Work

Whose Ethics? Negotiations and Consultations between CA Scholars and Ethical Assessment Boards

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The institutionalization of ethical oversight into an official requirement has posed challenges for researchers in conversation analysis (CA). We report on our negotiations with Dutch ethical assessment boards (EABs) on two actual CA project proposals, highlighting the problems they raised and what the outcomes were. We highlight issues concerning anonymizing participants, using online data and EAB protocols. We then report on our initiative to invite EAB members from four universities to a workshop on ethics in CA to explain our methods and discuss issues in applying for ethical approval. We discuss the benefits of collaborating with EAB members to ultimately ease ethical procedures for CA research. We conclude that ethical research requires a collaborative approach in which EABs, researchers, and participants co-develop an answer to the question “whose ethics?” using guidelines that balance societal changes, scientific advancements, and accountability.

Source: Research on Language and Social Interaction

DOI: 10.1080/08351813.2025.2484990

Authors: L. van Burgsteden, W. Stommel, M. Huiskes, M. Rickert

Institutions: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Groningen

Language: English

Topic: Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Partnerships for the goals

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W4410777920

FWCI: 9.219

Cites: 21

Cited by: 5

Related to: 10