ethical challenges in the conduct of qualitative rsearch

8/12/2019 Ethical Challenges in the Conduct of Qualitative Rsearch

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Ethical challenges in theconduct of qualitative researchDesley Hegney and Tuck Wai han highlight the issues ofparticular relevance to qualitative studies


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Accessing the research site and recruit ing participants raise many ethicalquestions that researchers need to take into considerat ion before start ingtheir research. Although the focus of the research might differ, the issues aremuch the same for research by quali tative researchers as they are for thoseinvo lved in quant i ta t ive research. Houghton e t l (2010) and Wal ls et l(2010) descr ibe how they required assistance from cl in ical staff to d istr ibuteinformation about their research as part of their recrui tment processes. Threedistinct steps are suggested:

Clinical staff can ask patients if they are interested in participating in research,and i f they are they are given written information. If, after reading this informa-t ion , the patients are sti l l interested in participating in the research they contactsomeone from the research team. Potential participants can then choose to optin or opt out and are also able to withdraw at any time.

Removing the researcher from the consent process until the potential par-ticipant is wil l ing to meet them helps to ensure that individuals do not feelcoerced into taking part in the research. In some instances, however, it is notpossible to use this process to rec ruit participan ts. For exa m ple, H ou gh ton et a/ s(2010) research involved the observation of students who were providing careto patients and, therefore, involved healthcare staff patients and visitors to theresearch area. The authors discuss their process for obtaining informed consentto collert data in a public space. They note that visitors to the clinical area canalso become part of the research and that there can be diff iculty in de cidingfrom w ho m to o bta in info rm ed consent and by wh at m eans . The strategy usedto overcome this was to place posters in public spaces to inform visitors and toprovide information sheets for the ward staff What the authors do not consideris what might happen if a visitor does not consent to participate in the research.Does this mean they are unable to visit their relative or does it mean that theresearch must be suspended?


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a potentially exploitative relationship can arise between the researcher and theresearch participant and link this to the ethical principles of autonomy, benefi-cence and justice . In the conduct of their research, and in all human research, theprinciple of justice is the most important. Are the students being treated as mereobjects of the researcher or as a resource with little or no consideration of theirwellbeing? A similar question could be asked when conducting sensitive researchas described by McGarry (2010). Given the sensitive nature of the research, arethe participants the right ones to be recruited or are they simply a group that iseasy to access?

Houghton eta l (2010) also discuss the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence, noting that the researchers have to calculate the risk-benefitratio . They state that the ben efit of the inte rview does not outweigh theharm of distress . This statement acknowledges tha t all research carries therisk of some harm: it is just the degree of harm that has to be balanced. Theynote that if the interviewee becomes distressed then the researcher may(our emphasis) refer participants to appropriate professional inte rve ntion . Itcould,however, be argued that researchers have an obligation to take action.Consideration should also be given to the fact that the distress constitutes anadverse event which must be reported to the REC. In any research protocol,harm should be anticipated and processes put in place to manage it.

Houghton etal (2010) also highlight the complex dual role of the clinicianand researcher . They use the example of a po ten tially dangerous situationwhere the researcher observes poor care. They argue that here the researcher,as a nurse, should intervene. There are arguments in some research disci-plines that interfering in this way might not be appropriate, but when theresearcher is a nurse, with a professional obligation that takes precedenceover their role as a researcher, they have no choice but to always consider thecare of the patient first. Houghton et al (2010) demonstrate the complexity


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are working in and that they have multiple roles (nurse, teacher, researcher)and must consider how these roles might clash with or affect their research.These three papers have examined some interesting ethical considerations

but they also suggest that the ethical conduct of qualitative research (in thesocial behavioural research ethics paradigm) is somehow different to that ofquantitative research. While many RECs may believe that there is a greaterrisk of harm from poorly designed social science research, this is not neces-sarily so. Ethical principles should equally apply to all research regardless ofthe paradigm being used. Many of the issues considered apply as equally toquantitative research as they do to qualitative researchDesley Hegney is director of research Alice Lee Centre for Nursing StudiesNational University of Singapore and Faculty of Health Sciences theUniversity of QueenslandTuck Wai Chan is associate director Institutiona l Review BoardNational University of Singapore

Houg hton CE Casey D Shaw D Mu rph y K (2010) Ethical challenges in qualitative research:examples from practice. urseResearcher 18, 1 , 15-25.McGarryJ (2010) Exploring the effect of conducting sensitive research. urse Researcher 18, 1 8-14.Walls P Parahoo K Fleming P McCaughan (2010) Issues and considerations whenresearching sensitive issues with men: examples from a study of men and sexual hea lth. urse Researcher 18, 1, 26-34.


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ethical challenges in the conduct of qualitative rsearch

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