Research ethics 2/22

As seen in the article 'Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS' by Claire E. Sterk, anthropological researchers may be confronted with many challenges in order to complete their research.  In Sterk's case, one of these big challenges was trying to gain access into the group she was studying.  Since prostitution is illegal in the area where she was conducting her research, she could not just walk up to any random woman on the street and have them fill out a questionnaire, or start grilling them with questions.  Instead, she had to make herself visible to the women, and very slowly gain their respect and trust.  Once they trusted her, she was able to obtain the information that she needed in a more informal fashion.

In her research, Sterk experienced instances when she needed to make moral and ethical judgement calls regarding her place as a ethnographer.  She writes, "I failed to know the proper response when asked to engage in illegal activities such as holding drugs or money a woman had stolen from a customer. In general, my response was to explain that I was there as a researcher."  (Sterk, p39.) Sterk's refusal to help the women in this type of situation could have cost her the trust of her informant, but it was imperative.  As an ethnographer, it was important for Sterk to remove herself as much as possible, rather than either doing the favor for the woman (compromising her morals), or turning the woman in to the authorities (an ethical dilemma).  Ethnographers studying all different cultures may face this problem, although in different forms. In an instance where serious harm is being done to a person, such as female circumcision, it would be very hard for the ethnographer not to step in and help.  An important factor for the researcher to consider would be whether or not the people participating in the practice want to continue the practice or not.  If they want help to stop the practice, perhaps a reasonable thing that the researcher could do would be to call aid organizations such as the Red Cross, to try to send educators concerning the dangers of the practice, hopefully alleviating some of the problem.

It would be extremely difficult to set world standards regarding activism against social problems.  There is no "measure of morality" between all of the distinctive cultures.  As a humanitarian, I am tempted to say that ethnographers should use their research to try to stop human suffering (ie. rape, genital mutilation, slavery), but I know that there are many people who believe that is overstepping boundaries.  Sometimes, all that can be done is to educate. Some cultures that practice genital mutilation may not fully know of all of the physical risks that it causes.  In the same way, many Americans probably do not know of the things that go on in nursing homes or daycares. It would be very hard to persuade many Americans not to put their elderly parents in nursing homes or to not let their children go to daycare, but research and statistics on the poor treatment conditions in some of these places might at least cause people to think harder about their decisions, and would be worth the effort.