ERIC Number: EJ950252
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jan
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1077-8004
EISSN: N/A
Reflections on the Ethics-Approval Process
Murray, Lee; Pushor, Debbie; Renihan, Pat
Qualitative Inquiry, v18 n1 p43-54 Jan 2012
It is sometimes a difficult journey receiving ethics approval for research involving vulnerable populations, research involving our own children, or innovative research methodologies such as autoethnography. This autoethnographical account is a story about one student who wanted to write a PhD dissertation in a very different way and also the story of her co-supervisors who supported the student in using autoethnography as a creative way to share her "secrets of mothering" and who also supported her through an ethics-approval process that was both challenging and rewarding. This article reflects on a personal journey through the ethics-approval process at a Canadian university integrating components of the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS), that guides university ethics committees across Canada, and asks the questions: What is the purpose of research and how can research ethics boards support research and stories that are difficult to tell and difficult to hear? It is an inquiry into secrets and difficult knowledge, and how reluctant we are to talk about difficult topics such as developmental disabilities, sexual abuse, divorce, accidents, and illness.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Ethics, Research Methodology, Doctoral Dissertations, Sexual Abuse, Family Environment, Developmental Disabilities, Qualitative Research, Personal Autonomy, Participant Characteristics, Persuasive Discourse, Privacy, Ethnography, Autobiographies, Confidentiality
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A