Using Written Consent Forms When Conducting Non-Elite Qualitative Research: Reflections from Zambia

Robert Macdonald

Journal of Southern African Studies, 2024, vol. 50, issue 2, 195-206

Abstract: Many ethics review bodies now routinely recommend the use of written consent forms as the default method of obtaining informed consent, including for research conducted in African countries. Although it is generally possible for researchers to justify the use of alternative methods, this is not always the case and researchers are sometimes forced to use consent forms even when they are not appropriate. This article details the rise of written consent processes in the social sciences before it outlines the negative consequences associated with using them in certain contexts. Drawing upon the author’s research experiences in Zambia, it argues that written consent procedures are not always good at ensuring respondents are genuinely informed, that they are often insensitive, and that they can be detrimental to the quality of research.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03057070.2024.2386650 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cjssxx:v:50:y:2024:i:2:p:195-206

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/cjss20

DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2024.2386650

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Southern African Studies is currently edited by Ralph Smith

More articles in Journal of Southern African Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().