Citation

Nyklová B, Moree D, Kubala P. J. Fam. Violence 2023; 38(6): 1127-1138.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-023-00589-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study presents the ethical concerns the authors have identified as necessary to address for methodologically sound qualitative research with survivors of gender-based violence. The aim is to define questions that need to be addressed before research with this vulnerable and diverse group can be considered so that the threat of inflicting further harm is mitigated and the possible positive impact of research is increased. We outline and compare the merits and possible drawbacks of three different approaches to research with gender-based violence survivors.

Methods

We compare the ethical/methodological rationale and approaches used in three different projects employing mixed-method exploratory research, survivor-centered qualitative interview-based research and experimental research through practices from the theatre of the oppressed. The comparison centers on showing the relative advantages of individual approaches in terms of ethics in practice.

Results

The individual studies and their comparison confirm the ongoing salience of ethical considerations outlined by, e.g., proponents of feminist participatory action research; our findings also underline the necessity of considering the social contexts of violence and the need to adjust research design to ethics.

Conclusions

Our study shows that using research designs that do not lead to direct empowerment of survivors should only be considered after other options have been tried and proven inefficient. Ethical considerations need to be holistic, focusing on preventing further harm and paying attention to the social contexts of violence and the impact of representing the research results.

Language: en

Keywords

Gender-based violence; Mixed-method exploratory research; Research ethics; Survivor-centered qualitative interview research; Theatre of the oppressed