Educational equipoise and the educational misconception: Lessons from bioethics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.6.2.2Keywords:
research ethics, educational equipoise, educational misconception, bioethicsAbstract
Some advances in bioethics regarding ethical considerations that arise in the context of medical research can also be relevant when thinking about the ethical considerations that arise in the context of SoTL research. In this article, I aim to bring awareness to two potential ethical challenges SoTL researchers might face when playing a dual role of teacher and researcher that are similar to the challenges physicians face in their dual role of physician and researcher. I argue that two commonly discussed concerns in bioethics—the need for clinical equipoise and the possibility of a therapeutic misconception—have analogies when conducting some types of research on students. I call these counterparts educational equipoise and the educational misconception.
References
American Association of University Professors & Association of American Colleges (1970). 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, with 1970 Interpretive Comments. Retrieved from https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure
Appelbaum, P. S., Roth, L.H., & Lidz. C. (1982). The therapeutic misconception: Informed consent in psychiatric research. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 5(3-4), 319-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-2527(82)90026-7
Burman, M. E. & Kleinsasser, A. (2004). Ethical guidelines for use of student work: Moving from teaching’s invisibility to inquiry’s visibility in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Journal of General Education, 53(1), 59–79. https://doi.org/10.1353/jge.2004.0018
Cartwright, N. (2007). Are RCTs the gold standard? BioSocieties, 2(1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1745855207005029
Dresser, R. (2002). The ubiquity and utility of the therapeutic misconception. Social Philosophy & Policy, 19(2), 271-294. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052502192119
Felten, P. (2013). Principles of good SoTL practice. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 1(1), 121-125. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.1.1.121
Fenton, N. E. & Szala-Meneok, K., (2010). Research on Teaching and Learning Guidebook. Hamilton, ON: McMaster University.
Freedman, B. (1987). Equipoise and the ethics of clinical research. New England Journal of Medicine, 317(3), 3-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198707163170304
Gurung, R. A. R., & Schwartz, B. M. (2009). Optimizing Teaching and Learning. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444305883
Hersch, G. (2015). Experimental economics’ inconsistent ban on deception. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 52, 13-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2015.04.005
Hutchings, P. (2003). Competing goods: Ethical issues in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Change, 35(5), 26-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091380309604116
Leentjens, A. F. G., & Levenson, J. L. (2013). Ethical issues concerning the recruitment of university students as research subjects. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 75(4), 394-398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.03.007
Martin, R. C. (2013). Navigating the IRB: The ethics of SoTL. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2013(136), 59-71. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.20076
McKinney, K. (2007). Enhancing Learning Through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.
Miller, F. G. & Brody, H. (2003). A critique of clinical equipoise: Therapeutic misconception in the ethics of clinical trials. Hastings Center Report, 33(3). 19-28. https://doi.org/10.2307/3528434
Pritchard, l. A. (2002). Travelers and trolls: Practitioner research and institutional review boards. Educational Researcher, 31(3), 3-13.
Regehr, G. (2010). It’s NOT rocket science: Rethinking our metaphors for research in health professions education. Medical Education, 44(1), 31-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2009.03418.x
Smith, R. (2008). Moving toward the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The classroom can be a lab, too! Teaching of Psychology, 35(4), 262-266. https://doi.org/10.1080/00986280802418711
Smith, R. A. (2012). Benefits of using SoTL in picking and choosing pedagogy. In B.M. Schwartz & R. A. R. Gurung (Eds.), Evidence-based Teaching for Higher Education (pp. 7-22). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Swenson, E. & McCarthy, M. (2012). Ethically conducting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research. In R. E. Landrum & M. A. McCarthy (Eds.), Teaching Ethically: Challenges and Opportunities (pp. 21-29). Washington, DC: American psychological Association.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Gil Hersch
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
