Qualitative Research

Profession and Society

Ethics in Qualitative Research

Angelica Orb, Laurel Eisenhauer, Dianne Wynaden

Purpose: To critically examine ethical issues in qualitative research. Organizing Construct: The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice are guides for researchers to address initial and ongoing tensions between the needs and goals of the research and the rights of participants. Methods: Research literature, ethics literature, and researcher experiences. Conclusions: Ethical principles can be used to guide the research in addressing the initial and ongoing issues arising from qualitative research in order to meet the goals of the research as well as to maintain the rights of the research participants.

JOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, 2000; 33:1, 93-96. ©2001 SIGMA THETA TAU INTERNATIONAL.

[Key words: qualitative research, ethics] * * * has resulted in those researchers being ill-prepared to cope with the unpredictable nature of qualitative research. Qualitative researchers focus their research on exploring, examining, and describing people and their natural environments. Embedded in qualitative research are the concepts of relationships and power between researchers and participants. The desire to participate in a research study depends upon a participant’s willingness to share his or her experience. Nurse researchers have to balance research principles as well as the well-being of clients (Ramos, 1989). Qualitative health research is focused on the experiences of people in relation to health and illness. Yet nurse researchers may find that their roles as researchers and as clinicians may be in conflict. Qualitative studies are frequently conducted in settings involving the participation of people in their everyday environments. Therefore, any research that includes people requires an awareness of the ethical issues that may be derived from such interactions. Ethics in health research includes appropriateness of the research design, the...