Ethics and power in community-campus partnerships for research

Abstract

The past 20 years have seen a strong emergence of participatory approaches in social research. Such efforts typically include the researched in defining the questions, in data collection and analysis, and in interpreting and taking action based on the research findings. The objective is co-generating knowledge and, potentially, sharing decision-making based on that knowledge. This movement toward participatory research brings new sets of social relations for research and, as such, presents a new set of ethical challenges. The current framework for understanding the ethical issues involved in research is predicated on post-positivist epistemological assumptions of a distanced objectivist research stance, and thus is ill-suited for examining the ethics of participatory research. This article shall address this gap, outlining the potential ethical implications and presenting a framework for considering the ethical questions involved in participatory research partnerships.