A holistic framework for conducting ethical field research

 

There are three key pillars in conducting ethical research: Protecting the respondent, protecting the enumerator, and protecting your data.

In this webinar, PhD Candidate in Global Health at the Technical University of Munich (and former SurveyCTO Primary Data Collection Research Grant awardee) Ines Boehret and Independent Researcher and Project Manager at Sambodhi, Rucha Vasumati Satish, share their guidelines on how to conduct ethical field research.

Watch this replay for:

• What ethical research is and why it’s necessary to conduct research ethically
• Best practices for protecting respondents, enumerators, and data grounded in their actual field experiences
• A workshop session to help you internalize these learnings
• A checklist you can take away as you conduct ethical research

 

Key webinar takeaways

• Understand what ethical research actually means and why it’s a foundational responsibility that shapes every decision you make in the field.
• Learn how to protect respondents by applying informed consent best practices, managing sensitive topics with care, and designing your study to minimize harm from the very first step.
• Discover why enumerator wellbeing is a core ethical obligation, not an afterthought, and what specific support structures you should put in place before fieldwork begins.
• Walk away with a ready-to-use ethical research checklist that covers the three main focus areas so you have a reliable reference point for every project going forward.

 

Time stamps

• 5:19 – Defining ethical research
• 7:44 – Why is it important and necessary to conduct ethical research?
• 9:25 – Focus 1: Protect the respondent
• 22:07 – Best practices to protect respondents
• 27:17 – Focus 2: Protect the enumerator
• 28:47 – Best practices to support enumerators
• 30:43 – Focus 3: Protect the data
• 32:59 – Best practices for protecting data
• 35:14 – Workshop session
• 43:55 – A checklist for conducting ethical research