I and a colleague, Professor Jim McDonald of UNBC, volunteered to undertake revisions to the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies’ Ethical Principles for the Conduct of Research in the North. I needed to understand what peoples’ concerns are, so the new principles would reflect the realities researchers, and those they come in contact with, are faced with.
I compiled this list of statements as I read through documents about ethical research, statements of ethical principles from various indigenous and other groups and consulted other sources. The categories are loose and designed only to group similar concerns together. The sources of the many concerns and positions are indicated by the initials in parentheses at the end of each statement. Please refer to the reference list for details. This list is not, by any means, exhaustive. I welcome additions or comments on any aspect of this document. Please e-mail me: agraham@yukoncollege.yk.ca
- northern aboriginal communities want “cooperative, mutually beneficial projects the sensitive and effective execution of research, and the careful consideration and communication of research results and subsequent recommendations” (ITC) [top]
- researchers to be sensitive to and respect individuals, communities, and cultural practices (SINT, IASSA)
- researchers have demonstrated insensitivity to values, needs and customs of indigenous communities (A&TS, AILC)
- respect for data, oral and written or otherwise recorded (IASSA)
- acknowledgement of principle of cultural property (IASSA #5)
- concern over appropriation of cultural property
- researchers have sought and published sensitive religious or cultural information (AILC)
- concern over control and/or ownership of data (a form of cultural property) (DT)
- recognition of right to protect intellectual property (DT)
- desire that researchers respect and “value opinions or experience of people who do not have specialized education or training”; traditional knowledge should be recognized as authoritative (DT) [top]
- research is often viewed as a “colonial intrusion” (ITC)
- indigenous people feel exploited by too much research (Nuna Med 94)
- research seen as a use of power by the powerful (ITC)
- want questions of who sets research priorities and agendas, and what, therefore, gets done and who benefits answered (ITC)
- researchers to be willing to work with communities to address issues of interest to local people (SINT)
- local communities should benefit from research in training, experience and economic opportunities (IASSA)
- counter past tendency of research being initiated outside their communities or collectivities (RCAP, Tri-Council)
- “Indian tribes, in addressing the question of regulating research. . ., are in fact defining for themselves the degree to which they wish to make themselves available as subjects.” (AILC)
- research being done “without consulting and otherwise taking into account the interests of the people who live there” (ITC) [top]
- research should be viewed as a community development activity (DT)
- research should be approached as a negotiated partnership (ITC)
- resentment over unequal distribution of benefits, risks, and workloads (Freeman)
- resentment that local participation in research leads to investigators' professional recognition, advancement, and possible financial benefit (Dene Tracking, AILC)
- researchers should have local committee to guide researcher, do local hiring, resolve conflicts etc. (DT)
- equality of power (IASSA, American Indian Law Center)
- want to be participate as equals in research done in their communities (Flaherty)
- researchers have treated local people as “informants” rather than colleagues, leading to appropriation of knowledge of indigenous researchers by the researchers (AILC)
- will need to change their expectations of what constitutes research itself, and its output and productivity (ITC)
- researched people deserve credit as participants in research and/or as researchers (IASSA #4, ACUNS #17, #18, M. Flaherty)
- active involvement and/or training of local people (ITC) [top]
- want opportunity to “correct misinformation or to challenge ethnocentric or racist interpretations” (RCAP)
- researchers have taken cultural information out of context and have, as a result, published conclusions that were factually incorrect (AILC)
- want to ensure inclusion of other perspectives (Asch Tri-Council, RCAP)
- ethics are culturally defined; should have indigenous code (Nuna Med 94)
- want to be involved in creation of guidelines and ensure sincerity of researchers in incorporating indigenous views in such documents (Flaherty, Asch)
- research methods and styles culturally unacceptable (Freeman) [top]
- desire for a clear sense of consequences to researchers for not adhering to ethical principles
- “responsible research” (Dene Tracking, RCAP)
- concern that statements of ethical principles have little implementing detail (ITC) [top]
- researchers might object to having to changing the way they initiate and conduct research becausethey might see it as limiting their academic freedom; yet presumably that right is subject to paramount rights of others, including the right not to participate
- fear that too much community control will jeopardize outcomes
- lack of trust re competence of indigenous people or groups to regulate research (AILC)
- discomfort with recognition of “tribal” sovereignty (Freeman) [top]
- concern whether a single set of ethical principles can apply to both geographical communities and communities of interest (i.e., those without self-identity and a legally constitutedleadership:age groups, gender groups etc.) (Asch)
- in cases of conflict between the two collectivities, whose view will prevail? (Asch)
- three basic ethical principles underlying all research: Respect for person/tribal communities, Beneficence (maximize benefits), Non-maleficence (minimize risk), Justice (Freeman, Consent Forms; CIOMS)
- the highest possible sensitivity and moral standards must be applied to all research (MRC)
- autonomous informed consent by subjects is the ethical bedrock requirement for all research (Tri-Council) [top]
- part of the researcher's role is to help train community people and to involve them in understanding the value and purpose of the research and of research in general (Freeman)
- “people are inevitably the objects of research; as such, they have the right, which research must recognize, to be more directly involved in its conduct than they ever have been” (MRC Task Force)
- researchers in the field have to give an account of themselves acceptable to the people among whom they are working, and in accordance with the role the subjects will observe (SSHRC in Asch)
- every effort should be exerted to cooperate with members of the host society in the planning and execution of research projects (Am. Anth. Assoc.)
- “research teams and native communities need to be partners at all stages of the studies, from conception to completion (Macaulay, Editorial)
- “Full partnership involves sharing the planning, execution, analysis, and reporting or results at all stages.” (Macaulay, Editorial)
- that [MRC] Council support the participation of communities in all phases of research, as appropriate to the questions under study (MRC Task Force)
- research should help the community return to health, regain control, improve its self-esteem (Freeman)
- partnership and involvement are expected now (Freeman) [top]
- awareness that, in qualitative research, issues of copyright, libel and privacy emerge (Yow)
- there should be no exploitation of individual informants for personal gain. Fair return should be given for all services (Am. Anth Assoc.)
- researchers should work within the political realities of a communities (Freeman)
- be aware that expectations of community may not be clear to researcher (AILC)
- [Arctic] research needs to be well designed, particularly in light of the small populations and thereby small sample sizes in the Arctic; problem of maintaining anonymity (Am Pub Health Assoc.; Nuna Med 94) [top]
References
ACUNS. 1982. Ethical Principles for the Conduct of Research in the North. Ottawa: Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies.
American Anthropological Association. 1971. Statement on Ethics: Principles of Professional Responsibility.
American Indian Law Center, Inc. 1994. Model Tribal Research Code, With Materials for Tribal Regulation for Research and Checklist for Indian Health Boards. Second edition. Albuquerque: American Indian Law Center, Inc.
American Public Health Association. 1984. National Arctic Health Science Policy.
Asch, Michael. 1994. “A Report on Guidelines Respecting Research with Collectivities Made to the Tri-Council Working Group.” 30 December.
Dene Tracking. 1993. “A Participatory Research Process For Dene/Métis Communities: Exploring Community-Based Research Concerns for Aboriginal Northerners.” September.
Flaherty, Martha. 1995. “Freedom of Expression or Freedom of Exploitation.” Speech to the ACUNS 4th National Student Conference, Ottawa, November 1994. Reprinted in The Northern Review 14 (Summer 1995): 178-185.
Freeman, Milton M. R. 1977. “Science and Ethics in the North.” Arctic 30 #2: 71-75.
International Arctic Social Sciences Association. 1992. “Guiding Principles of Ethics for the Conduct of Research (Draft Proposal).”
Inuit Circumpolar Conference. n.d. “Principles and Elements on Northern Scientific Research.”
Inuit Tapirisat of Canada. 1993. “Negotiating Research Relationships in the North: A Background for a Workshop on Guidelines for Responsible Research, Yellowknife, 22-23 September.”
Lange, Lynda. 1987. “A Report From the Native Groups of the Northwest Territories on Their Situation with Research: A Series of Individual Reports Based on Direct Consultation with Native Groups of the NWT.” Unpublished report for the Science Institute of the NWT, Yellowknife.
Macaulay [references forthcoming]
Medical Research Council of Canada. 1987. “Guidelines on Research Involving Human Subjects.”
National Council on Bioethics in Human Research Working Group. 1995. “Protecting and Promoting the Human Research Subject: A Review of the Function of Research Ethics Boards in Canadian Faculties of Medicine.” In Communiqué, Vol. 6(1) (Winter): n.p.
National Health and Medical Research Council. 1991. Guidelines on Ethical Matters in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. Canberra: NHMRC.
National Research Council Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources Polar Research Board Committee on Arctic Social Sciences. 1989. Arctic Social Sciences: An Agenda for Action. Washington: National Academy Press.
Nordic Symposium on Arctic Cultural Ecology and Cultural Change. 1988. Statement of Principles and Priorities in Arctic and Northern Research. Umeå: Center for Arctic Cultural Research.
NunaMed ’94. 1994. Summary Report of the Workshop on Ethics and Research. Nuuk, Greenland, 4-6 September.
Yow, Valerie Raleigh. 1994. Recording Oral History: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. [top]