Maintaining confidentiality of the information Shana gathered is very important, because (1) the information was obtained in a private setting (not at a public meeting about teenage drug use), (2) Shana made an explicit promise of confidentiality to the teenagers, and (3) there was potential harm to the research participants of providing the notes to the police. Turning over the notes would be likely to cause harm to the teenagers in a number of ways. First, assuming there was no information that would be useful to the police, and that the notes were kept sealed and confidential by the court, the participants would be harmed by the researcher not protecting the confidentiality of information contrary to what she told them. This experience might reduce their trust in and participation in the social service center, since they had approved of and supported Shana's work. Second, in the event the notes became part of the proceedings, the information could become publicly available, with school officials, parents and others having access. Some of the participants might suffer harm in terms of their relationships to parents, teachers and others. Third, police might use evidence of illegal behavior (such as drug use) to criminally investigate and prosecute some of the participants.

While Shana wants to maintain confidentiality, she finds that she is legally obligated to provide the notes. She is concerned about turning over the records, but considers the immediate harm she faces in going to jail for an indeterminate period counterbalances the potential harm that might face the teenagers.

At minimum, Shana should have considered potential limits to confidentiality before undertaking this research. As a new researcher, she should have discussed problems with conducting field work studies on sensitive issues and with a vulnerable population with more experienced researchers to be better prepared for potential difficulties and to make a more informed decision herself, on the benefits of the research and her ability to deal with potential problems.

Shana was obligated both to know about legal limits to confidentiality and to explicitly inform her research participants about them. She made a mistake in “guaranteeing” confidentiality. However, even if she had carefully informed the teenagers about legal limits, and discussed the possibility of a court order to obtain her notes, some, maybe most, of the teenagers would have still participated and discussed details of their activities. In this situation, while Shana would not be going back on promises, other concerns of potential harm (as discussed above) would still be significant.

Shana could have tried to maintain the confidentiality of her notes by making it difficult to associate information with a particular individual as she was initially writing her notes. She could use pseudonyms, alter some details of the time, place, or characteristics that are not relevant to her study. However, this also has risks, since specific detail is an important part of field research, and she could inadvertently change or omit some important information while trying to keep the field notes “safe” from others.