1. Chapter 4
The Ethics of Qualitative
Research

2. A Mental Exercise In Role-taking
• Picture yourself as a research subject
– A person being studied by a sociologist—and
imagine two scenarios:
– Scenario 1: You’re a Survey “Respondent”
– Scenario 2: You’re an “Informant” Neighbor
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3. Ethical Conduct In Qualitative
Research
• Human subjects
• Qualitative Research as a “Complicated
Relationship”
– Deception
• The Question of Meaning
• Rules on the Books versus Rules in Action
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4. Human Subjects Research, The Irb,
And Professional Codes Of Ethics
• To Obey or Not to Obey: “The Milgram
Study”
• “Prisoner 819 Did a Bad Thing”: The
Stanford Prison Experiment
• The Spy Who Didn’t Love Me: Laud
Humphreys’ Tea Room Trade
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. Human Subjects Research, The Irb,
And Professional Codes Of Ethics
• Institutional Review Boards
– Guiding Principles Of Human Subjects
Protection
– The Researcher’s Protocol
– Irb Rules And Qualitative Research Principles
—square Peg, Round Hole?
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. Beyond Formal Codes Of Ethics
• Informed Consent
• The (Hollow) Right to Withdraw
• Informed Consent Is a Process, Not a
Document
– Risks and benefits
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. Beyond Formal Codes Of Ethics
• Some Suggestions for Resolving the
Tension between:
– Law on the Books and Law in Action
• Deception
– Deception In Example—a Study Of The
Garment Industry In Los Angeles
• “Instrumentalization” of Relationships
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8. Beyond Formal Codes Of Ethics
• Give in Order to Take ... and Take More
• Caveat: The Subject Is Not a Dishrag
• The “Gaze”
• Revealing Subjects’ Ignorance
• Caveat: “Studying Up” versus “Studying
Down”—The Patterning of Ethical Issues
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9. Looking Ahead At Ethics
• Informed consent is a process not a single
moment or act like signing a document
• Community-based participatory research
• Interventions
• The “gaze” and the power dynamics of
friendships:
– One friend writes a book about the others
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. Looking Ahead At Ethics
• Informed consent is a process not a single
moment or act like signing a document
• Community-based participatory research
• Interventions
• The “gaze” and the power dynamics of
friendships:
– One friend writes a book about the others
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.