Suchergebnisse

Informed consent in ethnographic research practice. Deep waters between macro ethical regulation and micro ethical fieldwork dilemmas
Informed consent in ethnographic research practice. Deep waters between macro ethical regulation and micro ethical fieldwork dilemmas
Drawing on my experiences of nine months of ethnographical fieldwork in an international matchmaking agency in Saint-Petersburg (Russia), I show how the negotiation of 'informed consent' in practice differs from 'informed consent' procedures of universities' and research funds' ethical review boards. Evidence in my case study contributes to existing debates that question the applicability in ethnography of consent rituals that are common in (bio)medical and psychological sciences. These 'informed consent' protocols have been criticized to be insufficiently empirically grounded in the ethnographical fieldwork practice. My tale from the field offers empirical evidence for a further conceptual refinement of a process-based approach to consent negotiations. I both provide recommendations for an adaptation of ethical regulations on a macro level and for a more reflexive consent negotiation in the situated ethnographic fieldwork practice.

From young elite athlete to chronic pain patient. A reflection on working with students as a researcher
A qualitative study on the (psychological) characteristics of young, former elite athletes with chronic, non-specific pain complaints was initiated to answer the following questions: (1) Which factors could play a role in the development of chronic, non-specific pain in young, former elite athletes? And (2) How can we optimize treatment for young, former elite athletes with chronic, non-specific pain? A master student in Mental Health first interviewed six young former elite athletes with non-specific pain complaints who were receiving treatment in the rehabilitation clinic. The student analyzed the data. As data analysis based on six interviews is rather limited and the findings did not lead to unambiguous conclusions, several parts of the interview were re-coded by researcher 1, leading to different conclusions. We then decided to re-code all interviews in a new project by researcher 1, have researcher 2 double code several interviews and recruit at least six more participants to expand the qualitative sample. Reflecting on working with students in our qualitative study, we found another researcher coding the interview data to be important as it minimizes interpretation bias and allows for a check of the thoroughness of the interview content. Secondly, master students writing their thesis have limited time for these projects, which may lead to a small number of participants in the study. This holds especially when recruiting from a patient population, as availability depends on the number of suitable patients during this period of time.