Ethics in ethnographic research

Ross Woods, 2021

Jim Spradley was a major author in ethnographic methods, and his books have been standard works for many years. The notes below are a summary from one of his textbooks and is based on Principles of Professional Responsibility, Council of the American Anthropological Association. Some is still completely relevant, while some is not consistent with current practices.

  1. Anticipate conflicting interests and values before taking on a project and resolve them in a way that protects those being researched. If this cannot be done, do not proceed with the project.
  2. The ethnographer’s primary concern is to those whom he/she is studying and to protect their dignity, privacy, welfare, and sensitivities.
  3. The ethnographer cannot assume that informants’ interests are the same as other people with whom they interact. The ethnographer must act in the interests of informants. [This presumes that a community comprises different groups of people who have contrasting interests, such as interdependence, conficts, competition, etc.]
  4. Ethnography is by nature invasive. Informants have the right to speak “off the record,” that is, it is not recorded.
  5. Informants have a right to be told the ethnographer’s aims. This may be in simple, non-academic terms. If the researcher’s aims need to change during the project, the ethnographer needs to tell informants of the change of aims.
  6. Protect informants’ privacy and give them the right to be anonymous.
  7. Don’t exploit informants. Some are satisfied simply to be visited and listened to. In other cases, you might provide a copy of the report.
  8. Make reports available to informants. The report may be oral if it is what they understand best.
  9. Do not make reports available to sponsors (gatekeepers, funders, etc.) that are not available to the general public.

Questions

  1. What kinds of conflicting interests and values can face an ethnographer?
  2. What kinds of informants’ interests are different from other people with whom they interact? (E.g. a criminal and the police.
  3. What if a court subpoenas your notes? E.g learning about a criminal activity, a workers’ strike?
  4. Which parts are still completely relevant and which are not consistent with current practices? (E.g. consent must now normally be written.)
  5. When is it fair to pay informants? When is it counter-productive?

 
Reference

James P. Spradley, The Ethnographic Interview. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979), pp. 34-39. Based on Principles of Professional Responsibility, Council of the American Anthropological Association, 1971.