Abstract
This chapter explores the dilemmas faced when interviewing experts by reflecting my own experiences in relation to the ideals of ethical research. In general, ethical issues encountered when doing a study are multiple; they arrive prior to, during and after a study (for example Mauthner and others, 2002, Homan, 1991, Kimmel, 1988, Kvale, 1996, Ali and Kelly, 2004). Ethical dilemmas are also acknowledged by researchers who work on powerful and knowledgeable research subjects (for example Odendahl and Shaw, 2001, Hertz and Imber, 1995, Moyser and Wagstaffe, 1987, Dexter, 1970). Against this background, it is the purpose of this chapter to reflect the extent to which the propositions of the democratic research literature — that is: research that argues in favour of assigning equal rights to research subjects by turning them into co-researchers and, accordingly, engaging them at all levels of a study process — are relevant to an expert researcher. Furthermore, I seek to reflect the dilemma of the researcher who has a commitment to protect the study from harm and simultaneously owes a duty to protect the research subject from harm.
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Further readings
Dexter, L. A. (1970) Elite and specialized interviewing (Evanston: Northwestern University Press).
Raab, C. (1987) “Oral history as an instrument of research into Scottish educational policy making” in Moyser, G. and Wagstaffe, M. (eds) Research methods for elite studies (London: Allen and Unwin), pp. 109–25.
Luff, D. (1999) “Dialogue across the divides: ‘Moments of rapport’ and power in research with anti-feminist women” in Sociology 33, pp. 687–703.
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© 2009 Vaida Obelenė
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Obelenė, V. (2009). Expert versus Researcher: Ethical Considerations in the Process of Bargaining a Study. In: Bogner, A., Littig, B., Menz, W. (eds) Interviewing Experts. Research Methods Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244276_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244276_9
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