ABSTRACT
This chapter employs the researcher’s reflective journal to offer insight into her growing ethical consciousness throughout the process of her research into the adaptation and parenting of sojourning Saudi women in New Zealand. It explores potential and arising ethical concerns in ethnographic research such as: developing intimate relationships with participants; expectations of reciprocity; participant confidentiality; navigating cultural intricacies; the researcher’s positioning in relation to status, power, and personal appearance; gaining participant validation; and the murky waters of rapport building. Extracts from the journal show the author grappling with the actions she took, those she thought she should have taken, and the implications of both. The chapter concludes with the researcher becoming cognizant of the inescapability and complexity of ethics and acknowledging the impact research has on the researcher. The reader is then invited to reflect on points from the chapter and consider their appropriateness in relation to their own research.
