ABSTRACT
Anthropologists must weigh competing ethical obligations to research participants, students, professional colleagues, employers and funders, among others, while recognizing that obligations to research participants are usually primary. In doing so, obligations to vulnerable populations are particularly important. One of the greatest complexities for anthropologists is in understanding and balancing the competing duties we have to our many stakeholders, including research participants, students, staff, professional colleagues, employers, and funders. Particularly for professional anthropologists, their training must fully prepare them as they face away from the everyday academic core of the discipline. Communities and groups of respondents present the anthropologist with particular challenges as they may have requirements, needs, and desires that reflect the centrality of their position but may conflict with other obligations. Employers, whether a university, a consulting firm, a governmental agency, or non-profit organization, may exert significant control over the shape and conduct of anthropological research, and may determine for their own purposes the use and ownership of data.
