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Changing constructions of informed consent: Qualitative research and complex social worlds

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  • Miller, Tina
  • Boulton, Mary

Abstract

Informed consent is a concept which attempts to capture and convey what is regarded as the appropriate relationship between researcher and research participant. Definitions have traditionally emphasised respect for autonomy and the right to self-determination of the individual. However, the meaning of informed consent and the values on which it is based are grounded in society and the practicalities of social relationships. As society changes, so too do the meaning and practice of informed consent. In this paper, we trace the ways in which the meaning and practice of informed consent has changed over the last 35 years with reference to four qualitative studies of parenting and children in the UK which we have undertaken at different points in our research careers. We focus in particular on the shifting boundaries between the professional and personal, and changing expressions of agency and power in a context of heightened perceptions of risk in everyday life. We also discuss developments in information and communication technologies as a factor in changing both the formal requirements for and the situated practicalities of obtaining informed consent. We conclude by considering the implications for informed consent of both increasing bureaucratic regulation and increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies and suggest strategies for rethinking and managing 'consent' in qualitative research practice.

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  • Miller, Tina & Boulton, Mary, 2007. "Changing constructions of informed consent: Qualitative research and complex social worlds," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 2199-2211, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:65:y:2007:i:11:p:2199-2211
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Reed, Kate & Ferazzoli, Maria Teresa & Whitby, Elspeth, 2021. "“Why didn't we do it”? Reproductive loss and the problem of post-mortem consent," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. Putniņa, Aivita, 2013. "Bioethics and power: Informed consent procedures in post-socialist Latvia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 340-344.
    4. MacIntosh, Robert & Beech, Nic & Martin, Graeme, 2012. "Dialogues and dialetics: Limits to clinician–manager interaction in healthcare organizations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 332-339.
    5. Kate Mukungu, 2017. "“How Can You Write About a Person Who Does Not Exist?”: Rethinking Pseudonymity and Informed Consent in Life History Research," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-9, August.
    6. Karl-Axel Lindgren & Tim Lang, 2022. "Understanding the policy discourse within the formulation of the 2013 Indian National Food Security Act," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1159-1173, October.
    7. Querubin S. Yap & Jon K. Webber, 2015. "Developing Corporate Culture In A Training Department: A Qualitative Case Study Of Internal And Outsourced Staff," Review of Business and Finance Studies, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 6(1), pages 43-56.
    8. shuster, stef m., 2019. "Performing informed consent in transgender medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 190-197.
    9. Secko, David M. & Preto, Nina & Niemeyer, Simon & Burgess, Michael M., 2009. "Informed consent in biobank research: A deliberative approach to the debate," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 781-789, February.
    10. Chiumento, Anna & Rahman, Atif & Frith, Lucy, 2020. "Writing to template: Researchers’ negotiation of procedural research ethics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).

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