Asking about Violence: Evidence on the Ethics of Measurement in Violent Contexts

• In Event: Building an Evidence Base for Research Ethics in Political Science

Abstract

Over the past decade, research that involves engaging with people affected by violence has increased dramatically, yet there is little evidence on the effects of asking about violence on respondents and interviewers. To fill this evidence gap, we conducted a systematic evidence review and a randomized evaluation to study a set of common procedures used in academic and policy research to measure exposure to violence in interviews. We assess two outcomes: the potential for benefits and harm to research participants and the extent to which respondents regret participating in the research. Although preliminary evidence from our systematic review of existing studies that report participant reactions to violence research suggests that participation has net positive effects, our original experiments suggest more mixed results.

Authors

• Hannah Baron, Tulane University

• Elayne Stecher

• Graeme Blair, UCLA

• Rebecca Littman, MIT

• Lauren E Young, University of California, Davis