ABSTRACT
The participatory research literature identifies navigating institutional ethical review and obtaining approval as potentially challenging. These challenges are attributed to the biomedical and positivist standards used by most institutional ethical review boards (Guillemin & Gillam, 2004). While many of the assumptions underlying the ethical review process are problematic for all social research, they pose specific challenges for participatory research. Ethical guidelines for research and institutional forms are often premised on a clear distinction between researchers and subjects of research, and the relational and flexible nature of participatory studies may be surprising to ethical review boards. This chapter introduction will provide an overview of key debates in the literature but also highlights emerging examples of researchers and review boards working together. First, I will locate myself in this discourse and provide an overview of the tensions between traditional and participatory conceptions of research ethics. Then I will offer insights from my own experiences as a participatory researcher and ethical review board member. In Part 2, four cases provided by different participatory researchers and teams will be presented, each exploring a different challenge encountered when obtaining ethical review. I will offer short reflective commentaries on each case, before giving some concluding comments in Part 3.
