Beyond ethical approval: fostering ethical research practices within inter-sectoral research projects involving academic and NGO sector partners

Journal of International Humanitarian Action - 2019
Rónán McDermott1, Pat Gibbons1, Desire Mpanje1, Sinéad McGrath2, Anne Markey3, Pablo Cortés Ferrandez4, Dini Haryati5, Nur ꞌAzizah5
1Centre for Humanitarian Action, School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
2School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
3School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
4Pedro Arrupe Institute of Human Rights, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain
5Cipta Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia

Tóm tắt

Abstract While research and innovation collaborations between NGOs and academic organisations can create considerable synergies with positive effects for the humanitarian sector, the inter-sectoral nature of such collaborations can generate challenges due to the varying mandates, objectives and ways of working of the organisations involved. By drawing on the experiences of a 4-year project involving a consortium of academic and NGO partners, this paper outlines three broad and inter-related ethical challenges that such projects can encounter and how they can be practically negotiated. Firstly, how are the knowledge-generation requirements of such projects addressed without engaging in the mere extraction of data from participants? Secondly, how are potential risks to participants arising from their participation balanced with the need to include their voices within the research project? Finally, how are the formal requirements laid down by institutional review committees, primarily within academic organisations, to be adhered to within field contexts in which there are well-established expectations and ways of working on the part of NGO partners and beneficiaries? While these dilemmas are merely illustrative of the potential ethical dilemmas that inter-sectoral collaboration might encounter, the paper highlights that ethical dilemmas ought to be addressed reflexively by all stakeholders in order to facilitate improved collaboration and, ultimately, better quality, more relevant and more ethically informed research.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Block, K., Warr, D., Gibbs, L. and Riggs, E., (2012) Addressing ethical and methodological challenges in research with refugee-background young people: reflections from the field. Journal of Refugee Studies, 26(1), pp.69-87.

Bracken-Roche, D., Bell, E., Macdonald, M.E. and Racine, E., (2017) The concept of ‘vulnerability’in research ethics: an in-depth analysis of policies and guidelines. Health research policy and systems, 15(1), p. 8.

Chambers R (1997) Whose reality counts, vol 25. Intermediate technology publications, London

Constantin V (2018) Human subject research: international and regional human rights standards. Health Hum Rights 20(2):137–148

Dwyer SC, Buckle JL (2009) The space between: on being an insider-outsider in qualitative research. Int J Qual Methods 8(1):54–63

Falb K, Laird B, Ratnayake R, Rodrigues K, Annan J (2019) The ethical contours of research in crisis settings: five practical considerations for academic institutional review boards and researchers. Disasters published online 22 August 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12398

Gaillard JC (2019) Disaster studies inside out. Disasters 43:7–17

Guillemin M, Gillam L (2004) Ethics, reflexivity, and “ethically important moments” in research. Qual Inq 10(2):261–280

Hugman R, Bartolomei L, Pittaway E (2011) Human agency and the meaning of informed consent: reflections on research with refugees. J Refug Stud 24(4):655–671

Kemmis S, McTaggart R (2005) Participatory action research: communicative action and the public sphere. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Sage Publications Ltd., Thousand Oaks, pp 559–603

Liamputtong P (2008) Doing research in a cross-cultural context: methodological and ethical challenges. In: Liamputtong P (ed) Doing cross-cultural research. Social indicators research series, vol 34. Springer, Dordrecht

Merriam SB, Johnson-Bailey J, Lee MY, Kee Y, Ntseane G, Muhamad M (2001) Power and positionality: negotiating insider/outsider status within and across cultures. Int J Lifelong Educ 20(5):405–416

Redwood, S. & Todres, L. (2006). Exploring the ethical imagination: conversation as practice versus committee as gatekeeper [25 paragraphs]. Forum: Quali Soc Res, 7(2), Art. 34, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0602341

Ritchie J, Lewis J, McNaughton Nicholls C, Ormston R (2003) Qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers. London: SAGE

Roche E, King R, Mohan HM, Gavin B, McNicholas F (2013) Payment of research participants: current practice and policies of Irish research ethics committees. J Med Ethics 39(9):591–593

Schopper D, Dawson A, Upshur R, Ahmad A, Jesani A, Ravinetto R, Dawson A, Upshur R, Ahmad A, Jesani A, Ravinetto R, Segelid M, Sheel S, Singh J (2015) Innovations in research ethics governance in humanitarian settings. BMC Med Ethics 16(1):10

Slomka J, McCurdy S, Ratliff EA, Timpson S, Williams ML (2007) Perceptions of financial payment for research participation among African-American drug users in HIV studies. J Gen Intern Med 22(10):1403–1409

Statement of Commitments from Humanitarian Scholars at World Humanitarian Summit (2016) https://ihsa.info/content/uploads/2017/11/Commitments-WHS.pdf

Titmuss R (2018) The gift relationship (reissue): from human blood to social policy. Policy Press, London

Torre M, Cahill C, Fox M (2015) Participatory action research in social research. In: Wright J (ed) International Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences. Elsevier, Amsterdam

Van Bavel B, Gilmore B, Wilkinson O (2016) Student guidelines for ethical fieldwork overseas. Development Studies Association and Irish Forum for Global Health, Dublin

Van Duijn, L. & Hilhorst, D. (2019) ‘What has happened with the academic commitments at the WHS?’ [Blog post] retrieved from https://www.alnap.org/blogs/what-has-happened-with-the-academic-commitments-at-the-whs

Zutlevics TL (2016) Could providing financial incentives to research participants be ultimately self-defeating? Res Ethics 12(3):137–148

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Journal of International Humanitarian Action

Thông tin tác giả