Beyond the Ethics Committee: Representing Others in Qualitative Research

Abstract

While university ethics committees codify ethical standards for 'research with human subjects', qualitative researchers grapple with shifting and elusive problems which remain beyond the ambit of effective legislation. In this article I examine some of these problems in the light of my own experience in conducting a participant observation study of soldier-musicians in an Australian army band. While there is a considerable literature on the ethical conundrums met in fieldwork, there is less about the problems of writing about other people. Yet, in their writing, qualitative researchers have a considerable responsibility for what they say about their subjects. Hence, representing others in qualitative research is my focus. I conclude that just as in human social life, where rules for ethical behaviour reside in the conscience of individuals, so too ethical problems in qualitative research can be addressed only in the context of our personal moral codes.