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Abstract
This article examines the many ethical challenges that are specific to qualitative research. These challenges concern the issues of informed consent procedures, the researcher-participant relationship, risk-benefit ratio, confidentiality and the dual role of the nurse-researcher. Each challenge will be examined and practical examples of how it was dealt with, using examples from a multiple case study, will be described.
Keywords
Qualitative research, research ethics, informed process consent, ethical protocol
Introduction
There are many ethical challenges that have implications for qualitative research. These arise primarily from the emergent and unpredictable nature of the methodology involved. The ethical challenges that are pertinent to qualitative research concern the issues of informed consent procedures, the relationship between the researcher and the participant, the ratio between risk and benefit, confidentiality and the dual role of the nurse-researcher. The aim of this article is to discuss these ethical issues and illustrate how they may be resolved using examples from a multiple case study conducted by one of the authors (CEH). The present research study was intended to explore the role of the clinical skills laboratory (CSL) in preparing nursing students for the real world of practice. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with nursing students, clinical staff and educators in the CSL. In addition, non-participant observations were conducted in the affiliated hospitals to explore factors in the clinical setting that helped or hindered students in practice. In the context of research ethics, the challenges that arose during this research project will be discussed and the means by which they were overcome when conducting the interviews and the non-participant observations will be described.
Informed process consent
The first issue that arose in planning the research related to informed consent. In qualitative research, the key concerns with informed consent relate to the unsuitability of traditional one-off informed consent forms (ICFs) and the problem of deciding from whom to obtain consent when conducting observational data collection. First, the emergent nature of qualitative research may pose certain challenges. Qualitative researchers cannot guarantee the direction of data collection methods such as interviews and observation. Consequently, once-off consent may not be suitable for this type of research (McDonnell et al 2000, Holloway and Wheeler 2002). Furthermore, from an interpretivist perspective, ethics are subjective (Schwandt 1994)....