ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore some of the ethical issues involved when researching so-called “hard to reach” populations. We focus on a study of “hidden” older illegal drug users (Moxon & Waters, 2017), a group who normally take great care to conceal their law-breaking and often have much to lose in the event of exposure. Stringent ethical safeguards were therefore required to minimise the risk of participants being “outed”. We explore how, at each stage of the research process – before, during, and after the data collection – these safeguards led to incidental advantages that had not been considered at the outset of the work. We then speculate that ethically informed studies that do not result in negative consequences for participants might contribute to a steady accretion of trust, assisting future researchers in accessing a more willing and cooperative pool of potential research participants. Thus, we suggest that the rigorous adoption of ethical protocols, far from being an afterthought or an exercise in box-ticking, is best conceived of as being central to the overall success of projects of this nature, as well as the vitality of the social scientific research endeavour as a whole.
