TY - JOUR

T1 - Ethical considerations when conservation research involves people

AU - Brittain, Steph

AU - Ibbett, Harriet

AU - de Lange, Emiel

AU - Dorward, Leejiah

AU - Hoyte, Simon

AU - Marino, Agnese

AU - Milner-Gulland, EJ

AU - Newth, Julia

AU - Rakotonarivo, Sarobidy

AU - Verissimo, Diogo

AU - Lewis, Jerome

PY - 2020/8/31

Y1 - 2020/8/31

N2 - Social science is becoming increasingly important in conservation, with more studies involving methodologies that collect data from and about people. Conservation science is a normative and applied discipline designed to support and inform management and practice. Poor research practice risks harming participants, researchers, and can leave negative legacies. Often, those at the forefront of field‐based research are early‐career researchers, many of whom enter their first research experience ill‐prepared for the ethical conundrums they may face. Here, we draw on our own experiences as early‐career researchers to illuminate how ethical challenges arise during conservation research that involves human participants. Specifically, we discuss ethical review procedures, conflicts of values, and power relations, and provide broad recommendations on how to navigate ethical challenges when they arise during research. We encourage greater engagement with ethical review processes and highlight the pressing need to develop ethical guidelines for conservation research that involves human participants.

AB - Social science is becoming increasingly important in conservation, with more studies involving methodologies that collect data from and about people. Conservation science is a normative and applied discipline designed to support and inform management and practice. Poor research practice risks harming participants, researchers, and can leave negative legacies. Often, those at the forefront of field‐based research are early‐career researchers, many of whom enter their first research experience ill‐prepared for the ethical conundrums they may face. Here, we draw on our own experiences as early‐career researchers to illuminate how ethical challenges arise during conservation research that involves human participants. Specifically, we discuss ethical review procedures, conflicts of values, and power relations, and provide broad recommendations on how to navigate ethical challenges when they arise during research. We encourage greater engagement with ethical review processes and highlight the pressing need to develop ethical guidelines for conservation research that involves human participants.

KW - institutional review boards

KW - power dynamics

KW - values

KW - legacy

KW - social science

KW - reflexivity

KW - fieldwork

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13464

DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13464

M3 - Article

VL - 34

SP - 925

EP - 933

JO - Conservation Biology

JF - Conservation Biology

SN - 0888-8892

IS - 4

ER -