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REVIEW article

Front. Sociol.
Sec. Sociological Theory
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1458423

Ethical Challenges in Qualitative Sociology: A systematic literature review

Provisionally accepted
Carla Scheytt Carla Scheytt *Jessica Pflüger Jessica Pflüger
  • University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Qualitative researchers often encounter ethical challenges during their research process. Due to the large number of papers in which researchers reflect on specific and various ethical challenges within their projects, it proves difficult to keep track of them. To capture these reflexive practices, we conducted a literature review of 72 papers in sociology. Our review shows who reflects on research ethics and when and where such reflections occur. We identify eleven ethical issues that sociologists reflect on. Some issues address the challenges of implementing established ethical principles, such as (1) informed consent, (2) voluntary participation, (3) avoiding harm, (4) anonymization, and (5) confidentiality. Others go beyond these principles and refer to (6) the relationship between researchers and participants, (7) power asymmetries, (8) protecting yourself as a researcher, (9) deviant actions, (10) covert research, and (11) leaving the field. Our findings help researchers gain an overview of ethical challenges, enhancing their reflexivity.

    Keywords: research ethics, reflexivity, ethical challenges, No Harm, Informed Consent, Confidentiality, anonymization, Voluntary participation

    Received: 02 Jul 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Scheytt and Pflüger. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Carla Scheytt, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.