The Benefits and Limits of Transparency in Qualitative Research: A Workshop

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In qualitative inquiry, the push for transparency practices is increasingly gaining support, yet remains more controversial than it is for quantitative research. One side of the debate perceives openness as an essential step in building valid, trustworthy research; the other side flags its ethical and philosophical infeasibility. Can there be a consensus?

Speakers: Steven Lubet, Edna B. and Ednyfed H. Williams Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern University; Heather Hamill, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oxford; Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology, University of Oxford; Christopher Barrie, Lecturer in Computational Sociology, University of Edinburgh; Mariana Borges Martins da Silva, Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford

This half-day workshop aims to discuss the intellectual, ethical, and social benefits and limits of transparency practices in qualitative research.

• Are transparency practices desirable only for epistemological perspectives of ‘qualitative positivism’?
• Is there a ‘one size fits all’ or single standard of transparency possible, given the diverse political contexts of qualitative inquiry and the researcher’s unequal access to resources?
• Can the push towards transparency practices disregard ethical imperatives? Relatedly, how does the researcher practice transparency towards the participants? How can they be held accountable for a breach in ethical obligations?
• What are the implications of sharing data and limiting its masking, especially in repressive regimes?
• Can there be a consensus among editors and reviewers about criteria for evaluation of qualitative research?