Sidelined by the Guidelines:  Reflections on the Limitations of Standard Informed Consent Procedures for the Conduct of Ethical Research

Butz, David; Department of Geography, Brock University

Abstract

Conventional informed consent guidelines as exemplified by Canada’s 16 research ethics policy statement and applied by Institutional Research Boards 17 (IRBs) presuppose an individuated liberal humanist research subject that is 18 incommensurate with the subjectivities of many actual research participants as they 19 experience them, and as the theoretical perspectives used in much qualitative 20 research conceptualise them. I use the example of my ethnographic research in 21 northern Pakistan to demonstrate that abiding by IRB guidelines for informed 22 consent would have the effect of disciplining and normalising both my research 23 participants and my research. Based on my own research experiences I suggest four guiding practices for informed consent in community centred research: that it 1 be collective, progressive, oral, and negotiated. The paper ends by stressing the 2 importance of examining research ethics policies and procedures as a way to reflect 3 critically on the disciplining and normalising institutional context within which our 4 research practices and outcomes are shaped.

Date

2015-03-09

Type

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

Identifier

oai:cpsr.unbc.ca:article/805
http://ojs.unbc.ca/index.php/acme/article/view/805

Copyright/License

Authors agree to publish their articles in ACME under the Creative Commons "Attribution/Non-Commercial/No Derivative Works" Canada licence. Accordingly, authors retain both copyright and the right to be identified as the author of the work in perpetuity and their article can be shared freely (that is, it can be copied, distributed, transmitted and published freely) under the following conditions:Attribution. The work must be attributed as originally published in ACME and for any reuse or distribution, the licence terms of this work must be made clear to others.Noncommercial. The work may not be used for commercial purposes.No Derivative Works. Except for fair dealing for scholarly or critical purposes, the work may not be altered, transformed, or built upon. With the exception of attribution of original publication in ACME, any of the above conditions can be waived with permission from the copyright holder. (Note: from volume 1(1) to volume 7(2), authors assigned limited copyright of their manuscripts to ACME for publication of their work in the journal in perpetuity. Authors will retain copyright of their manuscripts for all other forms of publication but must give due acknowledgement of original publication in ACME if their work is published elsewhere.) In consideration of the publication of an article in ACME, authors warrant and undertake: that their article is an original work, has not been published before, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere in its final form either in printed or electronic form;that they have obtained permission from the copyright holder to reproduce in their article (in all media including print and electronic form) material not owned by them, and that they have acknowledged the source;that their article contains no violation of any existing copyright or other third party right or any material of an obscene, indecent, libelous, or otherwise unlawful nature, and that to the best of their knowledge their article does not infringe the rights of others;that they will indemnify and keep indemnified the Editors and Publishers of ACME against all claims and expenses (including legal costs and expenses) arising from any breach of this warranty and the other warranties on their behalf; and,that in the case of a multi-authored article they have obtained copyright assignment from all co-authors to enter into this publishing agreement on their behalf and to bind them to it, and that all co-authors have read and agreed the above warranties.

Collections

Ethics in Higher Education

Research Ethics by Disciplines