Researchers Training Researchers: Ethics Training in Quantitative Applied Linguistics

Abstract

This forum piece reports on a brief survey of current quantitative research ethics training materials in Applied Linguistics (AL). This survey was conducted as a step towards an increased understanding of the ways in which we, as a field, train students and researchers to conduct quantitative research ethically. The survey was carried out in the process of creating research ethics training materials as part of a grant‐funded project related to questionable research practices (QRPs). Through manual and computer‐assisted searches in twenty‐four textbooks and twenty‐three course syllabi from the past five years, three themes emerged: (1) research ethics is most often conceptualized in terms of IRB‐related topics, (2) when ‘ethical gray‐zone’ issues are mentioned, the focus is primarily on methodological transparency, data sharing/open science, and selecting the appropriate research design and statistical tests, and (3) materials tend to address the topic of research ethics in a single section or chapter, or in a single day or week of a course. Against this background, we provide three recommendations that our field can implement to provide more robust and thorough research ethics training for students and researchers in TESOL and Applied Linguistics: (1) expand our conceptualization of research ethics to include ethical gray‐zone issues, (2) be thorough and explicit in our discussion of ethical issues related to research decisions, and (3) incorporate research ethics as a recurring theme throughout textbooks and courses.