Exploring Research Ethics Through Clients’ and Therapists’ Experiences in a Multiperspective Study on Couple Therapy and Violence

Ethical tensions are part of the everyday practice of doing research—all kinds of research. How do researchers deal with ethical problems that arise in the practice of their research, and are there conceptual frameworks that they can draw on to assist them? This article examines the relationship between reflexivity and research ethics. It focuses on what constitutes ethical research practice in qualitative research and how researchers achieve ethical research practice. As a framework for thinking through these issues, the authors distinguish two different dimensions of ethics in research, which they term procedural ethics and “ethics in practice.” The relationship between them and the impact that each has on the actual doing of research are examined. The article then draws on the notion of reflexivity as a helpful way of understanding both the nature of ethics in qualitative research and how ethical practice in research can be achieved.

Research is one of the tri-focal functions of a university. The educational institution is the first home and ‘engine’ of scientific studies. Educational institutions infinitely embrace research as humans continuously thirst for knowledge to improve our quality of life. Thus, ethical research practice has always been an issue and matter of academic concern in schools. This article aims to review evidence of ethical research practices in educational institutions. The references and sources of this literature review came from known research databases such as Google Scholar, Open Access Directory Journals, and prominent University Websites with specific sections on Research and Ethics. Furthermore, this provides a better understanding and a general picture of research ethical practices in schools that led to the development of a conceptual framework that illustrates the supposed-to-be ethical research practices and standards for schools that lead to the crafting of quality studies that are worth publishing and disseminating. Research ethical considerations and principles guide research designs and implementations. These include the universal standard and norm of ensuring the voluntary participation of and obtaining informed consent from research participants (Bhandari, 2022; Felzmann, 2009; & Resnik, 2020). Furthermore, this review also led to the researchers’ assumption that research ethical practices and principles are associated with the level of personal ethics and moral values of a researcher and that there is a difference in the degree of practice and consideration of research ethics with respect to the nature, purpose, and design of research. Lastly, this article illustrated in its framework that the assumptions and the primary principles of research ethics (Resnik, 2020; & Smith, 2003) are inputs to ethical considerations in research. Hence, these concepts strongly underpin the significant roles of the technical review boards (TRBs) and the research ethics committees (RECs) in educational institutions to ensure that academic and scientific research done in the school setting is of quality and with academic integrity, credibility, trustworthiness, and rigor (Bhandari, 2022).

Practitioners have frequent contact with populations underrepresented in scientific research--ethnic/racial groups, sexual minorities and others at risk for poor health and whose low participation in research does not reflect their representation in the general population. Practitioners aspire to partner with researchers to conduct research that benefits underrepresented groups. However, practitioners are often overlooked as a work force that can help erase inclusion disparities. We recruited (n = 282) practitioners (e.g. physicians, social workers, health educators) to examine associations between their attitudes toward research purposes, risks, benefits and confidentiality and their involvement in recruitment, interviewing and intervention facilitation. Participants worked in community-based agencies in Madrid and New York City (NYC), two large and densely populated cities. We used cross-sectional data and two-sample tests to compare attitudes toward research and practitioner involvement in recruiting, interviewing and facilitating interventions. We fit logistic regression models to assess associations between practitioner attitudes toward ethical practices and recruitment, interviewing and facilitating interventions. The likelihood of recruiting, interviewing and facilitating was more pronounced among practitioners agreeing more strongly with ethical research practices. Though Madrid practitioners reported stronger agreement with ethical research practices, NYC practitioners were more involved in recruiting, interviewing and facilitating interventions. Practitioners can be trained to improve attitudes toward ethical practices and increase inclusion of underrepresented populations in research. Funders and researchers are encouraged to offer opportunities for practitioner involvement by supporting research infrastructure development in local agencies. Practices that promise to facilitate inclusion herein may be used in other countries.

While engaged in a research project involving the use of visual methods with children, the authors discovered that there are many ethical considerations beyond what could have been predicted at the outset. Some of these considerations are important with respect to research with children in general, while others arise more particularly when using visual methods. Framed around the two broad categories of procedural ethics and ethics in practice, five areas of ethical concern are considered: (a) assent or willingness to participate, (b) informed consent and assent using visual methods, (c) issues of disclosure, (d) power imbalances, and (e) representations of the child. The authors propose that researcher reflexivity on ethically important moments lies at the heart of living ethical practice in qualitative research and that the ideals of enabling child safety, dignity, and voice serve as useful guides in the quest for ethical practices in research with children.

Research on health and disasters within the social sciences and public health is produced from a wide range of methodological and disciplinary perspectives. Major disaster events continue to highlight the need for health and disaster researchers to further reflect on the procedural and practical aspects of research ethics. We conduct a scoping review and qualitative frame analysis of 76 empirical articles from 2000 onwards, with the aim of uncovering the dominant framings of ‘ethical practice’ within health and disaster literature. The review demonstrates that the literature presents competing framings of risk – namely, a more individualist and biomedical understanding of trauma, and a focus on community-level and contextual aspects of risk, respectively. These competing frames of risk determine how different parts of the field negotiate ethical processes and practices. Additional points of tension are found in the way in which disaster-affected people and places are characterised as (or as not) particularly vulnerable, and the role of formal ethical review committees. This review synthesises proposed solutions from literature to improve both procedural and practical ethics and finds there are continued disagreements surrounding even the most frequently called-for changes. The contrasting framings of ethics problems and solutions within this field indicate the need for consensus around the practical ethics of health and disaster research. Further reflection is warranted for more coherent engagement between this research field and disaster-affected communities.

Sexual and reproductive health issues remain a huge public health challenge, especially in developing countries. These problems arise acutely in socio-cultural contexts marked by social prohibitions relating to adolescent sexuality. However, it is important to listen to adolescents to better understand how they experience their sexuality, the issues associated with it and their needs and expectations. For this, researchers must, among other things, appropriate the frame of reference of adolescents in terms of sexuality to promote relevant policies and interventions. But how can researchers conduct ethical research with people who are under parental care and socially condemned in relation to the research object? This article aims to contribute to the reflection on ethical research practices in sexual and reproductive health with African adolescents. In this paper, I have considered some ethical challenges and the prospects for solving them.

Previous research has consistently highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement in identifying and developing solutions to ethical challenges in genomic research, especially in Africa where such research is relatively new. In this paper, we examine what constitutes good ethical practice in research, from the perspectives of genomic research participants in Uganda. Our study was part of a multi-site qualitative study exploring these issues in Uganda, Ghana and Zambia. We purposively sampled various stakeholders including genomic research participants, researchers, research ethics committee members, policy makers and community members. This paper presents the findings from in-depth interviews with 27 people with diabetes who had participated in a diabetes genomic study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Manual thematic content analysis was conducted using a framework approach. Findings indicate three key requirements that research participants see as vital for genomic research to be more responsive to research participants’ needs and contextual realities: (1) de-emphasising the role of experts and institutions in the consenting process, (2) clarity about the timing and nature of feedback both of findings relevant to the health of individuals and about the broad progress of the study, and (3) more effective support for research participants during and after the study.

We examine the impact of the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the push from research funders to provide open access research data on the current practices in Language Technology Research. We analyse the challenges that arise and the opportunities to address many of them through the use of existing open data practices. We discuss the impact of this also on current practice in research ethics.

Is there an ethical operational research practice? And what this implies for our research?

BackgroundIn Turkey, dementia care is largely provided by family members due to limited formal services and strong cultural expectations regarding familial responsibility. This situation places caregivers under considerable burden and exposes them to complex ethical dilemmas, particularly when balancing patient autonomy and safety.Research aimThis study aimed to explore the ethical challenges and dilemmas faced by family caregivers providing dementia care in Turkey.Research designA descriptive qualitative design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed to explore caregivers' lived experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews (June-July 2024), audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Methodological rigor was ensured using COREQ guidelines.ParticipantsParticipants comprised 12 family caregivers of individuals with dementia receiving home-based care coordinated by a state hospital in Turkey. Purposive sampling was used. Eligible participants were Turkish-speaking adults who had provided unpaid care for at least 6months.Ethical considerationsEthical approval was obtained from the Koç University Social Sciences Ethics Committee (Approval No: 2024.022.IRB3.005). Written informed consent was obtained, confidentiality was ensured using pseudonyms, and participants could withdraw at any time without consequences.FindingsThree themes emerged: dissatisfaction with formal dementia care services; caregiving shaped by cultural values, moral responsibility, and emotional burden; and ethical dilemmas related to dignity, autonomy, informed consent, daily care practices, and medical decision-making. Caregivers frequently described tensions between protecting their relatives and respecting autonomy, often in the absence of professional ethical guidance.Discussion and conclusionsThe findings highlight how ethical dilemmas in dementia care are not solely individual but are shaped by cultural norms and systemic limitations. The lack of accessible formal services and ethical support structures intensifies caregivers' moral distress and decision-making burden. Culturally sensitive, ethically informed, and family-centred support systems are essential to strengthen caregivers' decision-making and well-being.

Bicultural researchers are well positioned to identify tensions, disrupt binaries of positions, and reconcile differences across cultural contexts to ensure ethical research practices. This article focuses on a bicultural researcher's experiences of ethically important moments in research activities with Muslim immigrant women. Three ethical principles of respect, justice, and concern for welfare are highlighted, revealing the implications of binary constructions of identity, the value of situated knowledge in creating ethical research practices, and the need to recognize agency as a counterforce to oppressive narratives about Muslim women.

Ethics and Best Practices of Studying Contemporary Human Populations

Researchers engaged in long-term disaster research are uniquely positioned to influence, inform, and shape long-term disaster recovery trajectories of communities being studied. For this reason, it is crucial for researchers to be critical of their methodological choices and make ethical decisions about the research methods they employ to generate and communicate data. In this article, we argue that making ethical decisions about research processes requires an emphasis on recognition, the acknowledgment, and respect of difference, a key pillar of environmental justice. We share an experience implementing a long-term disaster research protocol (Project Building Resilience through Innovation and Diverse Group Engagement) that includes the deliberate involvement of community members in the research process as Community Specialists and discuss how their engagement contributed to recognition and more ethical research practices. Throughout the article, we provide a blueprint for other long-term disaster researchers seeking to integrate Community Specialists into their own work and discuss potential implementation barriers and recommendations to overcome challenges.

This paper is positioned within current debates on education development and the value of fieldwork as a pathway to fostering a nuanced, sophisticated and empathetic world view among students. Here, we focus on one form of field‐based teaching within geography, that is, intensive field studies courses taught abroad. We draw on our experience as cofacilitators of a six‐week intensive field course conducted in various parts of Thailand. The course we discuss in this paper was focused on teaching students both applied research skills (critical engagement, ethnographic research methods and ethical research practice) and substantive content (the social, cultural, political and economic aspects of Thailand from a geographer's perspective). We argue that the value of field studies lies in the ability of such a course to help students enhance and deepen broad, generalisable skills such as problem solving; ethical research practice; critical engagement with complex social issues; and independent research skills.

This paper exhorts geographers to become more active in debate about ethical research practice. It also suggests that ethical theory, practical problems, and lessons learned from postmodern thought make the prospects of establishing prescriptive codes of ethics unlikely. Instead, flexible prompts for moral contemplation might be used to encourage careful thought on matters of ethics. Because the practical feasibility of moral prompts rests on the existence of moral imaginations, it is vital to consider ways in which those imaginations might be stimulated and nurtured. Professional associations and university academics have significant roles to play in this. Geographers must position themselves as effective agents in the processes by which professional research ethics are shaped rather than awaiting the potentially inappropriate outcomes of other agencies ‘ deliberations.