Situation
Shana Researcher was conducting a participant-observation work-study of risk behavior of teenagers in a local community where she lived. She was volunteering her time at a neighborhood social service organization, which offered social activities and support to teenagers. She had discussed the research project with the director and staff of the social service organization and had been introduced to teenagers as someone volunteering who was also conducting a study of teenagers’ activities and attitudes. During her study she had kept field notes on activities and discussions with teenagers, both in one-to-one talks and as part of group discussions. Shana was careful to make sure that she individually and privately told any teenager new to the center that she was carrying out a field work study as well as serving as a volunteer. The field notes she kept recorded discussions with teenagers about sexual activity, abortion, use of illegal drugs, smoking, problems at home and social issues.
One evening a robbery of a neighborhood store occurred. The police, when investigating the robbery, learned of Shana’s study. They asked her to turn over her field notes to them, since they thought they would find information about two suspects who frequented the center. Shana refused, saying that she had guaranteed confidentiality to the individuals she had spoken with. The police told Shana that there was no privilege of confidentiality for researchers (as exists for lawyers and their clients) and obtained a court order for her field notes. If she provided the field notes she would not be fulfilling her promise of confidentiality to the research participants and the notes might be used in a criminal case against some of the teenagers. If she refused, she might be found “in contempt of court” and sent to a local jail until she agreed to provide the notes to the court.
Questions
- What are arguments in favor of Shana refusing to turn over the field notes?
- What are arguments in favor of Shana providing the notes under the court order?
- Are there any actions that Shana could have taken at the onset of her field research to avoid this situation?
Discussion
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.
