anthropology paper

ETHICAL GUIDELINES – PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

ANT 150

Ethical guidelines: do no harm

¨  You must take care to “do no harm” through either directly or indirectly exposing those individuals to risk.

Ethical guidelines: disclosure

¨  You must never lie or mislead your research participants.

¨  When observing a public space or scene, it is generally not necessary to ask all those present for consent to participate in your research. If the space is private or the interaction is one-on-one, those rules change and you must tell them that you are engaged in research, and what that research is about.

Ethical guidelines: informed consent

¨  If you are interviewing or otherwise engaged in a long one-on-one conversation with a person, you must tell the person at some point in the conversation the following: ¤  I am here doing research as an assignment for a class ¤  We will be sharing the experience with the rest of the class ¤  Do you mind if I include your response in the project, as long

as I don’t identify you by name?

¨  This is “informed consent.” If they say no, you must respect that!

Ethical guidelines: anonymity

¨  You must protect the anonymity of those you observe or interview ¤  In your notes, do not mention their name or identifying

information. ¤  Do not gossip about their response to others who may

be able to guess who they are.

Ethical guidelines: truth in reporting

¨  You must never intentionally misrepresent your research to the reader. While all research is subjective and involves interpretation, it is unethical to invent or falsify data (other than minimal changes necessary to protect anonymity).