ABSTRACT
The process of undertaking worthwhile research in sport for development and peace (SDP) generates significant ethical challenges. We discuss first some general ethical considerations concerning what is required to do good research in SDP, and in particular whether good research must ipso facto be ethically conceived and conducted. We argue that in successful SDP research, the benefits ought to be both to the host community and the broader academic community in terms of knowledge production. Next, we discuss the issue of informed consent since it is often taken as the key concept of ethical research and because the challenges arising in SDP research specifically are considerable. We argue that while the dominant norm is for first person written consent to participate in research on the basis of a voluntary and informed choice, competing models of consent have arisen that are worthy of consideration for SDP researchers. Finally, we situate these understandings in the contexts of transcultural research.
