Qualitative migration research ethics : mapping the core challenges

Abstract

When conducting qualitative research, migration scholars are often confronted with particular ethical issues. Since migration researchers often work on vulnerable, hard-to-reach, and sensitive populations, the protection of participants and their information may become a challenging task. The exploratory and flexible nature of qualitative research proves that standardized codes of ethical conduct cannot adequately address emerging issues during the qualitative research process. This article aims to map current ethical challenges that migration scholars often face as well as to provide some guidance while acknowledging the fact that many researchers deal with ethical challenges on a case-by-case basis. It starts by placing qualitative migration research ethics (QMRE) at the crossroads of qualitative migration research and research ethics debates and reviewing the main issues of this emerging literature. Then, we map ethical issues involved in different research stages including before, during, and after the fieldwork. We conclude insisting on the particularities of the critical ethical consciousness in migration studies. We also claim the need to incorporate these ethical issues in higher education programs and the need of teaching the best ethical principles in classroom environments to young migration researchers.