Navigating uncharted water: research ethics and emotional engagement in human inquiry

Abstract

Sensitive research necessitates routine ethical practices of confidentiality, anonymity and worthiness. However, when co-constructing narratives with participants, the nurse researcher also faces unexplored ethical issues that arise out of the emotional intensity and professional responsibility inherent in the relationship. Such issues may be recognized and managed using clinical supervision in addition to academic supervision. Researcher vulnerability adds depth and complexity to human inquiry.

Ethical Issues in the Use of In-Depth Interviews: Literature Review and Discussion

“…The issues of privacy and confidentiality are identified as reasons for its particular importance in interview research [43,47,55,57,[65][66][67]72]. Whilst it is desirable for the participant to know the privacy and confidentiality 'rules' before agreeing to the interview, the privacy issue suggests that this cannot be entirely assured.…”

“…Privacy as an issue per se and not simply an element of confidentiality is identified in a number of papers [4,17,27,30,31,34,37,40,50,55,65,66,70,74]. Interviews can delve into areas unanticipated at the outset.…”

Undertaking ethical qualitative research in public health: are current ethical processes sufficient?

“…These researchers face a situation where participant distress is ethically justifiable because it is outweighed by respect for participant autonomy and the overall benefits of the research project. 20 However, this may cause significant moral uncertainty for the researcher and distress about how to proceed. The lack of consideration for the emotional safety of researchers in ethics review processes has been acknowledged previously by qualitative researchers, 15 yet these complexities of qualitative health research remain unrecognised in research guidelines and ethics application review processes.…”

“…19(p338) Boundary issues may also arise for researchers with a clinical background, particularly members of caring professions such as nursing, where the researcher-participant relationship challenges the researcher to balance their professional values with the constraints of the researcher role (this will be addressed in the next section). 20 These 'shifts' need acknowledgment and discussion in terms of their ethical implications for research practice. 21,14 Rapport and friendship tap a common affective vein, drawing on attributes such as approachability, warmth, interest, trustworthiness and concern.…”

Accessing Online Data for Youth Mental Health Research: Meeting the Ethical Challenges

“…Social harm can occur when the ramifications of a research project extend beyond the participant themselves and others feel as if their data has been wrongly used. Equally important is the need to protect researchers and the potential harm that the research can have on them, for example, emotional intensity in the early stages of research or being a researcher practitioner (Kidd and Finlayson 2006).…”