ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 opens the door to empathic and ethical qualitative research with a flash fiction tale about a woman who decides to leave her domineering husband. Empathy, defined as understanding and feeling with another, is named as a fundamental skill for qualitative researchers and linked to ethical research practices. After identifying the key characteristics of empathy and the ways some hold it in suspicion, the chapter turns to ethics. Instead of specifying ethical principles, the chapter presents a series of entries that encourage readers to consider a number of ethical positions, arguments, and beliefs in order to establish their own ethical guidelines. The chapter ends by offering writing prompts that call forward empathic and ethical practices.
