Exploring Ethical Issues and Dilemmas Surrounding Qualitative Research

The aim of this article is to clarify ethical criteria in qualitative research by highlighting ethical issues and dilemmas that may accompany qualitative research. This article sets the following research question for this purpose: “What ethical issues and dilemmas do researchers in the humanities and social sciences encounter in the process of conducting qualitative research?” The results of this paper are summarized as follows. Firstly, qualitative researchers faced issues such as responsibility and protection for research participants, consent and compensation for research participation, and the formation of dynamic power relationships with research participants in terms of relational ethics. Secondly, humanities and social scientists conducting qualitative research faced dilemmas based on ethical values such as respect for persons, beneficence, and justice in terms of normative ethics (deontological approach). Thirdly, qualitative researchers experienced ethical dilemmas based on methodological issues such as self-reflection, reflexivity, positionality, and situationality in terms of practical ethics. Fourthly, qualitative researchers or authors experienced dilemmas due to ethical issues such as conceptualism and methodism, research misconduct, and social responsibility in terms of academic ethics. This study will explore the ethical issues and dilemmas accompanying qualitative research, thereby strengthening the ethics and integrity of qualitative research and providing ethical criteria that can change or improve existing IRB review standards based on the perspectives of biomedicine or behavioral science. In addition, this study will provide guidelines for researchers in the humanities and social sciences to deeply understand the ethical issues and dilemmas of qualitative research and flexibly deal with research ethics.