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Ethics in Critical Research: Stories from the Field

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The Palgrave Handbook of Ethics in Critical Research

Abstract

In this chapter we introduce the approaches to ethics in critical research applied throughout this handbook. Critical research questions who benefits from research and offers critiques rooted in postmodern and liberatory theories, including feminism, Marxism, and postcolonialism. Authors of chapters in the handbook explore ethical issues faced when conducting critical research through stories from the field across a range of methodologies, disciplines, and locations. The chapter overviews the four sections of the handbook and the ethical challenges associated with conducting critical research within the bureaucracy of ethics committees and other systems of governance, blurring the boundaries between researchers and participants/co-researchers, giving voice through research whilst applying anonymity or naming participants/co-researchers, and conducting research with various configurations of power between researchers and participants/co-researchers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The bodies tasked with reviewing research ethics prior to researchers’ engagement in the field have different names, depending on context. In this handbook, authors have been free to use the names pertinent to their context (e.g., Internal Review Board in the United States). We use a generic term, ethics committees , in our introductions and conclusions.

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Correspondence to Catriona Ida Macleod .

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Macleod, C.I., Marx, J., Mnyaka, P., Treharne, G.J. (2018). Ethics in Critical Research: Stories from the Field. In: Macleod, C., Marx, J., Mnyaka, P., Treharne, G. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Ethics in Critical Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74721-7_1

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