The Ethical Stakes of Collaborative Community-Based Social Science Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald David Glass ◽  
Jennifer M. Morton ◽  
Joyce E. King ◽  
Patricia Krueger-Henney ◽  
Michele S. Moses ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Ethics Codes ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Collaborative Community

This multivocal essay engages complex ethical issues raised in collaborative community-based research (CCBR). It critiques the fraught history and limiting conditions of current ethics codes and review processes, and engages persistent troubling questions about the ethicality of research practices and universities themselves. It cautions against positioning CCBR as a corrective that fully escapes these issues. The authors draw from a range of philosophic, African-centric, feminist, decolonial, Indigenous, and other critical theories to unsettle research ethics. Contributors point toward research ethics as a praxis of engagement with aggrieved communities in healing from and redressing historical trauma.

scholarly journals Research Ethics: A Perspective of South Asian Context

Edukacja ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Bibek Dahal ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The South ◽  
Ethical Practices ◽  
Research Context ◽  
Asian Context ◽  
Process Context

Research ethics is concerned with ethical issues that can arise while conducting research. Social science research entails a combination of three equal entities: process, context and human agency. In each study, these entities demand rich interaction with each other. Generally, research ethics questions the interrelation between the research context and the human involvement established within that context. The research context and interaction between researcher and research participants lead to variations in the construction of knowledge, while research ethics plays a major role throughout all undertakings. In this narrative review paper, I have critically reflected my arguments on behalf of research ethics as a context-specific issue. I argued that the one-size-fits-all approach of research ethics is not viable by presenting ethical practices from the South Asian perspective. The paper is organized in three specific sections – ethical theories, research ethics and its contextual practices. Research ethics is very much a private affair and directly linked to the personal outlook of the researcher towards others. The ethical issue in research is not generic, but specific to the research context, i.e. the context of the research determines what form of behaviour is ethical and what is not. I explore the idea that the South Asian context may have its own system to conduct research ethically, as in euro-western and indigenous systems.

scholarly journals How to get out of the Stanford Prison Experiment: Revisiting Social Science Research Ethics

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
HARRY PERLSTADT
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Male Student ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment has continued to raise questions about social science research ethics. Male student volunteers were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards in a simulation in which the guards became sadistic and the prisoners showed extreme stress. Two ethical issues are the ability of the participants to leave the experiment and the failure to provide adequate oversight and intervening to limit the abuse of the prisoners. In 2018, these issues were revisited and some declared the experiment unscientific and untrustworthy. However, the experiment was carried out before many social science research ethics were established. A detailed description of the experiment reveals insights on how group dynamics and social structure can encourage normal individuals to harm one another in a prison environment. The study is a cautionary tale that should be included in textbooks to improve social science research, demonstrate the need for research ethics, and prevent outrageous treatment of prisoners in the real world.

scholarly journals Community engagement in Canadian health and social science research: Field reports on four studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-134
Author(s):  
Andrew Eaton
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Canadian Health

Community engagement is a hallmark of Canadian health and social science research, yet we lack detailed descriptions of pragmatic peer engagement possibilities. People personally affected by a study’s topic can actively contribute to design, data collection, intervention delivery, analysis, and dissemination yet the nature and scope of involvement can vary based on context. The shift from academic to community-based research teams, where peers who share participant identities assume a leadership role, may be attributed to the HIV/AIDS response where community co-production of knowledge has been a fundamental component since the epidemic’s onset. This article discusses four health and social science studies from a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework and synthesizes the strengths and limitations of community engagement across these endeavours to offer lessons learned that may inform the design of future CBPR projects.

scholarly journals Using Social Media to Advance Community-Based Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Rebecca A. Glazier ◽  
Morgan Paige Topping
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Little Rock ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Community Based Research

ABSTRACT Community-based research can improve validity and benefit its subjects, but building trust with communities and research subjects can be challenging. Social media is a powerful tool that can be used to build connections and share information. Yet, little research has been done on how social media can be used as a recruitment and communication tool for community-based research (CBR) projects. Our study used Facebook to advance the goals of a community-based social science research project in Little Rock, Arkansas. We compared participation and results distribution rates for this longitudinal research project in 2012, 2016, and 2018, and we found increases in 2018, the year we used social media. The results indicate that social media can aid CBR by helping to build trust, improve credibility, and facilitate communication.

Current Issues in Behavioral and Social Science Research Ethics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James DuBois ◽  
Emily Lisi
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Community Based Participatory Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Ethical Review ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
Privacy And Confidentiality

Many researchers consider behavioral and social science (BSS) studies as “soft” science with negligible ethical risk. However, specific ethical issues arise in BSS research that require special consideration on the part of researchers and ethics review committees. This chapter focuses on these issues within the context of three studies that demonstrate concerns that may arise in conducting BSS research. Topics include deciding what BSS studies should be defined as “research” (or not), risks inherent in specific types of BSS research, protection of privacy and confidentiality, and special considerations in informed consent for BSS studies. Special topics addressed in this chapter include the ethical issues associated with studies utilizing social media and community-based participatory research, as well as the importance of rigor and reproducibility in BSS research in the context of ethical review. Finally, the chapter highlights the necessity of empirical study of ethical issues in BSS research to assess decision-making in an ever-evolving social landscape.

scholarly journals Reading Foucault: Genealogy and Social Science Research Methodology and Ethics

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Bastalich
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Interview ◽  
Interview Methodology

Foucault's work has given rise to increased methodological sensitivity of the political dangers associated with traditional qualitative approaches in the social sciences. There is a growing awareness that the widespread use of the research interview is not indicative of a deepening insight into the workings of culture, but is part of a broader social technology for its reproduction. In an effort to re-imagine interview methodology, scholars have read Foucault to suggest the need for greater attention to the active co-construction of research conclusions arising from interview based research. This has led in turn to the view that post modern approaches produce localized, temporally specific knowledge that fails to shed light on deeper, more enduring social structures. This paper questions these interpretations of Foucault's work, arguing that they fail to accurately represent his genealogical method or to consider its implications for research ethics. Foucault rejects a view of knowledge as emerging from the active social constructions of agents or of institutionalised ‘interests’. Rather, Foucault sees knowledge as an outcome, often accidental, of interrelated historical practices and discourses that produce the subjects and objects of social science discourse itself. The implications of Foucault's work for thinking about research ethics is not a return to authenticity or to analyses of social structure, but a rejection of the centralised, regulatory claims of an organised scientific discourse. The paper comprises a review of social science responses to post structural insights, coverage of the critical epistemological differences between Foucault's method and other key social theory paradigms, and a discussion of the critical ethical issues these differences raise for the social sciences.

scholarly journals A framework for entry: PAR values and engagement strategies in community research

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Ochocka ◽  
Elin Moorlag ◽  
Rich Janzen
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Sensitive Topics ◽  
Collaborative Community

The purpose of this article is twofold: to explore the entry process in community-based research when researching sensitive topics; and to suggest a framework for entry that utilises the values of participatory action research (PAR). The article draws on a collaborative community-university research study that took place in the Waterloo and Toronto regions of Ontario, Canada, from 2005–2010. The article emphasises that community entry is not only about recruitment strategies for research participants or research access to community but it is also concerned with the ongoing engagement with communities during various stages of the research study. The indicator of success is a well established and trusted community-researcher relationship. This article first examines this broader understanding of entry, then looks at how community research entry can be shaped by an illustrative framework, or guide, that uses a combination of participatory action research (PAR) values and engagement strategies. Key words: research entry, community engagement, participatory action research, mental health and cultural diversity

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