Chapter 15: Ethics in Qualitative Psychological Research

Svend Brinkmann & Steinar Kvale

Ethics in qualitative psychological research Qualitative research in psychology entails the power to explore human existence in great detail. It gives access to human experience and allows researchers to describe intimate aspects of people's life worlds. The human interaction in qualitative inquiries affects researchers and participants, and the knowledge produced through qualitative research affects our understanding of the human condition. Consequently, qualitative research in psychology is saturated with ethical issues. In this chapter we address some significant ethical issues that arise when conducting qualitative research in psychology, and we will do so from the premise that ethical issues are an intrinsic part of the research process from the initial formulation of the research question through the actual interviews or field observations, to transcriptions and analyses, and even further when the publications of the study reach readers inside and outside of the scientific community. In qualitative research, ethical problems particularly arise ...

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