[URBANTH-L]RE: a question concerning methods/ethics

[howardh at msu.edu]

I suggest you look at resources found at the home page for another H-Net list I am on for oral historians. The issue of dealing with IRBs on anonymity and sensitive topics, and where it is the job of the oral historian to record the history of real people, has come up a number of times over the years, and there are some bibliographies there that might be helpful.

http://www.h-net.org/~oralhist/

Heather A. Howard (Bobiwash), Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Michigan State University
324 Baker Hall
East Lansing, MI, 48854
Tel: 517-353-4600
http://anthropology.msu.edu/faculty/howard.shtml Quoting "Lawless, Robert" <robert.lawless at wichita.edu>:

> Don't do it. The informant may not realize what use could be made of 
> the published item. Ethics require that you protect your informants; 
> they are not in charge of your ethics. It's your "book, article 
> whatever," and you have the final say in this matter.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: urbanth-l-bounces at lists.ysu.edu 
> [mailto:urbanth-l-bounces at lists.ysu.edu] On Behalf Of Fethi Keles
> Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 11:41 AM
> To: URBANTH-L at lists.ysu.edu
> Subject: [URBANTH-L]a question concerning methods/ethics
>
> Friends,
>
> I would like to receive opinions on the following issue, if possible.
>
> What most everyone does when we write things up is to change names 
> and use pseudonyms etc. etc. But, what do you do if an informant a) 
> specifically asks to be identified with his/her actual name in your 
> study (book, article whatever) b) says s/he doesn't care/wouldn't 
> mind if you were to use his/her actual name?
>
> I feel the answer to this must be more than 'well go ahead and do as 
> s/he says', for there could be a whole lot of other implications if 
> one does so. Any readings you would suggest? What courses of action 
> would be on the table in the two cases above?
>
> Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you.
>
> Fethi Keles
> PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology
> Maxwell School
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