Research Ethics in Second Language Education: Universal Principles, Local Practices (1st edition)

This book contributes in a fresh way to the field of research ethics by considering research issues through relatable autobiographical narratives. The book's core offers narratives of novice second language education researchers completing PhD degrees using data from international research participants. The narratives show challenges to the ethical identity of researchers working across diverse value and belief systems. The narrative chapters are followed by four chapters of commentaries by a line-up of international scholars from various academic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

The case study approach reports the experiences and reflections of research students before, during and after the data collection phase of their projects, and offers insights into: recruitment of participants; gaining and maintaining access; understandings about the notion of informed consent; incentivising participants; implications of ensuring anonymity and confidentiality; the right to withdraw participation and data; the positioning of the researcher as insider or outsider; potential conflicts of interest; potential harm to participants and researcher; and dissemination of findings.

This practical and relatable book is aimed at research students and their supervisors in fields such as applied linguistics and education, as well as those following methods courses, to help illustrate the ethical challenges faced by researchers in the process of collecting qualitative data.