Where did it all go wrong? Ethical dilemmas of a murdered research participant

Ethical tensions and dilemmas are part of the everyday practice of research processes regardless if a study is qualitative or quantitative. However, there is growing recognition that undertaking qualitative research can pose problems not only for participants but also for many researchers. Indeed, while considerable emphasis is placed on the vulnerability of research participants, it is important to realise researchers can also become at risk during the research phase. The interaction–especially if it is conducted over a period of time between participants and researchers—can expose the researcher to confront and deal with issues that are unforeseeable at the commencement of the project. But where and to whom can researchers turn to when confronted with issues that are not considered part of the everyday practice of qualitative research? Drawing on personal experience this chapter will focus on the issues experienced following the murder of a research participant during his incarceration. This resulted in feelings of vulnerability and abandonment by me—the researcher. The gravity of the situation forced me to deal with issues of ethics, legality and police procedures while attempting to maintain a normal PhD student demeanour. A number of issues that impacted both myself and my project will be explored in this chapter, such as the seizure of research material by police and the legal and ethical minefields in which I was forced to consider what, if any assistance, the Ethical Standards Committee could or would be willing to provide. The purpose of this discussion is to work through some of these implications of an admittedly extreme case and to demonstrate how postgraduate researchers can be caught up in a precarious situation that can significantly affect them emotionally and physically. While there has been much written about protecting interviewees, little has been written about protecting the researcher, especially when the researcher finds themselves in a vulnerable position because of their research.