Research to empower ourselves and others

In response to Matthew's question about how to avoid the pitfall of unethical consequences of research in the education context, I think we need to start thinking about it from the most basic assumptions. And that is to ask myself, what my true motives are, and therefore what my attitude is towards the study. For example, if the motive is purely to satisfy my intellectual curiosity or for selfish personal gain, then I can imagine this kind of thinking will inevitably be reflected in the way we treat our 'human subjects'. Educational research is particularly vulnerable because our research is often on and about people, and especially on young people.

So the first thing is to examine my motive. And I'd propose here that a genuine sense of care for your research 'subjects' is the bases for an ethical research.