Ethical behavior is critically important in qualitative research. Identify three distinct ethical issues that qualitative researchers must consider when conducting research and explain how these issues manifest specifically in qualitative (in similar or different ways than quantitative) designs.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Varies.

Researchers have an obligation to conduct ethical research. Many of the ethical issues that qualitative researchers address present themselves differently than when they are considered by researchers conducting quantitative research. For example, qualitative researchers must carefully consider the extent to which they obtain consent (whereas for most quantitative research studies [with the possible exception of naturalistic observation], participant permission is seen as a natural requirement). For qualitative research to be ethical, participation must be voluntary but requiring that everyone provide informed consent is often unrealistic. Such a goal could potentially dramatically limit the ability of researchers to conduct research in certain settings. Still, the issue of informed consent is one that is very important for researchers to evaluate. Qualitative researchers must make all attempts to avoid causing harm to participants. This issue of subject well-being is one that certainly includes physical harm, but also includes harm to individuals’ reputations, psychological well-being, and any influence on the natural course of events in observed individuals’ lives. Like quantitative researchers, qualitative researchers struggle with the question of how much they should disclose of the purpose of their research study to participants. Finally, qualitative researchers must carefully address the issue of confidentiality. For example, the discussion of events that are linked to a specific person “protected” by a fictional name may ultimately make new information known about that person to a community (i.e., confidentiality becomes compromised) if a community had knowledge of those events.