Odiousness of our craft--
I was reading "Thinking About Research..." group blog and came across Howard's point of ethics and his concern that we don't discuss the ethical implications of what we as researchers do. A few weeks ago when we talked about interviews, someone mentioned how that either before or after the interview, the researcher engages in some small talk with the subject and sometimes the subject lets down her guard and says something that she doesn't want to share. What does one do with this?
I'm likely dating myself but I used to watch a TV detective show entitled "Columbo." Columbo had a method of acting dumb and confused and just as the interview ended, he would ask a "clarifying" question. Usually, he caught someone off guard and was able to get some information that he would use to solve his case. I can see how this technique worked for Columbo but in a research setting, it seems to be deceitful.
Mary
I think this is definitely a grey area. My first instinct is to say that if you trick someone into saying more than they expected, then you got the information from them through deceit and it isn't right to use it. At the same time, all good journalists frame questions in a way that forces (or tries to force) their subjects to reveal more information than intended so that they have a juicer story. In that sense, I don't see why research interviews cannot play the same games.
ReplyDeleteIf a research subject signed a consent form that promised them their personal information would not be revealed and then it was because it helped advance some research, then that would definitely be wrong because it is in breach of an actual signed document. But something like using information that a subject mistakenly revealed seems more frowned upon than not allowed. At the same time, I would be pretty upset as a research subject if some information that I thought was just between me and the interviewer was eventually published (I seem to be going back and forth on my opinion here). Determining whether something is ethical or not can be really tricky because it is deeply attached to one’s personal opinion on what is right and what is wrong. In the case of interviewing subjects, I guess the best thing to do would be to clearly state what content will stay on and off the record in order to be as ethical as possible.
I agree with Amy this is not a black and white situation! However saying that reading the university of Toronto ethical guidelines they note that:
ReplyDeleteRespect for Human Dignity
Respecting the dignity of research subjects is a key component of ethics throughout the research process. To maintain respect for human dignity, research must respect the autonomy of the individual, and therefore protect the multiple and interdependent interests of the person, including physical, psychological, social and cultural. Respecting dignity also entails ensuring that subjects are not treated in a way that they may find embarrassing, upsetting or uncomfortable.
Free and Informed Consent
The voluntary and knowing agreement of the subject to participate in the research is a cornerstone of modern research ethics. Maintaining valid informed consent means more than obtaining a signature on a page. It is a continuous process of disclosure and education that involves ongoing communication, trust and fidelity between researchers and human subjects.
Respect for Vulnerable Persons
Respect for dignity entails high ethical obligations towards those who are relatively disempowered or have diminished decision-making capacity. Researchers must be aware of the power dynamic involved in any research, but particularly with those who are vulnerable because of cognitive or other deficits, or situational factors. Ethical obligations to vulnerable individuals in the research enterprise will often dictate special procedures to protect their interests.
In the case Mary has presented above, when I read the free and informed consent portion, I think if you trick someone into revealing information it is not informed consent, and should not be used in the research, unless you make it very clear and ask the person after they have revealed this information. Also the vulnerable portion makes it very clear, that you have to respect their decision making capacity, so if they are easily tricked maybe their not the best subject to begin with!