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The afterlife of interviews: explicit ethics and subtle ethics in sensitive or distressing qualitative research

The afterlife of interviews: explicit ethics and subtle ethics in sensitive or distressing... When conducting interviews about sensitive subject matter such as family life, powerful emotions may arise. The kinds of unexpected distress that can surface in interviews concerning topics laden with personal significance are different to the readily anticipated trauma that accompanies interviews in post-crisis or post-conflict situation. This article analyses the ethical considerations that accompany such research, drawing upon literature from oral history and qualitative sociology. The article traces ethical issues during the temporal phases of qualitative research – before, during and after an interview – before proposing three strategies that interviewers can adopt to help protect narrators from ongoing harm or distress after an interview. Such ethical safeguards include the self-interview, the post-interview follow-up with the narrator, and adopting an ethics of reciprocity that allows the narrator to feel that they are contributing to a larger purpose through involvement in research. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Qualitative Research SAGE

The afterlife of interviews: explicit ethics and subtle ethics in sensitive or distressing qualitative research

Qualitative Research , Volume 22 (5): 18 – Oct 1, 2022

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References (66)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021
ISSN
1468-7941
eISSN
1741-3109
DOI
10.1177/14687941211012924
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

When conducting interviews about sensitive subject matter such as family life, powerful emotions may arise. The kinds of unexpected distress that can surface in interviews concerning topics laden with personal significance are different to the readily anticipated trauma that accompanies interviews in post-crisis or post-conflict situation. This article analyses the ethical considerations that accompany such research, drawing upon literature from oral history and qualitative sociology. The article traces ethical issues during the temporal phases of qualitative research – before, during and after an interview – before proposing three strategies that interviewers can adopt to help protect narrators from ongoing harm or distress after an interview. Such ethical safeguards include the self-interview, the post-interview follow-up with the narrator, and adopting an ethics of reciprocity that allows the narrator to feel that they are contributing to a larger purpose through involvement in research.

Journal

Qualitative ResearchSAGE

Published: Oct 1, 2022

Keywords: Ethics; qualitative research; oral history; qualitative sociology; family; motherhood; parenthood

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