The Seduction of Ethics

by Van Den Hoonaard, Will C.

• ISBN13: 9781442611504
• ISBN10: 1442611502
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-13
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Formal research-ethics committees in Canada now function as an industry, costing over thirty-five million dollars annually. The Seduction of Ethicsargues that while ethics codes are alluring to the public, they fuel moral panic and increase demands for institutional accountability. Will C. van den Hoonaard explores the research-ethics review process itself by analysing the moral cosmology and practices of ethics committees regarding research and researchers. The Seduction of Ethicsalso investigates how researchers have tailored their approaches in response to technical demands - leading social science disciplines to resemble each other more closely and lose the richness of their research. Van den Hoonaard reveals an idiosyncratic and inconsistent world in which researchers employ particular strategies of avoidance or partial or full compliance as they seek approval from ethics committees.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 3
Premise of The Seduction of Ethics	p. 4
Ignorance and Scholarship	p. 9
The Scholarship on the Metabolism of Research-Ethics Review	p. 13
Conceptual Scheme	p. 15
Research Methods	p. 18
Outline of The Seduction of Ethics	p. 18
An Archeology of Research-Ethics Review	p. 20
Outside the Ethics Regime: What Drives the System of Ethics Review?	p. 21
Inside the System: Institutionalization of Research-Ethics Review	p. 26
The Criticisms of Research-Ethics Review	p. 39
Does the Ethics Regime Offer an Inappropriate Model for Social Science Research?	p. 40
Is Research Ethics Strangling Legitimate Research?	p. 41
Does Ethics Review Curtail Academic Freedom?	p. 43
Are Ethics Committees Bureaucracies?	p. 45
Does Ethics Review Develop and Maintain the Hegemony of Ethics Committees?	p. 48
Attempts to Negotiate the Two Worlds and Transcend the Criticisms: The Perspectives of Ethics Committees	p. 50
What Is the Normative Ethics Framework for Social Researchers?	p. 55
The 'Subject' in International and National Research-Ethics Codes	p. 56
Bursting the Contemporary Ethics Bubble: Three Case Studies	p. 63
Structure and Composition of Research-Ethics Committees	p. 74
Ethics Committees ad Part of the University	p. 74
Membership	p. 77
Jurisdictional Power and Independence	p. 89
Workload	p. 90
The Moral Cosmology of the Ethics-Review world	p. 97
About Themselves	p. 97
About Researchers	p. 103
About Research Participants	p. 110
Procedural Routines: The Application Form and the Consent Form	p. 122
The Application Form	p. 123
The Consent Form	p. 131
The Meeting: Making Agendas and Decisions	p. 144
Attendance and Membership	p. 146
The Career of the Agenda	p. 150
Paradigms and Perspectives that Shape the Conversation about Ethics	p. 162
Making Decisions without Principles	p. 167
An Idiosyncratic and Inconsistent World: Communications between REBs and Researchers	p. 176
Interpretation as the Basis of Idiosyncrasies and Inconsistencies	p. 178
Communications to Researchers/Language of (Dis)approval	p. 180
Content	p. 186
Language	p. 190
REB Communications inside the Larger Context of the Ethics Regime	p. 196
The Underlife of Research-Ethics Review: Preparing an Application	p. 199
The 'Hurt Perspective'	p. 199
The Researcher's Moral Career	p. 203
Warming up (or Not) to Submitting the Proposal	p. 208
Preparing for the 'News'	p. 221
Secondary Adjustments by Researchers	p. 223
Reactions by Researchers to Ethics Reviews	p. 223
Applying Secondary Adjustments	p. 227
The Social Situation of Students in the Ethics-Review Process	p. 231
The Beleaguered Methods	p. 236
General Considerations about Redirecting Research	p. 236
The Declining Use of Particular Methods	p. 238
On Theory, Topics, and Favoured Methods	p. 258
Shaping Theoretical Orientations	p. 258
Changing Topics of Research	p. 261
The Rise of Other, Favoured Methods	p. 266
Macro-Structural Linkages	p. 274
Vertical Ethics from the Perspective of Research-Ethics Committees	p. 274
Vertical Ethics from the Perspective of Researchers	p. 277
The Intermeshing of both Systems of Vertical Ethics	p. 281
Ideological and Practical Linkages	p. 282
Will the Social Sciences Wither Away or Is There an Alternative?	p. 286
Puncturing the Gloom	p. 289
Methodology	p. 293
Applications Considered Annually by Selected Research Ethics Boards in Canada	p. 303
Samples of Communications from Ethics Committees to Researchers	p. 305
Interview Guides	p. 317
Notes	p. 321
References	p. 339
Index	p. 359
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.