Ethics in practitioner research: an issue of quality

This contribution is set in the context of the burgeoning of practitioner inquiry in Australia, taking account also of various European and North American initiatives, against the background of the notion of action research as an emancipatory project. Practitioner inquiry, under these conditions, requires that the work move beyond a utilitarian function, important as that may be in terms of enhancing practice, and that it develops a greater capacity to critique underlying policies. It will argue that if those engaged in practitioner inquiry, in particular in education, and those who support and sponsor them, are to move beyond a celebratory mode, then it is critical that a set of criteria are developed that may be used to govern quality; both in terms of the quality of the research and the quality of the policies at the local and state levels. The case will be made for developing such a platform founded upon principles of ethicality in the interests of all stakeholders, including consequential stakeholders, that is the students themselves, and will clearly have implications for policy and practice. For us, however, the matter of ethicality transcends stakeholder interests and is a central validation issue. Thus, the contribution will draw attention to the ways in which quality is not only determined by sound research practices but also must be such that ethical principles are manifested in the structures and processes of practitioner inquiry. In this sense ethical research practice is of a substantive rather than procedural kind.