Transcript File

General Ethical Concerns
• There are, overall, the same ethical
issues involved in qualitative
research as in qualitative research.
• These include:
 Informed Consent
 Protection from psychological and


physical harm
Respect for the participants’ integrity
and privacy
The right to withdraw
 However, there are special ethical
considerations to be made due to
the very nature of qualitative
research.
 The characteristics of qualitative or
field research usually include close
personal contact with the
participant.
 Special care must be made in order
to ensure the protection of the
participants and those in the field
which researchers study.
 Ethical issues such as anonymity
may arise in case studies or in
research designs with a small
number of participants, because of
the risk that they may be identified
in research reports.
 Informed consent and protection
from harm may become issues when
considering the nature of many
environments that qualitative
researchers look to uncover.
 The general rule of psychological
research states that informed
consent should always be obtained.
 The nature of some qualitative
studies, however, may warrant
exceptions to this rule.
 Some review boards will offer a
pardon to this rule if the outcome
outweighs the potential harm of
uninformed participants (as in the
case with studying addictions or
violence in a street gang).
 The researchers must explicitly
make clear to any participant that
participation is voluntary.
 As with case studies, participants
must always be afforded the right to
withdraw their information and any
other data.
 The researchers must take
preventive action in all research, to
avoid harming the participants.
 This is particularly true in sensitive
research topics, such as domestic or
drug abuse.
 This is where informed consent
becomes increasingly important.
Researchers must always remain
transparent about the nature of
interview questions, the purpose of
focus groups, and the objectives of
observations.
 The participants should always be
informed about the issues
surrounding anonymity and
confidentiality.
 The identity of the participants
should not be known outside of the
research team, but in the case
where sampling has involved a
third party (i.e. managers, class
mates, teachers), this cannot be
done, and in this case the
participants should be informed.
To assure someone of confidentiality
means that what has been discussed
will not be repeated, or at least, not
without permission.
The notion of confidentiality (and
anonymity) is invariably raised and
discussed with research participants
prior to their participation in research.
These issues are usually discussed in
the informed consent form.
To assure someone of confidentiality
means that what has been discussed
will not be repeated, or at least, not
without permission.
The notion of confidentiality (and
anonymity) is invariably raised and
discussed with research participants
prior to their participation in research.
These issues are usually discussed in
the informed consent form.