External publications

Ethics and equity: addressing violations of the Belmont Report principles for research staff

in: World Development Perspectives 37, 100662

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100662
Open access

Particularly in development research, data is often collected in settings characterised by high deprivation, risk and power asymmetries, which aggravates working conditions of research staff. This perspectives article introduces a novel conceptual framework that identifies ethical challenges, failures and potential solutions. It is based on an analysis of 57 semi-structured interviews with research staff across hierarchies, world regions, gender and institutions. We find that the research environments in the ‘Global South’ often pose particular challenges to research staff and if not addressed can be harmful in terms of insecurity, sexual harassment, emotional distress, exploitative employment conditions and discrimination. Addressing ethical failures in research requires change across different levels, with a particular focus on alleviating structural asymmetries as a key driver of ethical challenges. Our findings provide a toolkit to (i) ensure the wellbeing of research staff, (ii) improve the ethical integrity of empirical research, and (iii) increase the rigour of data.

About the IDOS authors

Leininger, Julia

Political Scientist

Kuhnt, Jana

Development Economist

Kaplan, Lennart

Economist

Further IDOS experts

Christ, Simone

Social Anthropology 

Dang, Vy

Political Science 

Dippel, Beatrice

Comparatist 

Effert, Sarah-Lea

Political Theory 

Flaig, Merlin

Social Science 

Gehrke, Charlotte

Social Sciences 

Hernandez, Ariel

Economy 

Hornidge, Anna-Katharina

Development and Knowledge Sociology 

Klingebiel, Stephan

Political Science 

Kötter, Elizabeth Chepkemboi

 

Lynders, Eva-Maria

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Morare, Ditebogo Modiegi

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Reiber, Tatjana

Political Science 

Reiners, Wulf

Political Science 

Röthel, Tim

Economy 

Schwachula, Anna

Sociology 

Stamm, Andreas

Geographer 

Vogel, Johanna

International Cultural Economy 

Wagner, Niklas

Climate & Knowledge Sociology