Conducting Research in Difficult, Dangerous, and/or Vulnerable Contexts: Messy Narratives From the Field

2021 ◽  
pp. 089331892110587
Author(s):  
Brittany L. Peterson ◽  
Oana B. Albu ◽  
Kirsten Foot ◽  
Darvelle Hutchins ◽  
Jack Qiu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Conducting Research

Organizational communication scholars have historically conducted research in large for-profit businesses, governmental agencies, and a few high-profile nonprofits/NGOs—all of which are relatively easy to access and presumably “safe” to study. It is largely unsurprising, then, that limited scholarship addresses the challenges associated with conducting research in less standard contexts that are often perceived to be difficult, dangerous, and/or vulnerable (DDV). In this forum, we offer lived stories—unfiltered messy narratives—to demystify three core ethical challenges inherent in conducting research of this nature and share how we (imperfectly) navigated them. In addition, we offer practical strategies for conducting research in DDV contexts. Taken together, our overall collective aim is to successfully prepare future scholars to conduct research projects in DDV contexts.

Pandemic Disease, Public Health, and Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 796-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Smith ◽  
Ross Upshur
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Pandemic Preparedness ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Face ◽  
Conducting Research

Infectious disease pandemics raise significant and novel ethical challenges to the organization and practice of public health. This chapter provides an overview of the salient ethical issues involved in preparing for and responding to pandemic disease, including those arising from deploying restrictive public health measures to contain and curb the spread of disease (e.g., isolation and quarantine), setting priorities for the allocation of scarce resources, health care workers’ duty to care in the face of heightened risk of infection, conducting research during pandemics, and the global governance of preventing and responding to pandemic disease. It also outlines ethical guidance from prominent ethical frameworks that have been developed to address these ethical issues and concludes by discussing some pressing challenges that must be addressed if ethical reflection is to make a meaningful difference in pandemic preparedness and response.

scholarly journals Conducting epigenetics research with refugees and asylum seekers: attending to the ethical challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faten Taki ◽  
Inmaculada de Melo-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Healthcare Barriers ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Epigenetic Research

AbstractAn increase in global violence has forced the displacement of more than 70 million people, including 26 million refugees and 3.5 asylum seekers. Refugees and asylum seekers face serious socioeconomic and healthcare barriers and are therefore particularly vulnerable to physical and mental health risks, which are sometimes exacerbated by immigration policies and local social discriminations. Calls for a strong evidence base for humanitarian action have encouraged conducting research to address the barriers and needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Given the role of epigenetics factors to mediate the effect of psychological and environmental exposures, epigenetic modifications have been used as biomarkers for life adversity and disease states. Therefore, epigenetic research can be potentially beneficial to address some of the issues associated with refugees and asylum seekers. Here, we review the value of previous and ongoing epigenetic studies with traumatized populations, explore some of the ethical challenges associated with epigenetic research with refugees and asylees and offer suggestions to address or mitigate some of these challenges. Researchers have an ethical responsibility to implement strategies to minimize the harms and maximize the short and long-term benefits to refugee and asylee participants.

scholarly journals WORCS: A workflow for open reproducible code in science

Data Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Caspar J. Van Lissa ◽  
Andreas M. Brandmaier ◽  
Loek Brinkman ◽  
Anna-Lena Lamprecht ◽  
Aaron Peikert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Source Code ◽  
R Package ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Tabular Data ◽  
Step Procedure ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
And Training

Adopting open science principles can be challenging, requiring conceptual education and training in the use of new tools. This paper introduces the Workflow for Open Reproducible Code in Science (WORCS): A step-by-step procedure that researchers can follow to make a research project open and reproducible. This workflow intends to lower the threshold for adoption of open science principles. It is based on established best practices, and can be used either in parallel to, or in absence of, top-down requirements by journals, institutions, and funding bodies. To facilitate widespread adoption, the WORCS principles have been implemented in the R package worcs, which offers an RStudio project template and utility functions for specific workflow steps. This paper introduces the conceptual workflow, discusses how it meets different standards for open science, and addresses the functionality provided by the R implementation, worcs. This paper is primarily targeted towards scholars conducting research projects in R, conducting research that involves academic prose, analysis code, and tabular data. However, the workflow is flexible enough to accommodate other scenarios, and offers a starting point for customized solutions. The source code for the R package and manuscript, and a list of examplesof WORCS projects, are available at https://github.com/cjvanlissa/worcs.

scholarly journals Short-Term Global Health Research Projects by US Medical Students: Ethical Challenges for Partnerships

2010 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey M. Provenzano ◽  
Michele Barry ◽  
Asghar Rastegar ◽  
Kaveh Khoshnood ◽  
Mei Elansary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Global Health Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Short Term

The ethics of pain control in infants and children

2013 ◽  
pp. 661-668
Author(s):  
Gary A. Walco ◽  
Maureen C. Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Pain Treatment ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Standards Of Care ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Placebo Control ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Cultural Considerations ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Control Designs ◽  
In Infants And Children

In this chapter we will offer a way of framing the ethical balance of competing considerations in pain treatment in infants and children, distinguishing between analyses of harms and benefits, from other more pragmatic, contextual, and cultural considerations. We begin with the ethical foundations behind good pain management for any patient, and especially children: the ethical duty to prevent harm by alleviating pain or suffering, and the importance of assuring equal access to pain treatment. Historically, the driving ethical concern in paediatric pain has been the pervasive undertreatment of pain in children. In the second and main section of the chapter, we offer a detailed analysis of the practical ethical challenges involved in weighing the harms and benefits of pain relief against untreated or undertreated pain. In the third section, we will discuss the more specific concerns of socioeconomic and cultural determinants to paediatric pain treatment. Finally, in the last section, we will address concerns in conducting research on pain interventions in infants and children, as clearly many of the modal methodologies traditionally used for clinical trials in adults (e.g. placebo control designs) pose unjustifiable risk to younger individuals. We will also discuss the importance of considering local context as it impacts standards of care to guide ethical paediatric pain research.

scholarly journals THE INTERSECTION OF ETHICS AND VULNERABLE ELDERS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S238-S238
Author(s):  
Pamela B Teaster ◽  
Georgia Anetzberger
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Elder Abuse ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Community Based Services

Abstract Researchers, practitioners and policymakers are daily confronted with multiple and competing situations regarding vulnerable older adults and the complex issues that they face in all aspects of their lives. Challenges can arise in the provision of social services, dispensing justice, conducting research, or addressing legal issues. The purpose of this symposium is to discuss dilemmas that vulnerable older adults and concerned others face by elucidating current and future challenges facing this population, particularly in the realms of compromised health (cognitive impairment); effective status (gender); care arrangements (home and community-based services); and abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Teaster and Anetzberger discuss relevant ethical theories and principles as well as a definition of vulnerability. Santos and Nichols-Hadeed report on ethical issues embedded in vulnerable elders’ cognitive status. Bowland and Halaas highlight the intersection of ethics, gender and vulnerable elders. Niles-Yokum and Beaumaster discuss the nexus of ethics and the provision of home and community based services for vulnerable older adults. Heisler considers vulnerabilities of older adults and ethical challenges when addressing elder abuse. Throughout the papers, we weave the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.

scholarly journals Distributing Reflexivity through Co-laborative Ethnography

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-98
Author(s):  
Patrick Bieler ◽  
Milena D. Bister ◽  
Janine Hauer ◽  
Martina Klausner ◽  
Jörg Niewöhner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Data Interpretation ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Distributed Process ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Conducting Research

In ethnographic research and analysis, reflexivity is vital to achieving constant coordination between field and concept work. However, it has been conceptualized predominantly as an ethnographer’s individual mental capacity. In this article, we draw on ten years of experience in conducting research together with partners from social psychiatry and mental health care across different research projects. We unfold three modes of achieving reflexivity co-laboratively: contrasting and discussing disciplinary concepts in interdisciplinary working groups and feedback workshops; joint data interpretation and writing; and participating in political agenda setting. Engaging these modes reveals reflexivity as a distributed process able to strengthen the ethnographer’s interpretative authority, and also able to constantly push the conceptual boundaries of the participating disciplines and professions.

Ethical and Cultural Considerations in Informed Consent in Botswana

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Shaibu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Nurse Educators ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Cultural Considerations ◽  
Conducting Research

Reflections on my experience of conducting research in Botswana are used to highlight tensions and conflicts that arise from adhering to the western conceptualization of bioethics and the need to be culturally sensitive when carrying out research in one's own culture. Cultural practices required the need to exercise discretionary judgement guided by respect for the culture and decision-making protocols of the research participants. Ethical challenges that arose are discussed. The brokerage role of nurse educators and leaders in contextualizing western bioethics is emphasized.

scholarly journals NATIONAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON HERITAGE – A NEW INITIATIVE ON THE MAP OF POLISH MUSEOLOGY

Muzealnictwo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-0
Author(s):  
Janusz Czop ◽  
Barbara Łydżba-Kopczyńska ◽  
Barbara Świątkowska
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Technological Research ◽  
The Third ◽  
National Centre ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Research Equipment

Not so long ago, Poland was one of the European countries which lacked a research centre which would support museum institutions. Meeting numerous needs, the National Museum in Cracow (NMC) had been sharing the resources of its Laboratory with other museum institutions. This is how the National Centre for Research on Heritage (hereafter the Centre) was founded. Relying on equipment and specialists from the NMC Laboratory, the Centre offers multilateral research on objects and collections to Polish museum institutions. It organises contests which all Polish museums may apply to with their research projects. The Centre focuses on three main activities. Firstly, it carries out technological projects comprising the composition and features of materials used to make works of art. Secondly, there are projects linking technological research with analyses of the state of preservation and environmental conditions in order to safeguard works or sets of art or which are particularly culturally valuable. The third activity consists in joint interdisciplinary expertise with external research units. The Centre has also undertaken its own longterm programme of research into managing the protection of collections in a sustainable and effective way. Within the framework of the programme, methodology and tools for the quantitative assessment of risk are prepared. The development of the National Centre for Research, based on the already existing potential of the NMC, allows the effective usage of collected research equipment and the adaption of its activity to the real needs of museum institutions. At the same time, an important area of the Centre’s activity is the coordination and possibility of using the potential of groups conducting research in the field of heritage at the Polish Academy of Sciences or at higher education institutions. The next goal of the NMC is to expand the Centre’s activity on conservation work.

scholarly journals Developing Authenticity, Building Connections: Exploring Research Methodologies in Asia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Atkinson-Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Global South ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Criminological Research ◽  
Global North ◽  
Conducting Research

AbstractThe article considers the methodological opportunities and challenges associated with three large-scale ethnographic studies conducted in Bangladesh, China, and Nepal. It reflects on how locally and regionally embedded cultural practises and meanings shape Asian criminological research projects. The article argues that conducting research in certain Asian contexts benefits from an awareness and sensitivity to specific modalities of culture in these regions. The following deliberations reflect on the importance of developing authenticity and building connections, embedded within concepts specific, and relevant to research in Asia—relationality, guanxi, patronage, and adda. The challenges of the research projects, of which there were many, are also discussed and include dichotomies between research conducted in the global North and global South, coloniality, ethics, and issues faced by a British researcher, conducting research in Asia.

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