Interesting question - in a research project of mine (an ethnography regarding illegalized actions) we reconstructed four types of ethical dilemma in social research that arise from the entanglement of the researcher with the world she/he studies (in short):

1. Ethical Problems regarding your role as a social scientist in a scientific community (Truth and Reputation problems)

- e.g. if you use an approach not accepted in your field/community or you research a topic that is regarded as problematic/taboo

- strategies: censor your own data (sources) because you are afraid to talk about it/loose reputation/appear as unscientific etc. or make them transparent, but risk the consequences

2. Ethical problems regarding your relation to the people you study (Trust problems and Harm)

- e.g. people trust you, not to harm them, but you never can be sure how your actions can be harmful (e.g. you involuntarily reveal too much information that risks their anonymity or as interviews can sometimes be quasi-therapeutic people reveal things they are later ashamed of - but they give the consent beforehand that you record the interview) - how you handle sensitive information (regardless of the consent you got)

- you can also be a danger to the people/filed by betraying them or revealing information (in an observation or interview situation) that can be later used against them // and the field/people can be a danger to you too (e.g. you could be robbed)

- strategies: protect the field and people (but risk the scientific value of your work and ignore civic duties) or you reveal anything you gather (with and without consent) but risk the relationship between researcher and the people under study

3. Ethical Problems regarding your role as a citizen and the local laws (civic problems)

- e.g. witnessing illegal actions, hear about illegal actions (planned or done); become arrested to reveal your sources (happened with an ethnographer who worked on environmental groups and who did not give the information on who he interviewed)

- strategies: file a report or become an accomplice

4. Ethical Problems regarding your own beliefs (Moral problems)

- e.g. you enjoy/hate research in a field you do reseacrh in and this may cloud your perception or lead to personal problems ...

- strategies: stop doing the research or try to adapt

No ethical guideline protects you from encountering such problems and most researchers aggree that it is a case-to-case evaluation wether you should/could/must prefer a scientific/researched/civic/personal perspective. Problems mostly arise if the perspectives (and the conditions and consequences that follow them) can't be united by the reseacher.

Hope that helps,

Thank you Paul, for your nice illustration.

It does help!

Yeah, I do feel that, it is really hard for qualitative researchers to do research, as at times, participants may not be willing to give you consent to observe them, interview them and reveal their secrets. And that is what you want to know.

As a researcher, we may be able to maintain anonymity, but confidentiality is hard to achieve in qualitative studies.

Not protecting the identity of your participants is the biggest one. Another big issue is Bias. Asking personal questions that has nothing to do with your study, Using derogatory labels etc. There are many factors.

Dear Shovana,

thank you for this interesting question! Besides the - to me - obvious aspects like treating the participants with respect and protect their personal data secure, anonymous etc. the question I'm concerned right now is about countability and accountability. Since I work with a performative approach, to me it is crucial in which ways empirical 'evidence' and phenomena are produced in the first place through our scientific work. This becomes evident, when we think about questions of countability: this means what will and can be counted as ir-/relevent regarding empirical research, what/who counts and what/who doesn't. This is not only an arithmetical or mathematical problem but also in terms of subjects that can (or cannot) matter. In this way it becomes clear, that empirical research is always a powerful mode of subjection (Foucault, Butler etc.), that produces certain subjects by including/excluding certain ones at the same time.

The ethical question for me is here: (how) can we handle this problem regarding empirical research? In which ways should our approach on empirical research be changed to cope with these problems? I don't believe that this problem can be solved to be honest, but if we had a different approach on empirical research in the first place, there wouldn't be the same problems like before. But this would mean that we had do drop ideas like 'objectivity', 'reliablity' and 'validity' because they seem to be a positivst heritage. By shifting the perspective on what could be called empirical, the productivness of the research progress should be more made visible as well as the underlying argumentation that results from this process concerning the empirical material. Such a perspctive wouldn't be 'objective' but could still be understood and challenged by argument. The research would become a certain 'reading' of an underlying phenomenon - nothing more, nothing less. Of course, this wouldn't solve the problem of countability, but it would definitely be a modest and more careful approach, trying not to be to violent to the phenomenon of interest. It would also sensitize researchers of the productive power they perform within the process of doing research and in which ways they create (include/exclude) certain forms of subjectivity - let it be regarding gender, ethnicity, class, region etc.

This also makes clear, that research, methods, theory aren't neutral 'instruments', they are powerful productive tools that should be used in a reflective and cautious way. Therefore research isn't neutral or descriptive, rather its powerful and productive. Regarding ethics, I think this illustrated in which (and sure further) ways we should reflect about our responsibility as researchers.

Kind regards!

Another key concern in research in general is that we make sure we are not only taking from our participants. This is particularly relevant for extended research in a community, whether in a school, family, etc., where you are requesting people to invest their time and energy, experiences and perceptions for instance. So at the culmination of data collection, or the project, what will you give back? How will you ethically use the data so the participants’ time was not only for your gain (eg publication, presentation)? To address this, we have developed sets lf resources the participants were interested in, round tables or workshops to bring community members together, or showcasing of participant voice through a gallery show. There is no one way to approach this. You can let your community and participants help guide you on what would be meaningful to them.

I follow answers

best regards

An ethical challenge in qualitative research depends on the questions you are asking your participants that may be too sensitive that may cause them discomfort or psychological distress. Measures must be undertaken to address this concern.