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Ethical Complexities in Research for Justice
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Ethical Complexities in Research for Justice
A Companion for Community-Engaged Scholars

First Edition
September 2026 | 250 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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Ethical Complexities in Research for Justice: A Companion for Community-Engaged Scholars offers a transformative approach to research ethics that moves beyond checklists and compliance to support ethical discernment in complex, real-world research contexts. Written by three scholars deeply engaged in collaborative and community-based research, the book reframes ethics as an ongoing, relational praxis rather than a procedural requirement, with particular relevance for community-based, participatory, and justice-oriented scholarship that does not fit neatly within standard IRB frameworks. Through chapters organized around key ethical lenses—such as place and time, relationality, and knowing—and featuring ethics stories, reflective pauses, and dialogical cases, the book invites students to grapple with ethical tensions across all stages of the research process. Designed as an interactive and pedagogical companion, it equips readers with the skills, dispositions, and reflexive capacities needed to unpack complex ethical dilemmas in their own research and to pursue socially meaningful scholarship with greater ethical attunement and accountability.
 
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction: Our Invitation
From Mere Procedures to a Relational Praxis: The Ethics of Research

 
Situating Ourselves: Positionality and Communities of Practice

 
Enduring Ethical Complexities

 
Overview of the Book

 
 
Section 1: Orientations
 
Chapter 1: Research for Justice
What does it mean to do research?

 
How do universities and academic disciplines shape research?

 
Can research be neutral?

 
How is research mediated by systems of power?

 
What is community-engaged research for justice?

 
 
Chapter 2: Procedural and Institutional Research Ethics
Codifying Research Ethics: A Brief Critical History

 
Critiques of Procedural Ethics

 
Engaging Your Ethics Review Board and Professional Code of Ethics

 
Notes

 
 
Chapter 3: Research and Ethics as an Entangled Practice
From “Research Ethics” to the “Ethics of Research”

 
How Engaged Research for Justice Troubles Procedural Research Ethics

 
 
Section 2: Offerings: Toward an Engaged Ethics for Research
 
Chapter 4: Toward an Engaged Praxis
Ethics We Bring

 
Ethics in Communities of Practice

 
Ethics as Iterative and Ongoing

 
Ethics is Embodied

 
Embodied Ethical Equilibrium

 
 
Chapter 5: Knowing, Relations, Place & Time: A Framework to Guide pranab mukherjee kalakarthe Ethics of Research
Ethical Domain: Knowing

 
Ethical Domain: Relations

 
Ethical Domain: Place and Time

 
 
Chapter 6: Capacities for Enduring Ethical Complexities
Why Enduring

 
Enduring Complexity and Uncertainty

 
Enduring Presence and Openness

 
Enduring Responsibility and Accountability

 
Ethical Remainders

 
 
Section 3: Reflection, collaboration, & learning tools
Chapter 7: Ethics Stories

 
What are Ethics Stories?

 
How to Use Ethics Stories

 
Ethics Story: Comfort Zones

 
Ethics Story: Give Me Shelter

 
Ethics Story: South Fork

 
 
Chapter 8: Reflection Prompts & Question Sets
Reflection & Discussion Questions to Guide your Praxis: Knowing, Relations, Place & Time

 
 
Chapter 9: Onward
Medicine for the Journey: Onward with Intention

 
Gratitude for Taking the Journey with Us

 
 
References

This is a groundbreaking textbook that successfully combines historical context with critical analysis, providing an inspiring and comprehensive approach to research ethics. The authors' engagement and commitment to inclusivity ensure that diverse perspectives are central to a critical discussion within research. Using representative case studies to blend theory and practice, the book is an invaluable resource for fostering deep ethical reflexivity in researchers. Its innovative approach will serve as an excellent exemplar in preparing both students and educators to navigate the complexities of research with a heightened sense of criticality and justice.

Nicole Dillard
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

This book offers a simply outstanding and unique discussion of the complexities of ethics in research for justice. It goes far beyond traditional notions of procedural ethics and provides an essential guide to help students on their journeys in and through research committed to societal transformation.

Mark Warren
University of Massachusetts Boston
Key features
  • Reframes research ethics as an ongoing, relational praxis rather than a procedural or compliance-driven task
  • Addresses ethical challenges often unexamined by IRB/REB frameworks, professional codes, and standard research ethics textbooks
  • Especially relevant for community-based, participatory, collaborative, and justice-oriented research
  • Integrates critical, interdisciplinary perspectives on ethics, epistemology, power, and knowledge production
  • Features ethics stories, reflective pauses, and dialogical cases that encourage discussion and collective deliberation
  • Uses interactive and performative case dialogues to engage students in ethical reasoning
  • Supports the development of ethical judgment, reflexivity, and accountability across all stages of the research process
  • Designed for graduate courses, reading groups, and communities of scholarly practice