The Ethical Issues in Ethnographic Research (original) (raw)
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The researcher’s role in the research process. Reflections and experiences of an ethnologist
Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 2015
In this paper I present my refl ections and experiences from decades of ethnological research until now. Auto-ethnography means that researchers use their personal experiences in a selfrefl exive way in the ethnographic research process both regarding data collection and analysis. The aim is that researchers in this way may better understand and interpret other people and cultures which they study in the fi eld. The personal background plays a role, both in what you choose to study and what you deliberately avoid to investigate. You can also problematize the researcher's gender. The ethical aspects of research become important so that the scholars will not harm the people being studied. There are restrictions of the researcher´s subjectivity.
Report commissioned by the Ethics Unit B6, DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission. The main audience for this Report are the members of ethics review panels who might not be so familiar with ethnographic research or qualitative research methods. Ethical review should be informed by the underlying theoretical and methodological assumptions of the discipline which frames the research proposal. This requires the provision of a full justification of the research approach from the research proposer, together with a properly constituted and competent review panel and a robust, fair and transparent review process.
Ethnographic Research in the Changing Context: Some Reflections on Ethical Issues and Dilemma
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This paper provides a critical review of the ethical issues and methodological advancements in ethnographic research, focusing on the complexities and dilemmas introduced observed in empirical context by different scientific studies. By synthesizing existing literature, the paper examines key ethical concerns such as maintaining ongoing consent and confidentiality, as well as the challenge of balancing researcher engagement with the field, and subjective worldview with objective reality. It also explores the impact of technological advancements and digital tools, including their role in studying online communities and diverse cultural settings. These innovations offer substantial benefits for enhancing ethnographic research but also introduce new ethical dilemmas that require thoughtful consideration. To conclude, this paper highlights the necessity for researchers to integrate these new methodologies while upholding rigorous ethical standards, offering insights into how ethnographic practice can adapt to contemporary challenges while preserving its foundational principles. Index Terms-ethnographic research, ethical issues, methodological advancements, digital tools, research review, research ethics.
Ethnocentric ethics in anthropological research
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The paper discusses the application of ethnocentric ethical rules in anthropological research. The ethnocentrism lies in the fact that North American and European definitions of right and wrong are imposed on anthropological research everywhere in the world. Apparently - and ironically - some anthropological committees seem to assume that west- ern values are universally valid. The paper draws mainly on experiences of the author and of PhD researchers supervised by him.
Ethical Issues in Social Sciences Research
Ethical tensions are part of the everyday practice of doing research-all kinds of research .How do researchers deal with ethical problems that arise in the practice of their research, and are there conceptual frameworks that they can draw on to assist them? This article at first focuses on the concept of ethics and its guidelines then legal requirement of research and the misconducts after express procedural ethics and ethics in practice moreover offer some principles for good practice in education and negotiation ethics in practice at last it explains ethical problems of research plus some solutions to it.
Ethical dilemmas and self-reflexivity in ethnographic fieldwork
Ethical dilemmas and self-reflexivity in ethnographic fieldwork, 2022
Whilst ethnography has been increasingly adopted by translation researchers in examining various sociological aspects of translation (e.g. Marinetti and Rose 2013; Olohan and Davitti 2015; Anonymous 2020), the ethical dilemmas that an ethnographer encounters are often overlooked in translation studies literature. Drawing on the fieldnote data, this presentation sets out to engage in a self-reflexive analysis of the following issues: What ethical dilemmas did I grapple with during the fieldwork? How did the doubts and anxieties change my behaviour in the field and my perceptions of research participants? How can an ethnographer cope with these challenges? I first briefly introduce the study of online collaborative translations in China for which I undertook fieldwork in order to collect first-hand data. Then I move on to discuss an ethnographic methodology underpinned by hermeneutics and its core method of participant observation. My fieldwork can be broadly divided into three stages, i.e. descriptive observation and non-participation; focused observation and moderate participation; and selective observation and active participation (Anonymous 2019). The ethical challenges that I encountered at each stage were influenced by different factors as my familiarity with the research participants and the depth of the involvement in the field evolved. In the initial stage, I struggled between undertaking covert or overt research (Lugosi 2008: 133), asking myself if I should be a “candid ethnographer” (Fine 1993: 282). In the second stage when I started to interact with the community members, I became a ‘self-censored ethnographer’, mostly yielding to others, including the moments when I felt uncomfortable with the gender-biased remarks made by one of the participants. In the third stage, which was also the stage when I felt ‘native’ in the community, I questioned myself if I was a “fair ethnographer” (ibid.: 285) and whether I kept a balance between the multiple roles that I played simultaneously. The self-reflections and analyses in hindsight reveal that the ethical dilemmas that one may encounter in the field can be heterogeneous, highly contextual and personal, subjecting to particular interactive instances. As an ethnographer, one may continue to struggle with unpredictable ethical challenges with which may be best dealt with constant, critical and conscious self-reflexivity.
Ethnography as an Inquiry Process In Social Science Research
Tribhuvan University Journal
This article is an attempt to present the concept of ethnography as a qualitative inquiry process in social science research. The paper begins with the introduction to ethnography followed by the discussion of ethnography both as an approach and a research method. It then illustrates how ethnographic research is carried out using various ethnographic methods that include participant observation, interviewing and collection of the documents and artifacts. Highlighting the different ways of organizing, analyzing and writing ethnographic data, the article suggests ways of writing the ethnographic research.