Ethical Principles for Conducting Fieldwork

Bibliographic Data

ID2455142
AuthorsJoan Cassell (corresponding author)
Year1980
Volume82
Issue1
Pages28-41
Publication date1980-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/aa.1980.82.1.02a00020
OpenAlexW2050685593
LanguageEN
Citations received38
References cited27

Federal regulations to protect human subjects assume a particular relationship between experimenter and subject based upon biomedical research. Because this relationship is not found in every type of research, the regulations are not universally applicable. Relationships between those who study and those who are studied vary with the kind of research. Such variations depend on the relative power and control of the researcher, the direction of interaction, and the level of possible harms and benefits. Measured on these continua, fieldwork is at the opposite end of the spectrum from biomedical research. Consequently, the ethical system on which federal regulations are chiefly based-using utilitarian risk-benefit calculations-becomes ineffective and inappropriate when applied to proposed fieldwork. Here, investigators have relatively little power and less control of the setting and context of research, interaction flows in two directions, and calculable harms and benefits are comparatively low. Various models of fieldwork are described, each having differing relationships between investigators and subjects. It is suggested that the Kantian categorical imperative, with its principle of respect for human autonomy, might be useful in judging the ethical adequacy of these varieties of fieldwork. [fieldwork, ethical principles, research relationships, federal regulations, risk-benefit calculations

Autonomy · Categorical variable · Context (archaeology · Control (management · Economics · Epistemology · Geography · Library science · Management · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Subject (documents · Computer Science · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Law · Occupational and Professional Licensing Regulation · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Social Influence · Social Psychology