‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children

This article contributes to debates on the practicality and utility of prior ethical review in ethnography and qualitative research using an ethnography of children’s involvement in artisanal gold mining work in Ghana as a case study. Reflecting on dilemmas and obstacles encountered in attempts to e...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Okyere, Samuel
Format: Article
Published: SAGE 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48618/
_version_ 1848797808294887424
author Okyere, Samuel
author_facet Okyere, Samuel
author_sort Okyere, Samuel
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This article contributes to debates on the practicality and utility of prior ethical review in ethnography and qualitative research using an ethnography of children’s involvement in artisanal gold mining work in Ghana as a case study. Reflecting on dilemmas and obstacles encountered in attempts to employ prescribed institutional ethical guidance modelled for childhood research in the UK during the fieldwork, the discussion brings to attention some of the problems that can arise when ethical guidance is not anchored in the lived realities or value systems of the setting in which fieldwork is conducted. The article seeks to rejuvenate calls for more flexible and socio-culturally responsive ethical review and practice as an alternative to the prescriptive ethical regimes.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:09:45Z
format Article
id nottingham-48618
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:09:45Z
publishDate 2017
publisher SAGE
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-486182020-05-04T19:19:56Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48618/ ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children Okyere, Samuel This article contributes to debates on the practicality and utility of prior ethical review in ethnography and qualitative research using an ethnography of children’s involvement in artisanal gold mining work in Ghana as a case study. Reflecting on dilemmas and obstacles encountered in attempts to employ prescribed institutional ethical guidance modelled for childhood research in the UK during the fieldwork, the discussion brings to attention some of the problems that can arise when ethical guidance is not anchored in the lived realities or value systems of the setting in which fieldwork is conducted. The article seeks to rejuvenate calls for more flexible and socio-culturally responsive ethical review and practice as an alternative to the prescriptive ethical regimes. SAGE 2017-11-30 Article PeerReviewed Okyere, Samuel (2017) ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children. Qualitative Research . ISSN 1741-3109 childhood ethical review ethnography informed consent research ethics http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468794117743464 doi:10.1177/1468794117743464 doi:10.1177/1468794117743464
spellingShingle childhood
ethical review
ethnography
informed consent
research ethics
Okyere, Samuel
‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
title ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
title_full ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
title_fullStr ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
title_full_unstemmed ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
title_short ‘Like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
title_sort ‘like the stranger at a funeral who cries more than the bereaved’: ethical dilemmas in ethnographic research with children
topic childhood
ethical review
ethnography
informed consent
research ethics
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48618/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48618/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48618/