Remember your Participants are Human

The ethics form for my master’s research project wasn’t approved. I have to start by saying this, because it’s what has prompted the following thoughts. I actually found the reason extremely understandable. I was going to interview participants about potentially distressing experiences, and so I was asked to consider whether there was another way I could approach the research. As it happened there was, I made some changes to the form, and I expect it will get approved this time.

This is the reality for anyone who conducts research involving human participants. Sometimes you have to make them relive very difficult experiences so that you can complete your work. Sometimes, you have to put people in difficult situations. And someone at the university has to decide whether that is necessary or not. I have to say I’m glad I’m not the one who has to make such decisions.

Is it right that we do this? Is it right that we ask people to share their trauma so that we might learn from it? I’m not sure. On the one hand we have to know how people respond to situations, and to understand human experiences so that we can build a better, fairer world. But on the other hand do we sometimes as researchers forget that our research participants are real human beings? Do we get so consumed by the idea that we are listening to people so our research must be good, forgetting to ask ourselves if it was necessary to make them go through this experience in the first place?

I think it’s really important that as researchers we ask ourselves to what extent this is necessary. I’ve been involved in research as a participant where I’m asked to share deeply personal experiences, usually related to blindness. Sometimes, I come out of that research wondering if it was worth it at all. I can feel a bit like a specimen, something to be examined under a microscope. I never want to make my own participants feel that way.

On the other hand, I’ve been involved in research that is genuinely exciting. I’ve been a research participant in a longitudinal study that started when I was 14. Every year I’ve chatted with the researcher about my life, updating her on everything that’s happening, both the good and the bad. The difference with this project is that she’s also made a genuine effort to reach out. She’s asked me to be involved in events related to the research and has always seemed very approachable. I’m not saying that we have to do this for every single research project we conduct. We will get to know the participants very differently, depending on the length and depth of the project. But ultimately, we need to remember to treat them like people.

This still doesn’t answer my ultimate question. Should we make participants relive their trauma or put them in difficult situations? I don’t think any of us have the answers. It is a question that plagues anyone who is interested in research ethics. Luckily for me, my future will most likely involve reading lots of books, rather than interviewing too many participants. But now I’ve written that down I’m sure I’ve cursed myself and the exact opposite will happen!