Recent discussions on the activities of such committees, including their role in the evaluation of projects in the field of education research, show how important it is to rethink the nature of these committees, their activities and practices (Fuchs, 2005).

The paper considers the role of EERA in fostering research quality and research integrity in response to the research question: What are the main issues related to education research ethics review that EERA can help to address?

Data collection, sampling and data analysis

The study used a mixed methods approach combining exploratory and explanatory sequential research methods (Creswell and Plano-Clark, 2007). Data from individuals was collected by an online survey designed to identify the respondents’ attitudes toward the research ethics review scope and practice. The online survey was developed after a literature review and discussions conducted among the EERA working group members (Raykov et al., 2016). The main search terms for the literature review were: research ethics, research ethics review, ethics reviews in education, ethics committee, ethics guidelines, research project, education research, and scientific associations. Regarding these terms, all the relevant information sources such as books and journals, indexes and electronic databases, and the Internet were used. Special attention was paid to recently published research on the topics of research ethics and research ethics review. The review showed that there is quite a variety of text books and papers available on research ethics for social sciences, with a focus on core ethics principles. However, there is still a need to explore the issue of research ethics review and the role of scientific education associations in developing quality of education research.

The survey consisted of nine closed-ended questions in the form of five-point Likert-type-scales and multiple choice responses and six open-ended questions. It provides an overview of respondents’ opinions and experiences on the regulation of research, the process of research ethics review and research ethics review in education that EERA can help address. Apart from that, basic demographic data, including employment and research-related characteristics were collected on participants.

The open-ended questions focused on the benefits and the challenging aspects of research ethics reviews in education, suggestions for improving research ethics reviews, and assistance from research ethics office staff with the development and submission of ethics review applications. The questionnaire collected data on respondents’ perceptions of the role and responsibilities of EERA as a scientific association with regard to research ethics review and the complexity of issues within research ethics. The basis for the analysis of the collected data in this paper are study participants’ responses to the following open-ended survey question: What do you consider to be the main issues related to research ethics review in education that EERA can help address?

The survey was conducted among the participants of the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) entitled Education and Transition – Contributions from Educational Research, which took place at Corvinus University, Budapest, between 7 and 11 September 2015. The programme of ECER 2015 was enriched by the participation of the World Educational Research Association (WERA) who held their annual focal meeting at ECER 2015. The conference gathered over 2500 participants from across Europe and beyond. An invitation to participate in the study was sent in 2016 to every participant in ECER 2015.

516 researchers, representing 21% of potential respondents, answered the survey. This included 362 researchers who represented 40 European countries (the largest numbers came from Great Britain, Spain, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Norway, Italy, Ireland and Hungary) and 154 from 16 countries from other continents (the most numerous responses were from Australia, USA, Israel, Kazakhstan, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and China). About 20% of the respondents had experience of being a member of an ethics committee.

An open-ended question asked respondents to comment on the main issues related to research ethics review that EERA might help to address and 222 responses were obtained. This means that 43% of respondents shared their opinions about the role of EERA in the field of research ethics review. The responses from the participants in many cases were very extensive and they show the concern of the respondents to the issues raised by the survey. This paper presents the findings of analysis of responses to this specific question. The rest of the research results are presented in publications prepared by other members of the EERA working group (see, for example, Raykov, 2018).

A thematic analysis approach was taken to identify, analyse and report themes within the qualitative data (Creswell, 2007, 2009) using computer-assisted qualitative analysis (Bazeley, 2007; Saldana, 2009). In the process of qualitative data analysis an attempt was made to make sense of the collected text through moving deeper and deeper into understanding (Creswell, 2009: 183).

The themes were identified through an inductive ‘bottom up’ approach (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The inductive approach allowed research findings to emerge from the dominant and frequent themes inherent in the raw data, without the restraints imposed by structured methodologies. During the process of searching for patterns in coded data to categorize them, the data were grouped together not just because they were very much alike, but because they also had something in common, even if that commonality consists of differences (Saldana, 2009: 6).

It is worth mentioning that in planning the research project, attention was paid to gathering data based on purposive sampling. This decision helped us to access ‘knowledgeable people’ (Cohen et al., 2007: 97), i.e. those who have in-depth knowledge about such issues as research ethics and research ethics review. Though the research sample was not representative and the comments of research participants may not be generalizable, this was not the primary concern in the study; rather the aim was to acquire in-depth information from those who were able to give it. Open-ended questions enabled the respondents to write a free account in their own terms, to answer as much as they wish, and were particularly suitable for investigating such a complex issue as research ethics, to which simple answers cannot be provided.

Regarding analysis, the data obtained from the open-ended questions were not easily compared across participants, and the responses were difficult to code and to classify. There were – as indicated in the findings presented in the following section – even some contradictions in different participants’ perceptions of how EERA might promote high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society.

Research findings

Findings from this study demonstrate that participants had very concrete ideas about the role and responsibilities of EERA as a scientific association with regard not only to research ethics review, but to the complexity of issues within research ethics. Research participants perceive EERA as a scientific association that should be oriented to promoting and supporting high quality education research.

The analysis reveals the perception of academics that EERA might further high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society in the following ways: (i) leading the development of guidelines on ethical education research that are applicable across Europe whilst recognizing varied transnational contexts; (ii) promoting free, open dialogue and critical discussion on ethics in educational research; (iii) taking a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to ethics in educational research; (iv) informing the public about current developments in educational research; (v) developing practices of reviewing educational research in the context of research ethics; and (vi) a comprehensive ethics in the academic field of educational research.

Guidelines on ethical research in education

The participants emphasize the necessity of EERA developing ethical research guidelines. Only a few of the study participants (4) stressed the need for formal codes of ethics. This suggests that study respondents are aware of the limitations of formal codes of ethics within the field of educational research (see: Small, 2002).

Participants expressed the opinion that EERA guidelines on ethical research should be formulated not only to support individual educational researchers but also that such guidelines should be formulated to inform national level scientific associations. EERA is viewed as an “association of associations” and it should influence universities and their institutional bodies (ethics review boards) via national associations.

Respondents indicated that guidelines should, in the words of one participant, ‘embrace the views of different research traditions’ and support researchers in designing and conducting their research. The respondents suggested that guidelines should also play a role in guiding the process of dissemination of research findings. Regarding institutional bodies such as ethics review boards at universities, the guidelines can be helpful in enabling ‘timely decisions to be made about the ethics’, or ‘developing the reviews’.

The analysis suggests that, in the view of study participants, EERA should take the lead in ‘harmonising guidelines that are applicable across Europe’. Guidelines should be European, unambiguous, clear, widely recognized, accessible online with examples of ethical approaches to research, as well as ‘realistic and adequate’ for the research. Guidelines should not be ‘shackled by historical derivation from medical research rules’. They should be universal ‘with the options of flexibility on the basis of the contextual and cultural dilemma of the research’, and focus on risk in education research. They should ‘bring together principles and practice and experience’.

Respondents suggested that guidelines on ethical education research should recognize wider, transnational contexts with their social, cultural and political similarities and differences. Our study respondents point out that:

EERA would need to consider the existing ethical guidance from national educational research associations before becoming involved in developing and publishing guidance.

Maybe EERA could review national guidance and focus in particular on the issue of consent from or for children’s participation in research. It might be worthwhile to consider differences across Europe and beyond.

Rather than producing new guidance, maybe EERA should work with national bodies to influence their guidelines.

Study participants also stress that EERA should give much higher standing to the guidelines published by educational research associations at national level: ‘These are much more relevant than guidelines that try to bring all forms of educational research under guidelines for the social sciences’.

Approaches to ethics in educational research

Study participants point out that EERA can promote free, open dialogue and critical, active discussion on ethics in educational research. One of the participants said, in a very direct way, that the role of EERA is to keep ‘room open for continuing discussion and debate, rather than pushing for standardization and standards’.

Participants indicated that the role of EERA was to open, initiate, encourage, arrange, develop and maintain discussions about ethical issues connected with educational research and ethics. Illustrative quotes from respondents in this regard were as follows:

Initiate discussions among the different EERA networks about frames and practices of research ethics in education in the European universities and research institutes

Explore the deeper questions of ethical responsibility, such as ways of ensuring that participants voices are faithfully heard and interpreted, and ways that participants can be supported to really engage with what they are asked about

…discussion around the fact that certain issues and factors are not look[ed] upon in an objective but heavily value-laden manner in society. For example, research has been done on whether over-weight students finish high-school to a lesser extent than others and the results showed that Yes, they do. This may be important for developing support systems for over-weight students in schools, but may not have been addressed without proper research results. However, there is an argument whether this research was done at all due to the fact that the research question itself is controversial. My Point is; we need a discussion around WHY this is a controversial RQ [research question].

Study participants highlighting the importance of debates and discussions on ethical issues, focused on the type of sessions that are being recommended to organise at ECER. The following quotes give examples:

Through the annual ECER conference, EERA may provide an opportunity of sharing how different Ethics Committees across the EU or the world (if possible) work.

Bring the ethical issues forward for discussion, perhaps in workshop like sessions at the annual conference and/or sessions where research cases where ethical issues have surfaced that were not easily handled.

• Discussion organised in such ways as follow:

• – Network at ECER (at ECER should be one network dealing with ethical issues in educational research),

• – Workshops at the ECER,

• – Sessions at the ECER;

• – Sessions at conferences organised especially for the scientific discussion only the ethical issues;

• – Discussion panels at conferences;

• – Seminars and lectures.

EERA publishes and promotes academic publications, specialist publications and information on ethics in educational research. The respondents indicated that EERA should ‘publish common ethical practice specific for each type of research’. The publications could create a platform for critical discussions on approaches to ethics in educational research for researchers at different stages of their careers.

A comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to ethics in educational research

The study participants indicated that EERA could lead in conducting research on ethics in educational research and informing the public about current developments in educational research. Illustrative comments include:

Developing practice of ethics in research in education and informing the public about current developments in educational research.

The development of media-friendly points that emphasize the importance of research and how it benefits societies.

The analysis suggests that respondents would like to see EERA as an organization that is able to work on the fundamentals and principles of creation of knowledge and to highlight the nature of ethical issues and the nature of ethics in educational research from a comparative perspective. Respondents pointed out, for example, that:

It would be helpful/interesting to know more about how ethical approval procedures vary from country to country.

Be clear about the shifting nature of ethical issues and provide illustrations from the wide range of educational research that it has available.

The study shows that EERA should present a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to ethics in educational research.

Developing practices of ethical review

Another main issue related to research ethics review in education that EERA can help address is connected with developing practices of ethical review. Research findings show that EERA can work on developing the quality of the practices of reviewing educational research. Respondents pointed out some issues of interest for EERA and put forward some practical suggestions. In order to make the process of research ethics review less bureaucratic and more ‘clear with strict time limits’, EERA could work on the development of ethical sensitivity among all parties interested in educational research including researchers, reviewers, boards of reviewers and universities. EERA might also work on presenting key principles of ethics review, clear requirements, clear terms and criteria, and transparency in the process. The voices of respondents were very clear on this matter:

Development of the process so it is less bureaucratic and doesn’t stop research from going ahead.

To emphasis that ethical research is NOT about a bureaucratic process but about an ethical approach to interaction with others.

Develop a sophisticated procedure and recommend it to different countries, so to 1) foster ethics in research, but 2) to make it easier to conduct.

From the participants’ point of view, EERA can offer:‘

better assistance when applying for ethics review, and to try to make some institutions aware that not always an ethic committee can guarantee a better way of carrying out research. Sometimes it is more important to focus on other issues in relation to the research.

There were contradictions evident in participants’ perceptions of how EERA might promote high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society. On one hand, the majority of participants support the continued use of national ethical guidelines, whilst also noting the need for ongoing critical reflection regarding ethical challenges. On the other hand, a group of participants support the development by EERA of international standards for the review of educational research. By developing a common procedure and a set of standards, all researchers across Europe would be part of a common ‘ethics system’. These participants felt that it is important to consider the standards in relation to research presented at EERA annual conferences. Study participants proposed, for example, that:

EERA could do a very rigorous assessment of how researchers obtain the data in the research work they submit to the EERA conferences

A requirement that papers at ECER engage with ethics as a matter of course. Abstract submissions to have a box relating to ethical reflections, key scholars and network convenors to model how this can be done.

As far as the theme of developing practices of ethical review is concerned, analysis of the responses showed another issue: EERA could focus on sharing and promotion of best practice. Thus, EERA could:

find out different practices happening in different European context

promote exchange of good practice and promote mutual recognition of RE decisions among institutions.

EERA could also consider an effective means of establishing a European Ethics Development Committee.

Education and ethics in educational research

In the course of the data analysis a theme connected with education on ethics in the academic field of education research emerged. According to the respondents, EERA can play a significant role in fostering the quality of education research through organizing conferences, seminars and workshops on ethics in educational research. These forms of education should be directed to work on awareness and understanding of ethics in educational research and to develop research competences.

Spread awareness of different ethical issues in education (and with children) that people currently administering ethics reviews will have limited knowledge of.

Developing broader understanding and discourse about educational ethics and ethics in education, as well as how these relate to the ethics of conducting particular types of educational research (and NOT conducting particular types of educational research).

Based on the views of participants, EERA can most effectively support researchers at different stages in their careers, especially young researchers, to produce higher quality research: ‘The review should be an opportunity to guide inexperienced researchers in particular to have a clear focus for their research and who the participants might be.’

Conclusions and recommendations

Research findings on ethical reviews of educational research in Europe and beyond presented during one of EERA invited sessions at ECER 2016 in Dublin (Raykov, 2016) demonstrate that study participants understand the meaning of the ethics review process in education and that most of them recognize the need for this type of review. Nevertheless, a significant number of study participants face considerable difficulties in meeting sometimes unclear requirements that delay their studies and diminish the efficiency and/or quality of their work. Findings from the study also demonstrate strong negative associations between reported difficulties with the ethics review process and attitudes toward this practice, as well as uneven development of institutional capacities (Raykov, 2018).

The study directs our attention to the ethics review in social sciences (see Nicholls et al., 2012) and the practices of institutional review boards (IRB). These boards were instituted to protect the rights of research participants. However, we can find research findings that question whether the IRB is currently overstepping its bounds into the domain of the researcher. The IRB can challenge faculty professionalism and limit faculty research independence. Using case study vignettes from five universities, Glenda Droogsma Musoba and her colleagues focused on mission creep and potentially legitimating censorship, and considered when committees focus too much on form rather than content (Musoba et al., 2014). Good reviewing practices are very important for the quality of science and the activities of scientific institutions. They are not only the basis for building an academic culture, but also one of the sources of authority of scientific society (Madalińska-Michalak, 2017: 248).

The qualitative data analysis connected with the main issues related to education research ethics review that EERA can help to address shed a new light on EERA as a scientific association. So far, we have no research on this topic. From the study presented here we can learn that EERA should work on developing practices of reviewing educational research in the context of research ethics. EERA should especially focus on the development of ethical sensitivity among all parties interested in educational research and work on presenting key principles of ethics review, clear requirements, clear terms and criteria and transparency of the process. Some participants indicated the necessity of a having a set of international standards for the review of educational research, standards that could be a part of a common ‘ethics system’.

Findings from the presented study demonstrate that respondents not only concentrated on EERA in the context of research ethics review, but they focused on the complex issue of research ethics and the quality of research within the field of educational research. Respondents’ attitudes towards research ethics indicate a vital need to work on the responsible conduct of research. These findings resonate with the Singapore Statement on Research that was developed as part of the second World Conference on Research Integrity, in Singapore in July 2010. The statement is not a regulatory document and does not represent the official policies of the countries and organizations that funded and/or participated in the conference. It serves as a global guide to the responsible conduct of research. The document covers four general principles: honesty in all aspects of research; accountability in the conduct of research; professional courtesy and fairness in working with others; and good stewardship of research on behalf of others. The statement also contains 14 responsibilities that are fundamental to research integrity. Several research organizations in the world have endorsed the Singapore Statement, including the American Educational Research Association and the World Education Research Association.

The research findings draw our attention to the role of EERA as a scientific association in fostering the quality of educational research. EERA has to play a leadership role in providing an organizational base for promoting dialogue and critical discussion on ethics in educational research, taking a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach in this field. The study showed that EERA should lead the development of guidelines on research ethics like other scientific societies (see: AERA, 2011; BERA, 2011). The purpose of the guidelines is to provide researchers and the research community with knowledge on recognized norms of research ethics. They must be applicable within the field of educational research across Europe whilst recognizing different transnational contexts.

On the basis of the research findings presented in this article, despite some contradictions in participants’ perceptions of how EERA might promote high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society, some recommendations for EERA as a scientific association and its role in promoting science and ethics in research can be formulated.

The findings suggest that EERA can further high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society by taking the lead in:

1. Developing guidelines on ethical research in education that are applicable across Europe.

2. Recognizing wider, transnational contexts with their social, cultural and political similarities and differences, and supporting the development of educational research, researchers, institutional bodies (ethics review boards) and universities.

3. Promoting free and open dialogue and critical discussion on ethics in educational research.

4. Creating the conditions for education on responsible, high quality research through organizing conventions, conferences, symposiums, workshops, seminars, lectures, and especially through organizing pre-conference sessions for emerging researchers.

5. Publishing and promoting academic publications, specialist publications and information.

6. Taking a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to ethics in educational research and informing the public about current developments in educational research.

7. Commenting on public recommendations and academic comments concerning issues raised by educational policies, educational practice and educational research funding and policy.

8. Developing practice in reviewing educational research.

The recommendations for EERA as a professional scientific association relate not only to research ethics review in education that EERA can help address, but they refer to the broader issue of ethics in educational research and EERA’s role in fostering high quality education research. These recommendations can stimulate debate and discussion in other societies and are not necessarily limited to educational research bodies.

The study can be considered a good starting point in examining issues related to the ethics of educational research and the role of professional scientific associations in their leadership in promoting integrity in research. There is a need to bring together theory and practice, to facilitate reflection not only on ethics in educational research, and specifically key issues such as access and consent, voice and empowerment, virtue, conflict, the dominance of modes of reasoning in the character and conduct of research, ethical dilemmas in research (McNamee, 2002), but at the same time to facilitate discussion on the purpose of social sciences (Brooks et al., 2014).