Book Chapter
Fride Haram Klykken
Reframing Qualitative Research Ethics, 20 May 2025 [Emerald Publishing Limited]
Abstract
This chapter examines the challenges that informed consent poses in qualitative research. Drawing on examples from a video ethnography in a technologically rich classroom in Norway, this chapter highlights limitations of the current emphasis on anticipatory approaches to informed consent. I explore how a nuanced processual understanding of informed consent can be added to these established procedures so as to navigate the intricate dynamics of conducting ethical research in a relationally constituted world. This chapter illustrates how, from a relationally situated approach, explicit and implicit negotiations of informed consent can be incorporated throughout the research process. Informed by sociomaterial and material feminist theories, this chapter reflects on the iterative and material effects of contemporary informed consent practices. Encouraging a rethinking of the role of informed consent within qualitative research, I argue that engaging in informed consent practices is not only about formal procedures or written agreements but also entails a continuous relational negotiation that needs attention throughout the research process. In conclusion, I advocate that institutions and researchers should advance responsible research ethics by acknowledging ethical complexity, promoting trust, and building diverse and responsive ethical resource networks.
Center for Informed Consent Integrity 