In the dynamic landscape of K-12 internationalization, navigating the ethical dimensions of research has become paramount in ensuring that research projects are conducted with care towards participants. This chapter investigates complexities and dilemmas associated with research of and about early study abroad students. By engaging with a collaborative autoethnographic research methodology, the authors share personal stories of their research projects where various dilemmas and sometimes mis-steps have occurred, collectively providing opportunities for critical reflection. The analysis draws from the critical literature of relationality (Yang, J Stud Int Educ 24:518–534, 2020) where discourses around rights and responsibilities, hospitality and reciprocity, justice and equality, and desire and recognition reveal the ethical dilemmas researchers often grapple with. The chapter demonstrates how individual researchers have agency in interrupting unequal power dynamics and practices in internationalization, if engaging critically in equity discourses surrounding internationalization.