However, research in practice is often carried out in the context of an existing group or class. If you choose to do research with the students you work with, how can you assure them that they can choose not to participate in the research? How can you be as sure as possible that participation in your study is voluntary? Will you be prepared to suggest to someone that they not participate if you sense a hesitation before or during the research?

One approach to address these questions is to conduct the research separately from groups or classes. Andrea Pheasey and I did this in our research about participatory approaches (Norton, 2000a; Pheasey, 2000). We made a presentation about the research to all interested students in our program, invited the students to brainstorm participatory research projects, then invited them to indicate if they wanted to take part in one of the projects, which were carried on outside of the regular learning groups.

Some practitioners working in college settings have invited participation in research after a course is completed. As an example, Leonne Beebe (2006) wanted to learn about the usefulness of a Guided Reflective Writing Technique. The Research Ethics Board at her college gave her permission

to work with my students on the understanding that students would not sign the Students' Consent form until after the course marks were submitted at the end of term. This would ensure that students did not feel obliged, coerced or manipulated to participate. (p. 7)

Students who volunteered to participate gave Leonne their journals which she used as data. Although she had read students' journals during the course, she did not use them as data until the course was finished, and then only with the students' permission.

Another concern with voluntary participation is that potential participants may not understand what they are volunteering for. How can we understand research if we have not participated in research? How can we know what we are agreeing to?

To address this issue, I once asked people to review and sign consent forms at the end of a project that I was researching. I had explained the research at the start, and students had orally agreed to participate. I hoped that participants would have an understanding of the research after they had taken part. I had to be prepared to delete data related to anyone who chose not to give consent. In retrospect, even at the end of the project, participants' readiness to sign may have reflected their trust in our relationship more than an understanding of the research.