TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethical Research Practice or Undue Influence? Symbolic Power in Community- and Individual-Level Informed Consent Processes in Community-Based Participatory Research in Swaziland
AU - Brear, Michelle
PY - 2018/10
Y1 - 2018/10
N2 - In community-based participatory research (CBPR), community-level consent is assumed to enhance ethical rigor, when obtained prior to individual informed consent. However, community leaders’ permission to conduct research may influence individuals’ agency to decline participation. This article presents findings of a Bourdieusian analysis of ethnographic data documenting CBPR in rural Swaziland. The findings reveal that the “symbolic power” of leaders who provide community-level consent constrains individual agency and reproduces existing relations of power, if individual informed consent is simply a procedure. However, when informed consent is a process that introduces notions of autonomy and rights, it can disrupt power relations. Implications for ethical CBPR practice, and ethnography’s value for developing theory from real-world research ethics practice, are discussed.
AB - In community-based participatory research (CBPR), community-level consent is assumed to enhance ethical rigor, when obtained prior to individual informed consent. However, community leaders’ permission to conduct research may influence individuals’ agency to decline participation. This article presents findings of a Bourdieusian analysis of ethnographic data documenting CBPR in rural Swaziland. The findings reveal that the “symbolic power” of leaders who provide community-level consent constrains individual agency and reproduces existing relations of power, if individual informed consent is simply a procedure. However, when informed consent is a process that introduces notions of autonomy and rights, it can disrupt power relations. Implications for ethical CBPR practice, and ethnography’s value for developing theory from real-world research ethics practice, are discussed.
KW - CBPR
KW - community consent
KW - ethnographic research
KW - symbolic power
KW - voluntary informed consent
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043697239&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1556264618761268
DO - 10.1177/1556264618761268
M3 - Article
C2 - 29529932
AN - SCOPUS:85043697239
VL - 13
SP - 311
EP - 322
JO - Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics
JF - Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics
SN - 1556-2646
IS - 4
ER -