{"id":5213,"date":"2025-06-19T23:50:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T23:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/navigating-the-contours-of-ethical-research-in-higher-education-an-african-perspective\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T06:17:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T06:17:41","slug":"navigating-the-contours-of-ethical-research-in-higher-education-an-african-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/navigating-the-contours-of-ethical-research-in-higher-education-an-african-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating the Contours of Ethical Research in Higher Education:  An African Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This article was originally published as: <strong>Navigating the Contours of Ethical Research in Higher Education:  An African Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Original Article Link: <a href='https:\/\/journals.dut.ac.za\/index.php\/ajims\/article\/view\/978' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Read Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Download PDF: <a href='https:\/\/journals.dut.ac.za\/index.php\/ajims\/article\/view\/978\/744' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Click Here to Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Abstract<\/h2>\n<p>This study explores the plethora of challenges encountered in ensuring that research conducted in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Africa is ethical and morally unobjectionable. The study reflects on the roles and accountabilities of various stakeholders in contributing to the various challenges, either directly or indirectly. Data were collected using a narrative review of literature. Several challenges militate against the conduct of ethically sound research. The challenges can be categorised at two levels: the individual level and the system level. They include but are not limited to the lack of ethical awareness among emerging researchers, researchers not embracing ethics as their full responsibility, and the prevalence of a wide knowledge gap between researchers and participants. On the part of HEIs, challenges such as the lack of functional ethics committees, institutions\u2019 failure to improve ethical literacy among emerging researchers, and a lack of mechanisms to monitor researchers\u2019 conducts during the course of studies, particularly in empirical research, have been identified. A focus on the wider African research space illuminates such challenges as language barriers, diverging cultural and religious practices, rules and regulations of the land, and lower literacy levels in some parts of the continent. To mitigate these challenges, we recommend that HEIs should prioritise the conduct of ethical research through increased funding, through the institution of monitoring mechanisms, and through ensuring that highly and appropriately qualified personnel are constitutive of ethics committees to ensure best practice.<\/p>\n<h2>Authors<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Elvis  Madondo (Durban University of Technology)<\/li>\n<li>Kemist Shumba (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Keywords<\/h2>\n<p>Ethics challenges in Africa, ethical literacy, higher education institutions, monitoring mechanisms, research ethics committees, social research<\/p>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n<p>References not available for this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article was originally published as: Navigating the Contours of Ethical Research in Higher Education: An African Perspective Original Article&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[2153,2110,2109,1606,2111,2112,2113],"class_list":["post-5213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-ajims","tag-ethical-literacy","tag-ethics-challenges-in-africa","tag-higher-education-institutions","tag-monitoring-mechanisms","tag-research-ethics-committees","tag-social-research","wpcat-124-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - 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