The responsible conduct of police participatory research: A qualitative study of officers’ ethical beliefs

Abstract

The responsible conduct of research must be sensitive to the unique ethical concerns of the police setting, but we have yet to develop an empirical understanding of the ethics of research involving police officers as participants. To develop such an understanding, this study collected qualitative data from 30 officers serving in eight agencies throughout the United States. The interviews situated their ethical sensibilities about research in relation to the Belmont principles that serve as the dominant source of norms in U.S. research ethics, then evoked reactions about consent, compensation, confidentiality, and researchers' motives. The interviews focused on a) how police officers characterize the responsible conduct of research; b) the extent to which their reasoning tracks established ethical principles, and c) which elements of these principles they emphasize. The study also probed which actors and factors were likely to best protect the ethical interests of police as research participants, and how they could be operationalized in a police research setting. Officers stressed the role of the police sergeant as their ethical fiduciary in the planning and execution of research, the distinction between being neutral versus impartial in research, the acceptability of withholding research questions and hypotheses to ensure candid and forthcoming responses, and, generally, the importance of a form of procedural justice in the conduct of research in police settings. The findings provide recommendations for police participatory research that would empower investigators to interpret and navigate the attendant ethical concerns in the context of their own research tradition, encouraging more frequent and higher quality participation in research among police agencies and their officers.