Writing the Subjects of Qualitative Research: Considering Ethics in Elite Interviewing

• In Event: Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Ethics, Justice, and Responsibility

Abstract

A historical indicator of the quality, validity, and rigor of qualitative research has been methodological documentation of a researcher’s on-going contemplation, decisions, and processes (e.g., Freeman et al. 2007). Such thorough and reflexive descriptions of one’s research processes, including the ethical dilemmas encountered and produced throughout a study, enable others to better understand what “exemplary researchers whose methodology is innovative and effective do and how they make their work convincing” (Freeman et al. 2007, 26). In this paper, we explore elite interviewing as a unique and challenging space in which to highlight and theorize ethical difficulties in research in order to open up the conversation about validity and ethics in the context of the unique power relations of elite interviewing.

Authors

• Jessica Van Cleave, Mars Hill University

• Sarah Bridges-Rhoads, Georgia State University