Ethical Dilemmas in Evaluations Using Indigenous Research Workers

Abstract

This article addresses ethical dilemmas experienced by street-level research and evaluation workers recruiting and gathering data in community-based research projects. The authors focus on a subgroup of street-level research workers, whom they call research extenders (REs), employed because they share important characteristics with the target population. Like other street-level research workers, some REs are single role (only do research work) and others are dual role (do research work and provide services). They discuss relevant literature and findings from pilot focus groups exploring how REs understand responsible ethical conduct in their research work in the community. REs face ethical issues somewhat different from those of more traditional, non-indigenous street-level research workers. These issues increase social risk for study participants and could compromise the validity of data. Researchers need to be aware of and address the distinctive set of ethical issues raised by research and evaluation projects employing indigenous, street-level research workers.