Considering Consent: An Analysis of Coercion in Educational Research With Trans and Queer Peoples


Cameron Carley, Western University; Fred Seabrook, Western University

When conducting research with human participants, explicit and continuous verbal and written consent to participate must be given to ensure that participants understand what participation entails. Specifically, prior and informed consent is an essential measure to mitigate potential harm arising from research participation. Essentially, consent and ethics must be fully and transparently communicated to participants. However, we wonder whether consent, as outlined by institutional research ethics boards (REBs), can comprehensively account for the complex and evolving power dynamics between researchers and participants. In this session, we consider the intricacies of requesting and providing consent in research with trans and queer populations, identifying how societal power dynamics impact consent. Using trans theory as a conceptual framework, we aim to examine how gender identity is produced and reproduced through inherently transphobic academic systems and institutions. We supplement trans theory with queer theory to guide our exploration of how consent is conceptualized and solicited in educational research with trans and queer populations. These frameworks are used in tangent as theoretical tools and safeguards against erasure of trans peoples through conflation and homogenization of trans populations in common discourse. Themes of consent, coercion, and hegemony will be identified through a review of literature regarding educational research with human participants, which will inform a document analysis on ethical consent processes from the Government of Canada’s REB. Recognizing that trans and queer peoples continue to experience marginalization within settler colonial institutions, we problematize whether consent can be ethically provided for research centering trans and queer populations within institutions operating under hegemony. As hegemony involves interweaving systems of domination and power, consent becomes compromised because consent cannot be agreed upon with coercion emerging from domination. Contextually, in systems of domination, trans and queer populations may experience pressures or obligations to participate in research as an act of embodied agency and advocacy towards furthering trans and queer discourses and rights. Accordingly, these motivations can be seen as coercive. This complicates the power dynamics between researcher and participant, and in this session, we will question what consent currently entails and what it could entail when critically analyzing consent procedures in educational research. This session relates to the theme of “Challenging Hate: Fostering Human Flourishing,” as we question the often insidious marginalization of trans and queer peoples through superficial heteronormative and cisnormative consent practices that do not wholly consider research with trans and queer populations. Critically analyzing REB standards is a step towards facilitating trans and queer futures in educational research that encompass equity, humility, and transparency. However, in looking to the future, we cannot forget the past and present. Although the foundations of academia are harmful to trans and queer peoples, these folks also flourish within and outside academia: We want to add to this impactful scholarship that stands in power with trans and queer peoples. As such, we must recognize how hate can function within topics of consent, as consent can function to absolve the researcher of any harm caused to the participants when operating within the ethics protocols outlined for educational research. To achieve this, we must challenge the historical and contemporary foundations of research ethics, positing new foundations that contribute to positive experiences of trans and queer folks in educational research. We want to ensure that consent is a key part of trans and queer folks sharing their experiences and their worlds in ways that feel culturally safe and encouraging.  

This paper will be presented at the following session: