Dealing with the unexpected in research

Abstract

Qualitative research in social work can create unexpected ethical challenges. While ethics committee approval of social work research projects is almost always the first step in undertaking research, ethical considerations are present from when one begins the project to when one begins writing up their findings. Three elements of ethics can be set out: procedural ethics (the prior approval of an institutional ethics committee); ethics in practice (ethical issues that arise while conducting the research); and research ethics that relate to professional codes of ethics or conduct. This chapter draws on the authors’ experiences of addressing and writing about an unanticipated phenomenon in a long-term ethnographic study of social workers in children's services in England. We observed social workers’ interactions and relationships, as well as direct practice in visits and meetings. Social media use in social work practice was not an intended focus of the study, but its use emerged during field observations. Our observation led to a robust discussion of the ethical aspects of this usage. This chapter explores the decisions that were made about these unexpected findings within a framing of research ethics and context.