Considering Canada's Tri-Council statement on the ethical conduct for research involving human subjects, we discuss some of the ethical challenges of doing research on teaching and learning in which one's own students and teaching act as the context of such scholarly activity. We advocate establishing basic principles based in the complex relationships in teaching and learning, making reference to the such issues as the potential social consequences for students of choosing not to participate in SoTL research. We propose some principles for those new to teaching and learning research to consider as part of their own ethical considerations.