Methods: Research Ethics and Data Ethics
- Familiarize yourself with the fundamental principles of good scientific practice as defined by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and compare them with your own research project. The DFG guidelines are summarized here: Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct
- Determine the relevant ethics committees for your research project, including those within your academic discipline, university, and research location. A list of ethics committees for social science disciplines can be found here (in German only): https://www.konsortswd.de/themen/forschungsethik/ethikkommissionen/
For researchers at Freie Universität Berlin: The central ethics committee members and contact persons are listed here: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/forschung/service/ethik/index.html - For ethnographic research in ethnology/social and cultural anthropology – The fundamental principles for ethical review in ethnographic research can be found here (in German only): https://www.dgska.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DGSKA_Ethik-Leitlinie.pdf
- The German Association for Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA) provides a research reflection questionnaire, which can be completed and submitted to the relevant ethics committee in consultation with your academic advisor (in German only): https://www.dgska.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DGSKA_Ethik-Reflexionsfragebogen.pdf
- Teaching and training materials for self-assessment in research ethics can be freely downloaded from the website of the Council for Social and Economic Data (RatSWD). The self-assessment guidelines start on slide 41 in the teaching slides (in German only): https://www.konsortswd.de/aktuelles/publikation/forschungsethik%20in%20den%20sozial%20und%20wirtschaftswissenschaften/
- A further checklist for the ethical self-assessment of studies is available here (in German only): https://www.fu-berlin.de/forschung/service/ethik/_media/2022_checkliste.pdf
Despite these guidelines, rules, and checklists, ethnographic research situations can present ethical dilemmas for which there are no ideal or clear-cut solutions. Such dilemmas must be assessed and addressed on a case-by-case basis (Dilger, 2020, p. 284).
Literature
Dilger, H. (2020). Ethik und Reflexivität in der Feldforschung. In Beer, B. & König, A. (Eds.) Methoden ethnologischer Feldforschung (283-303). https://doi.org/10.5771/9783496030355