ACT Research Seminar: with Dr Naomi Norton, Music, University of York
RCH/004, Ron Cooke Hub, Campus East, University of York (Map)
Event details
Join us for this weeks ACT research seminar. The seminars take place once a month during teaching weeks. Lunch will be provided. See you there!
Title: Researching (with) our students: Ethical considerations for researchers in education
Abstract: Researchers working in educational settings have the opportunity to design projects that involve their students as participants but doing so should involve careful consideration of the ethics of this approach. In the disciplines of healthcare, psychology, and the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoTL) there are publications about researchers’ and students' experiences of this kind of research and frameworks that can be used to enhance ethical conduct. This paper synthesises recommendations from that body of literature to identify two main areas of ethical considerations for researchers working in educational contexts to consider. The first focuses on potential conflicts of interest for educators-as-researchers and concerns relating to student vulnerability. The second focuses on ways to ensure justice and respect when researching (with) students. Implementing changes designed to produce research that is ‘ethical’ as well as ‘effective’ may be a challenge, but the recommendations shared as part of this research seminar will help everyone to navigate the complexities and ensure they are represented in published reports. This session will be of particular interest to members of staff (contemplating) undertaking research with student-participants, members of Research Ethics Committees who may be asked to review applications for this type of research, and students who may be asked to act as participants in research. Dr Norton’s home discipline is music and she has a specialist interest in the health and wellbeing of musicians; however, this research seminar will be of relevance to all members of the School of ACT (and beyond) and SoTL network as it focuses on research methodology rather than a discipline-specific topic.
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About the speaker
Dr Naomi Norton
Dr Naomi Norton is a Lecturer in Music Education within the School of Arts and Creative Technologies and member of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Network at the University of York. She has a special interest in how to conduct ethical research with student-participants and lived experience of this process while acting as educator-researcher for a research project formed around her 20-credit undergraduate module ‘Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Musicians’. Recognition of her work in this area has led to her being invited to become a member of the Ethics Governance Network, contributing to the University of York SoTL Methods Resource and professional development events, and sharing best practice as part of the ‘Psychology of Music’ podcast and international conferences in Odense (Denmark, Musicians’ Health Conference 2025) and Montreal (Canada, ISME World Conference 2026). Her forthcoming paper Researching (with) our students: Ethical considerations for music researchers in education brings together her knowledge of recommendations for ethical research with student-participants synthesised from a narrative review of published literature and sets it against a review of ethical considerations reported in publications from her home discipline of Musicians’ Health and Wellbeing.
Venue details
Wheelchair accessible