Walking on eggshells

This article takes up some of the ethical issues at stake when qualitative inquiry involves people in vulnerable situations, such as the young, the very old, the sick or disabled or minority groups – people, in short, who are often labelled as “the other”. Ethical issues and dilemmas appear at ever...

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Main Author: Dóra S. Bjarnason
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Malmö University Press 2009-09-01
Series:Educare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://publicera.kb.se/educare/article/view/49412
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author Dóra S. Bjarnason
author_facet Dóra S. Bjarnason
author_sort Dóra S. Bjarnason
collection DOAJ
description This article takes up some of the ethical issues at stake when qualitative inquiry involves people in vulnerable situations, such as the young, the very old, the sick or disabled or minority groups – people, in short, who are often labelled as “the other”. Ethical issues and dilemmas appear at every juncture of the research process and also when the researcher decides what to publish and why. The article starts with some of the issues and experiences the author brings to the table after working in the field of inclusive education and disability research for over three decades. Next it offers some notes on qualitative inquiry and then it moves on to explore the ethics, ethical issues and dilemmas inevitably part and parcel of all such inquiry. Then it applies examples from the author’s fieldwork to the discussion of ethical issues and dilemmas in qualitative encountered in qualitative research with people in vulnerable situations. Examples are in particular drawn from the authors recent study that involved interviews with Icelandic parents of disabled children. The ethical issues and dilemmas touched upon include those related to gaining access, the interview situation itself, including the building of rapport and the fine line between gathering the data, data analysis, ethical issues related to what to select from privileged knowledge, and other things that concern the writing up of sensitive data. Finally, some thought is given to publications, their interpretations by the reader and their use or abuse.
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spelling doaj-art-83c4dd1b0c644df5a8d528ce8ae14bff2025-08-20T03:42:18ZdanMalmö University PressEducare2004-51902009-09-01410.24834/educare.2009.4.1248Walking on eggshellsDóra S. Bjarnason0University of Iceland This article takes up some of the ethical issues at stake when qualitative inquiry involves people in vulnerable situations, such as the young, the very old, the sick or disabled or minority groups – people, in short, who are often labelled as “the other”. Ethical issues and dilemmas appear at every juncture of the research process and also when the researcher decides what to publish and why. The article starts with some of the issues and experiences the author brings to the table after working in the field of inclusive education and disability research for over three decades. Next it offers some notes on qualitative inquiry and then it moves on to explore the ethics, ethical issues and dilemmas inevitably part and parcel of all such inquiry. Then it applies examples from the author’s fieldwork to the discussion of ethical issues and dilemmas in qualitative encountered in qualitative research with people in vulnerable situations. Examples are in particular drawn from the authors recent study that involved interviews with Icelandic parents of disabled children. The ethical issues and dilemmas touched upon include those related to gaining access, the interview situation itself, including the building of rapport and the fine line between gathering the data, data analysis, ethical issues related to what to select from privileged knowledge, and other things that concern the writing up of sensitive data. Finally, some thought is given to publications, their interpretations by the reader and their use or abuse. https://publicera.kb.se/educare/article/view/49412Ethical and methodological issuesresearching vulnerable people
spellingShingle Dóra S. Bjarnason
Walking on eggshells
Educare
Ethical and methodological issues
researching vulnerable people
title Walking on eggshells
title_full Walking on eggshells
title_fullStr Walking on eggshells
title_full_unstemmed Walking on eggshells
title_short Walking on eggshells
title_sort walking on eggshells
topic Ethical and methodological issues
researching vulnerable people
url https://publicera.kb.se/educare/article/view/49412
work_keys_str_mv AT dorasbjarnason walkingoneggshells