Week 4 - Ethics Flashcards
Tri council policy statement
framework for ethical research involving human participants
in canada
3 federal agencies
Canadian institues of health research
o Natural sciences and engineering research council of canada
o Social sciences and humanities research council of canada
core ethical principles
- Respect for persons
o Acknowledge intrinsic value and autonomy of individuals
o Emphasize importance of informed consent and protecting vulnerable
populations - Concern for human welfare
o Overall quality of life
o Consider health, housing, employment, community involvement - Justice
o Fairness and equity in research
o Benefits and burdens of research are distributed justly
Dissemination
openly share results unless it risks participant safety, provide
feedback when possible, acknowledge limitations, avoid data distortion
Indigenous research
Researchers and indigenous partners must navigate individual vs collective interests
importance of elders, knowledge keepers, indigenous governance structures
exploitative research practices have led to apprehension in indigenous
communities
OCAP principles
ownership, control, access, possession – guides ethical research
practices, highlight need for reflection on academic freedom, engagement with future
generations, spiritual values
Open mindset
Enter research without preconceived notions, avoid expecting pariticpants to confirm your assumptions
Questioning technique
Favour “how” questions over “why” questions – encourage contextual
discussions
Acknowledge constraints
Be aware of factors that may limit a participants autonomy, such as fear of
authority or lack of understanding, recognize social and personal contexts that may influence wilingness to share
Contextual approaches
Adapt research methods to a specific community and culture, show respect for participants values and norms
Descriptive rather than remedial
Avoid a fix it mentality, focus on observing and understanding
Authentic relationships
o Treat participants as partners rather than subjects
o Build genuine relationships to help dispel bias
Gaining access to the field
- Community leaders as gatekeepers – getting permission to study the group
o Honestly state research intenti9ons
- Corporate research complexity
o Gaining access to corporations may involve navigating legal departments,
companies may dictate terminology and research focus
Spending time in the field
Researcher presence – demeanor and visibility can vary, be aware of how presence impacts the community
Building relationships – familiarity with community can foster openness
ethical considerations in the field
Friendships – genuine friendships can complicate ethical responsibilities
Intimate relationships – complex ethical challenges
Leaving the field
Done respectfully, maintain integrity of relationships, consider informing
participants of findings to show appreciation
Transition to a frienship role
Covert field research
Observing without revealing ones identity
Justified when it aims to protect individuals or groups from harm
expose injustices or
improve conditions
by police, governments, is opposed as it is seen as an intrusion
truly anonymous
Interviewing and transcribing
Participants may want to be anonymous, so they don’t want to sign forms
- Verbal consent
o Explains the same details as written consent, does not require a signature
Presentism
researchers must avoid judging historical documents by modern standards
Collaborative analysis
can be used to help mitigate viewpoints
Analyzing data
Remain true to the data, do not force it to fit into preconceived theories
Acting ethically in the digital age
Accessibility – information on publicly accessible web pages may be treated like printed
materials in magazines
- Anonymity and informed consent – social media challenges traditional commitments to
anonymity, need for informed consent is questioned
Ethical reflection in writing
Avoid jargon, use the active voice, neutral tone, allow reader interpretation, avoid influencing readers opinions, be consistent
Two dimensions of ethics
- Procedural ethics – formal ethical guidelines, typically established through research
ethics board - Ethics in practice – day to day ethical decisions that arise as researchers engage in the
field
Reflexivity as an ethical tool
Reflexivity – researchers relfecting on their actions, decisions, and impact throughout the
research process
- Allows researchers to examine their own role, biases, and ethical considerations in
conducting research
- supplements limitations of procedural ethics
procedural ethics
seen as a formality
ethics committee may be unfamiliar or antagonistic toward qualitative methods
ethical committees cannot see all unexpected ethical challenges. Researchers may
gloss over potential risks
ethics in practice
unanticipated situations arise, demanding quick and thoughtful responses
react to sensitive disclosures or participant vulnerabilities
o breaching confidentiality to avoid harm
microethics
address issue between high level bioethical debates and everyday issues faced in clinical practice
ethical complexities in everyday interactions
relationship and interactions between
researchers and participants, for respondng to sensitive disclosures
frustration with procedural ethics
biomedical models may not fit research needs, ethics applications are formal and
bureaucratic
history of procedural ethics
after WWII with the Nuremberg code, created to protect research participants
after atrocities committed by Nazi doctors
value of procedural ethics
protects basic rights and safety of participants
provides a checklist for researchers, prompting them to consider issues like
confidentiality, consent, risks, benefits
limitations of procedural ethics
not much guidance in dealing with real life situations faced in qualitative research
knowledge construction
research is a collaboration between researchers and participants
o process requires scrutiny, reflection, and interrogation of how data is gathered
defining reflexivity
continuously examine their actions, roles, and research process with the same
critical scrutiny as the data itself
o actively construct interpretations and critically question how those interpretations
come about
two-step process
process: first, objectively observing the research subject, and second,
reflecting on that observation itself
RESEARCH ETHICS
principles - guide interactions w/ research participants & our commitment to safeguard their
rights & interests
The Most Basic Ethical Dilemma
- Balancing 2 important & sometimes conflicting responsibilities
confidentiality
do not disclose information that identifies any one participant to anyone else
Protecting confidentiality
informed consent, confidentiality forms, electronic or handwritten codes, assign pseudonyms
Primary obligation
do no harm
anonymity
protecting identity of participants
individuals cannot be identified
individual conflict of interest
interests of researcher dont coincide with interests of participants
institutional conflict of interest
interests of institution conflict with ethical obligations
all ethical research requires…
systematic data gathering
transparency and accuracy
collection of original data
fair and accurate data representation
