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ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR FOCUS GROUPS IN CHILD ABUSE RESEARCH
Ivan Rimac
orcid.org/0000-0003-4022-5856
; Studijski centar socijalnog rada, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Jelena Ogresta
orcid.org/0000-0001-5235-3180
; Studijski centar socijalnog rada, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Researches in the field of child abuse raise many ethical issues. Their salience is more present in the implementation of qualitative methods that follow an idiographic research approach. Specificities of qualitative data methods have placed before researchers new ethical responsibilities that often cannot be solved by implementing formal ethical principles. The sources of ethical dilemmas in focus groups in child abuse research are reflected in the changing meanings of confidentiality and content defined under informed consent. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the participants’ personal experiences with abuse can additionally burdenresearcher’s assessment of risk and benefits for each participant. During the focus groups risk can vary depending on the group discussion dynamic. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse those ethical dilemmas that emerge from focus groups and which are within the scope of a researcher’s decision-making process. Considerations presented in the paper are based on the results of focus groups with children in a pilot study within the BECAN project. Results indicated four critical elements in the evaluation of focus groups ethics: participants sampling, focus group script, group discussion dynamics, and orientation of research process toward new and unexpected insights. These elements have been considered in the light of their opposition to at least one of the initial ethical standards. Regarding the range of researchers’ responsibility to resolve the stated dilemmas, the purpose of the indicated considerations is to encourage researchers’ critical reflexivity in the field of child abuse and neglect about procedures that are applied or omitted in focus groups. Sensitivity for potential consequences of researcher’s actions may contribute to the creation of additional ethical guidelines in child abuse research.
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Ključne riječi
research ethics; focus groups; sensitive topics; child abuse
Hrčak ID:
96679
URI
Datum izdavanja:
6.2.2013.
Posjeta: 4.844 *