THE ETHICS OF SOCIO-LEGAL RESEARCH

Socio-legal studies comprise a broad and diverse range of topics, in which legal and social scholarship often intersect in complex, innovative and impactful ways. There is a significant body of scholarship that has emerged which specifically considers ethics and ethical awareness in socio-legal research. Legal settings as the site or context of research give rise to distinct ethical issues, including (a) respecting the ethical standards of a target institution (such as a Court); (b) not adding to the burden of the legal process itself on participants; (c) the role of the researcher vis-à-vis ‘elite’ research participants and institutions, as well protection of the less powerful in the legal process; (d) preserving confidentiality, and related concerns about ‘jigsaw identification’ (i.e., the piecing together of information to reveal identifying information); (e) the need for trauma-informed approaches when interacting with participants (especially vulnerable participants) but also for the protection of the researcher—particularly given the graphic details and evidence which can be engaged with in particular areas of inquiry; and (f) protection of research data. This chapter explores these issues and offers some ideas for the ethical conduct of social-legal research.