Ethics

Where do I start with ethics! Sure my research has of course gone through an ethical procedure with Metanoia ethics committee and passed. But this does not really address the whole question of ethics - not for me anyway.

I am asking my participants to tell me their very personal stories, of their experience growing up in the Exclusive Brethren. Then I am taking those stories, transcribing them into written form (thus losing a lot of information) and then analysing them and interpreting the meanings. But it doesn't stop there for I then turn my interpretation of their stories into written (the thesis and published papers) and spoken form (conference presentations). At the end of all this, will they even recognise the stories as theirs. How will they feel when they read my interpretation of what I have heard? Will they feel betrayed, let down by me. Will they feel a sense of intrusion into their private lives. Will the consent they gave me to use their stories, really be informed consent? How could they know what I would do with their tales.

I feel a huge sense of responsibility - what will the repercussions be for my participants on a personal psychological level but also in terms of their relationships with the people they talked about and in terms of any legal activity by the brethren themselves. Which leads me to wonder yet again - why are the brethren so terribly afraid of those of us who write about them. Why should they fear us. They seem to fear us for why else would they spend thousands of pounds on sending lawyer's letters to some of us.

But I was talking about ethics and thinking about the possible consequences of this research on my participants. And who exactly do their stories belong to!