Researchers and their 'subjects': Ethics, power, knowledge and consent

Description

The governance of research across disciplinary boundaries varies considerably, even when the relationships between the researcher and subject are similar. This book examines the role of participants in research and how research ethics can be put into practice. Health, social, and journalistic research are currently subject to very different forms of regulation and codes of practice. By including the experiences of researchers and their subjects in all of these contexts, the book explores the disciplinary divides. It: discusses the ethical regulations and guidance governing researchers in different disciplines; analyses case studies of innovative research projects where ethics have been central to the researcher-subject relationship; assesses the impact of ethics on research methods and approaches; provides useful comparisons of research conducted by professionals and service-users; offers a unique insight into research participants' perspectives, which are so often absent in discussions of research ethics. This book is essential reading for researchers who are concerned about the ethical quality of their interactions with their subjects, research funders, and those engaged in research governance.

Marie Smyth teaches and is Chief Executive and founder of the Institute for Conflict Research in Belfast. She has researched and written on issues ranging from segregation, mixed marriages and women's roles to the social, economic and political effects of violence and conflict. Emma Williamson is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow currently working at the Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol. She has conducted research, written, and taught in the area of domestic violence, and domestic violence and health in particular.

"... an unusual and fascinating book. Each chapter is a well-told story of research practice as it really is rather than as we might hope it to be." Community Care "... invaluable to postgraduate students and social researchers who are invloved in applied research settings and any researchers debating the role and remit of ethics committees." SRA News "An original and extremely interesting contribution to the highly topical debate on research ethics. This book should be essential reading for social researchers, students on research methods courses, members of Research Ethics Committees, and those who are responsible for funding and managing research." Professor Jan Pahl, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent