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Purpose: To critically examine ethical issues in qualitative research.
Organizing Construct: The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice are guides for researchers to address initial and ongoing tensions between the needs and goals of the research and the rights of participants.
Methods: Research literature, ethics literature, and researcher experiences. Conclusions: Ethical principles can be used to guide the research in addressing the initial and ongoing issues arising from qualitative research in order to meet the goals of the research as well as to maintain the rights of the research participants.
[Key words: qualitative research, ethics]
Ethical issues are present in any kind of research. The research process creates tension between the aims of research to make generalizations for the good of others, and the rights of participants to maintain privacy. Ethics pertains to doing good and avoiding harm. Harm can be prevented or reduced through the application of appropriate ethical principles. Thus, the protection of human subjects or participants in any research study is imperative.
Violations of human rights in the name of scientific research have been among the darkest events in history. From 19321972 more than 400 African American people who had syphilis were deliberately left untreated to study the illness. Although the Tuskegee syphilis study was sponsored by United States Public Health Service, the disclosure of the 40-- year study caused public outrage (Caplan, 1992). Another example of unethical research is the experiment conducted between 1950-1952 in which more than 1,000 pregnant women were given diethylstilbestrol to prevent miscarriages. These women were subject to a double-blind study without consent. Only 20 years later, when the children of these women had high rates of cancer and other abnormalities did the participants learn they were subjects of these experiments (Capron, 1989).
The nature of ethical problems in qualitative research studies is subtle and different compared to problems in quantitative research. For example, potential ethical conflicts exist in regard to how a researcher gains access to a community group and in the effects the researcher may have on participants. The literature provides few examples of ethical issues in qualitative health research. Punch (1994) claimed that one hardly ever hears of ethical failures in qualitative research. However, Batchelor and Briggs (1994) claimed that the...