Ethical considerations in undertaking research in higher education: East African context

Abstract

It is incumbent upon educational researchers to ensure that they uphold ethical considerations while conducting their studies for the findings to be trustworthy and valid. This paper enumerated ethical consideration in data collection, principal ethical issues in human subject, identified ethical concerns in report writing and presentations, and established emerging internet research and ethical research practice. The target population was international students enrolled in selected universities in Uganda. The study adopted a mixed methods design. The method for sampling adopted was both random and purposive. The Cronbach’s alpha results obtained from the solutions statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) platform output were 0.8432, which was considerably reliable for the study. The research instruments included questionnaires, interview schedule, focused group discussions (FGD), and document analysis. The key informants were interviewed and documents were coded and analyzed thematically. The study revealed the key ethical considerations adhered in data collection, ethical issues in human subjects not often followed and; guidelines for report writing and final presentations. Results from the study would be of significance to researchers, practitioners and policy makers as they conduct studies within evolving educational context.