Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses

14.4 Keeping It Ethical

1. Which of the following are criteria for establishing trustworthiness? (Select all that apply.)
   a. Credibility
   b. Reliability
   c. Confirmability
   d. Inferability


2. Which of the following are techniques used by qualitative researchers? (Select all that
   apply.)
   a. Peer review
   b. Member checks
   c. Data saturation
   d. Audit trails

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE 14-3

How did you do? 1. a, c; 2. b, c, d

At the end of this section, you will be able to:

‹ Describe key ethical issues in qualitative research

Numerous ethical issues are inherent in qualitative research. Some issues arise

during the initial phases of planning a research study, and others arise dur-

ing implementation. Certain ethical issues are of note during data analysis,

interpretation, and evaluation. Miles and Huberman (1994), still considered a

standard resource for qualitative data analysis, recommended that specific ethi-

cal issues be given particular attention. These are summarized in Table 14-3.

Many of the ethical issues posed in Table 14-3 can be addressed by estab-

lishing trustworthiness of the research project. Researchers should be able to

defend and explain why a study is significant and describe what it adds to EBP.

Potential risks to participants should be carefully weighed against benefits,

and justifications for decisions should be made. Researchers should be compe-

tent to carry out proposed studies and have the necessary skills and expertise

to interpret findings and convey them for use in practice.

Because qualitative research deals with unique human situations that are

largely interpreted by researchers, issues related to scientific rigor seem to

be always present. It is essential, then, that qualitative researchers take every

care to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of study participants. In sharing

396 CHAPTER 14 What Do the Qualitative Data Mean?