Research Ethics For Human Geography

Research Ethics for Human Geography is a lively and engaging introduction to key ethical issues in geographical research by leading figures in the discipline. It addresses the wide range of ethical issues involved in collecting, analysing and writing up research across the social sciences, and explores and explains the more specific ethical issues associated with different forms of geographical inquiry. Each chapter comprises detailed summaries and definitions, real-life case studies, student check-lists and annotated recommendations for reading, making the book a valuable toolkit for students undertaking all forms of geographical research, from local and overseas fieldwork, through to dissertation research, methods-training, and further research.

This book explores common ethical issues faced by human geographers in their research. It offers practical guidance for research planning and design that incorporates geographic disciplinary knowledge to conceptualise research ethics. The volume brings together international insights from researchers in geography and related fields to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant ethical frameworks and challenges in human geography research. It includes in-depth reflections on a range of ethical dilemmas that arise in certain contextual conditions and spatial constructions that face those researching and teaching on spatial dimensions of social life. With a focus on the increased need for specialist ethics training as part of postgraduate education in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the necessity for fostering sensitivity in cross-cultural comparative research, the book seeks to enable people to engage in ethical decision-making and moral reasoning while conducting research. Chapters examine the implications of geographical research for conceptualising ethics and discuss specific case studies from which more general conclusions, linked to conceptual debates, are drawn. As a research-based reference guide for tackling ethically sensitive projects and international differences in legal and institutional standards and requirements, the book is useful for postgraduate and undergraduate students as well as academics teaching at senior levels.

This book explores common ethical issues faced by human geographers in their research. It offers practical guidance for research planning and design that incorporates geographic disciplinary knowledge to conceptualise research ethics. The volume brings together international insights from researchers in geography and related fields to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant ethical frameworks and challenges in human geography research. It includes in-depth reflections on a range of ethical dilemmas that arise in certain contextual conditions and spatial constructions that face those researching and teaching on spatial dimensions of social life. With a focus on the increased need for specialist ethics training as part of postgraduate education in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the necessity for fostering sensitivity in cross-cultural comparative research, the book seeks to enable people to engage in ethical decision-making and moral reasoning while conducting research. Chapters examine the implications of geographical research for conceptualising ethics and discuss specific case studies from which more general conclusions, linked to conceptual debates, are drawn. As a research-based reference guide for tackling ethically sensitive projects and international differences in legal and institutional standards and requirements, the book is useful for postgraduate and undergraduate students as well as academics teaching at senior levels.

Drawing together specially commissioned contributors from distinguished geographers from around the world the book examines the place of geography in ethics and of ethics in geography.

Choosing to do fieldwork overseas, particularly in the Global South, is a challenge in itself. The researcher faces logistical complications, health and safety issues, cultural differences, language barriers, and much more. But permeating the entire fieldwork experience are a range of intermediating ethical issues. While many researchers seek to follow institutional and disciplinary guidelines on ethical research practice, the reality is that each situation is unique and the individual researcher must negotiate their own path through a variety of ethical challenges and dilemmas. This book was created to share such experiences, to serve not as a manual for ethical practice but rather as a place for reflection and mutual learning. Since ethical issues face the researcher at every turn and cannot be compartmentalized into one part of the research process, this book puts them at the very center of the discussion and uses them as the lens with which to view different stages of fieldwork. The book covers four thematic areas: ethical challenges in the field; ethical dimensions of researcher identity; ethical issues relating to research methods; and ethical dilemmas of engagement with a variety of actors. This volume also provides fresh insights by drawing on the experiences of research students rather than those of established academics. The contributors describe research conducted for their master’s degrees and doctorates, offering honest and self-critical reflections on how they negotiated ethical challenges and dilemmas. The chapters cover fieldwork carried out in countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America on a broad sweep of development-related topics. This book should have wide appeal to undergraduates, postgraduates, and early-career researchers working under the broad umbrella of development studies. Although focused on fieldwork in the Global South, the discussions and reflections are relevant to field research in many other countries and contexts.

Introduces students to ethical theory and philosophy. This work provides practical guidance on what ethical theory means for research practice; and, offers case studies to give real examples of ethics in research action.