The ethical considerations in qualitative research are more complex than in quantitative first because of the nature of qualitative research. Last week’s class mentioned qualitative research focuses on the meaning and on the social world as made up of systems of meaning, as well as the interpretative research of cultures and subjectivity rather than measurement. Thus it accepts the intrusion of values into research and does not necessarily aspire to law-like generalities. The ethical problems presented by the nature of qualitative research include but are not limited to:sample sizes are often too small to be useful, and the subjectivity of the researchers means that the objectivity of qualitative studies is sometimes compromised.It is essential for qualitative researchers to explain clearly in proposal and make sure the funding agencies and research ethic committees know that the emphasis in qualitative research is to capture the complexity of the cases in the sample, and to construct descriptions or interpretations or analyses which may have general relevance and value. Qualitative research is openly subjective and does not aim for objectivity in the sense of a culturally neutral vantage point.
The issues arising out of difficulties in assessing impact on the well-being of participants are another reason which makes ethics in qualitative research more complex. Qualitative research is not physically but has the potential to be a more socially and emotionally invasive form of research, so assessing impact on well-being in diverse and complex social situations presents difficulties. Also the unfolding and exploratory nature of qualitative research can leave researches unable to provide full information to participants at the initial at the initial consent consent-seeking stage. We should be aware of that it is not sufficient to establish that there is little risk of physical harm, the degree of personal and social invasiveness needs to be established,such as the shared intimacy of some types of research interview can expose or exacerbate vulnerabilities.