Confidentiality of Observational Research

        With ethics is discussed, comes the confidentiality. It is ethical to keep someone’s information confidential. These two settings are not connected but if one is violated way too much the other is violated automatically. The privacy or confidentiality of the knowledge of the Participant’s Observers should be made explicit to every informant as well as to greater groups of people that give a proper setting to the research. There are several cultural settings in which it is important to convey the implicitly as the time passes, in case of Participant Observations. (It can include the record of land holding, interviews, archives, holiday records, court cases etc.) The difference between technical interfaces and informal ways are applicable in this case too. Selective information gathered about health, beliefs and intimate relations o even on economic data can be sensitive specifically and this may require some additional assurances to the informants and whoever is connected closely to them (Banyard & Flanagan, 2013).

Informed Consent of Observational Research

        Just like in any other discipline, informed consent is one of the top most important ethical principles. Several issues can arise in the process of taking informed consent during the Participant Observation. Is it convenient to receive a formal informed consent from every participant in the group in which the researcher is interacting? When is the time and when it right to take informed consent, keeping in mind the roles and objectives of researcher? Is it possible to get a collective consent from a group? There is no simple answer to such complex questions. They differ by setting and type of research to be performed. Somehow, the researcher should choose the highest standards in order to take the informed consent when using the Participant Observation (Banyard & Flanagan, 2013).

In doing so, a researcher should:

Make sure that the participants of the research know well about the identity of the researcher and the purpose of the research.

        Open and break it down ass imply and widely as can from making general announcements or via using other informal platforms such as topic of research, purpose of research, method acquired for collection of data etc. Participants of the research should be aware that any of their interaction with the researcher may result the accumulation of data.

         Permission should be taken from the group leader, where it is needed and appropriate, if they can help in the display of identity of researcher in community, the purpose and method. Somehow, researchers must avoid the situations in which researchers pressurize arise the community to participate in their research. Participants have free will and should not get indulge with the researchers in any way.