Ethical Components of Researcher—Researched Relationships in Qualitative Interviewing
- 1 October 2007
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Qualitative Health Research
- Vol. 17 (8), 1149-1159
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732307308305
Abstract
Qualitative interviews are widely and often uncritically adopted for health care research, with little justification of therapeutic value. Although they might provide valuable insights into the perspectives of participants, they represent only a version of reality, rather than “truth” per se . Qualitative research is vulnerable to bias through the attitudes and qualities of the researcher, social desirability factors, and conditions of worth. Exploitation, through role confusion, therapeutic misconception, and misrepresentation are particular risks for health care—related research. Ethical codes, biomedical principles and care philosophies provide little contextual guidance on the moral dilemmas encountered in the practice of research. If nurse researchers are to navigate the moral complexities of research relationships, then sensitivity to risk to participants must be of continual concern, from conception of the study to the reporting of outcomes. Examination of the self through critical reflection and supervision are therefore necessary components of ethical research.Keywords
This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit:
- Essentials of research ethics for healthcare professionalsNursing & Health Sciences, 2005
- Compassion Stress and the Qualitative ResearcherQualitative Health Research, 2005
- Ethics needs principles--four can encompass the rest--and respect for autonomy should be "first among equals"Journal of Medical Ethics, 2003
- “Outing” the Researcher: The Provenance, Process, and Practice of ReflexivityQualitative Health Research, 2002
- Ethical Considerations in a Grounded Theory Study on the Dynamics of Hope in Hiv-Positive Adults and Their SignificantNursing Ethics, 1999
- Kundera's Immortality: The Interview Society and the Invention of the SelfQualitative Inquiry, 1997
- Narrative Turn or Blind Alley?Qualitative Health Research, 1997
- (Re)Defining My Self: Women's Process of Recovery from DepressionQualitative Health Research, 1996
- Historical and epistemological perspectives on research and nursingJournal of Advanced Nursing, 1994
- Reflective practice: a critique of the work of Argyris and SchönJournal of Advanced Nursing, 1993