Course description
The course addresses ethical and methodological challenges encountered by researchers doing fieldwork in various contexts in both the global South and the global North. It reflects on a range of problems a researcher encounters through the research process – from planning to data collection/production, analysis and dissemination of results. These include the challenge of navigating unequal power relations between researcher and “researched”, the role and position of research assistants, interpreters and gatekeepers, conducting research in insecure and difficult environments, approaching elite interviewees, and engaging in necessary but not excessive self-reflection. Ethical challenges are discussed in relation to concrete methods of collecting/producing data – mainly through interviews and ethnographic methods – as well as in relation to research more broadly. The students will develop and argue for the methodological design of their thesis project – focusing on data-collection and access to research contacts and interviewees – and discuss the main ethical challenges linked to their research and methodological choices.
Target group
This course is compulsary for PhD students in Peace and Development Research at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg. The course is also open for students enrolled in a PhD program in Peace and Development Research, Environmental Social Science or other relevant fields of study at other departments and universities.
Requirements and Selection
Entry requirements
The course is open for students enrolled in a PhD program in Peace and Development Research, Environmental Social Science or other relevant fields of study, or equivalent.
Selection
PhD students at the School of Global Studies will be given priority. Other applicants will be assessed and admitted based on the relevance of their PhD project.
Other information
This is an on-campus course. In exceptional, well-grounded cases, there may be arrangements for remote participation, but it will not be possible to do the whole course remotely.
Teaching is done through a sequence of interactive sessions - lectures, seminars, student-run exchanges - and included one final written assignment. The course this year will also include discussions about the implications of the corona pandemic (and resulting restrictions) and resulting methodological and ethical issues.
A provisional schedule for the spring semester 2003 is listed below. The exact dates and times will likely change, but it gives good indication of the overall format, pace and time frame.
Mon 3 April 1 PM: Lec 0 course intro
Mon 3 April 2 PM: Sem I Exchange (methods students use)
Tues 4 April 2 PM: Lec 1 Foundational principles
Wed 5 April 2 PM: Lec 2 Informed consent
(7 to 16 april Easter week)
Mon 17 April 2 PM: Lec 3 Data security
Tue 18 April 2 PM: Lec 4 Brokers and representation
Wed 19 April 2 PM: Sem III Dilemmas (student experience)
Tue 25 April 2 PM: Sem IV Readings (suggested by students)
Wed 26 April 10-12 AM: Lec 5 Positionality
Thur 27 April 2 PM: Sem V Ethics applications
Mon 7 May 8 PM: Draft submission
Tue 8 May 2 PM: Sem VI on draft (peer feedback)
Thu 11 May 8 PM: Final submission
Fri 12 May 2 PM: Sem VII presentations
Course syllabus
SFGS302
Department
School of Global Studies
Subject
Social Science
Type of course
Ethics course, Method course
Keywords
methods, research ethics, metod, forskningsetik, datainsamling, data collection
