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Published: 02 March 2007

Ethics in Social Research

Chief Government Social Researcher Sue Duncan has welcomed a report documenting the responses of participants in research studies, which stresses the importance of well-structured and conducted interviews over more abstract ethical considerations.

‘Ethics in social research: the views of research participants’, undertaken by NatCen and involving 50 in-depth interviews, suggests that the focus of ethical research conduct might usefully be placed on sound judgments from researchers and interviewers, rather than prescriptive and bureaucratic approaches.

The study found that people made very quick decisions about whether or not to take part in research, with considerable diversity in the information they absorbed from letters and talking to the interviewer.

Whilst written consent was not considered important, participants placed great emphasis on being comfortable during interviews and on interviewers being friendly & showing respect.

It was also considered important that questions:

· flowed and were clear

· ere not intrusive or repetitive

· were relevant to the topic & objectives, and

· gave scope to participants to properly convey their views or experiences

People felt positive about making a contribution through interview and valued the resulting awareness – both of themselves and the subject.

Against this was balanced the:

· difficulty of re-living painful experiences

· finding the experience tiring, frustrating or boring, and

· lingering concerns about disclosure and confidentiality

Sue Duncan commented:

“This is a valuable and timely study.

The debate about research ethics has intensified in recent years, but has not been informed by much empirical research with research participants.

This helps us to understand what really matters to participants when it comes to ethical research practice.

We hope research commissioners and researchers will incorporate these findings into their approaches, and will be using them ourselves to inform future GSRU training and guidance.”

The study was funded by the Government Social Research Unit in collaboration with HM Revenue and Customs, Scottish Executive, Department for Transport, Department for Communities and Local Government and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Further information

Ethics in social research: the views of research participants