I have written an auto-ethnography but as it involves another, living person (who I won't identify by name but may be identifiable by my description) what are the ethical pitfalls? I put to project away because I was concerned about the ethics involved but I really want to finish the paper.
Thanks in advance, Aviva
P.S. It's not about the early draft I posted about Audism.
Clearly, there's a real problem if you can reasonably foresee the person might be identified. It becomes a question of their consent at that point. If they can't give consent, then approach their legal representatives. But, if you need to do that appoint you own legal representation to help your.
My sense is that you're in America. A dreadfully litigious society. So take great care.
Christopher NOCK
Aviva Twersky Glasner Christopher Nock Michael Uebel I support the the above answers. Take care. Remember some things are just ethically out of reach for the researcher. Best of luck.
Thank you so very much for your replies. All very helpful and I am grateful to you all
I have found in autoethnography that some topics may need to be obscured in order to not reveal the identities of those related to central person. Consider if you could describe the experience by changing some irrelevant details. For instance, if you are talking about a childhood male teacher, would it change the experience described by saying it was a female teacher or older or younger than the actual person was. The point here is that it is intended to be a description and revealing of your life and if instead it focuses or opens up the lives of others, the other people are in harms way. You could look to the work of Carolyn Ellis who writes extensively on autoethnography.
A. S. CohenMiller, thank you for your response. It's a tough question but in this particular instance I have determined that it would be very difficult to obscure the identity of the person. :-(
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