Ethics, Reflexivity, and “Ethically Important Moments” in Research

TLDR

Ethical tensions are inherent to everyday research practice across all disciplines. The article investigates how researchers address ethical problems in practice and explores the link between reflexivity and research ethics. The authors propose a framework distinguishing procedural ethics from ethics in practice, using reflexivity to analyze and guide ethical conduct in qualitative research.

Abstract

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 examines the relationship between reflexivity and research ethics. It focuses on what constitutes ethical research practice in qualitative research and how researchers achieve ethical research practice. As a framework for thinking through these issues, the authors distinguish two different dimensions of ethics in research, which they term procedural ethics and “ethics in practice.” The relationship between them and the impact that each has on the actual doing of research are examined. The article then draws on the notion of reflexivity as a helpful way of understanding both the nature of ethics in qualitative research and how ethical practice in research can be achieved.