Review: Will van den Hoonaard (Ed.) (2002). Walking the Tightrope: Ethical Issues for Qualitative Researchers

Abstract

This publication basically represents a collection of former conference papers and some other contributions mainly by North American social scientists on the dilemmas that qualitative researchers encounter when they submit research applications to research ethics committees. Collectively, the contributions demonstrate the tensions that exist in the policy and practice of applied research ethics in qualitative research. Thirteen chapters are included in this volume. They focus on the themes of: differentiating between ethics and morality; dealing with ethics committees and policies; research processes; research ethics trends; and, ethical issues when submitting research applications. The emphasis is on research policy in a North American context (Canada and the United States), but can be relevant for qualitative researchers in other parts of the world. One challenge to this context is that it does not capture the essence of some European perspectives, especially those from Continental Europe. However, it does raise the issue of ethics in qualitative research to a high level. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs040214

Keywords

• research ethics
• applied ethics
• external context
• internal context
• research ethics committees
• research standards
• ethics review