Through the The Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Colgate University Susan Thomson is now running the Field Research and Ethics in Difficult Settings project. The project, which was inherited from Susan Woodward at CUNY, is aimed at helping academics “exchange ideas and experiences about field research and ethics in highly politicized, authoritarian and other challenging fieldwork settings.”
Professor Thomson believes the project is important as political scientists today often see ethics in field research as little more than a checklist to be followed rather than an integrated part of science. She worries that many scholars have never been asked to think about the ethical research practices. The project is aimed at graduate students and hopes to build mentoring relationships between students and those who have done field research.
Those who wished to get involved in Field Research and Ethics in Difficult Settings should visit the website http://conflictfieldresearch.colgate.edu/ where they can sign up for the database view working papers on field research and join an interactive forum.
Professor Thomson believes the project is important as political scientists today often see ethics in field research as little more than a checklist to be followed rather than an integrated part of science. She worries that many scholars have never been asked to think about the ethical research practices. The project is aimed at graduate students and hopes to build mentoring relationships between students and those who have done field research.
Those who wished to get involved in Field Research and Ethics in Difficult Settings should visit the website http://conflictfieldresearch.colgate.edu/ where they can sign up for the database view working papers on field research and join an interactive forum.