For instance, field researchers don’t necessarily experiment on people, they speak to them and while that may seem harmless to most, to Institutional Review Boards they don’t. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are halting or limiting field researcher’s access to “find out about people’s lived experiences.” They are claiming that “These people have issues with their gender,” but in reality we all do. Laurie Essig explains, “...from a sociological perspective, we all have issues with our gender, even the most normatively gendered among us…” While putting certain limitations on researcher’s freedoms is necessary, there has to be some exceptions. Stopping researchers from engaging in informative discussions with “vulnerable populations” shouldn’t be one of them especially if the subject’s privacy is protected and the confidentiality of the data is maintained. Halting these factual discussions can prove to be counter effective and will only stop this fieldwork from providing any beneficial
For instance, field researchers don’t necessarily experiment on people, they speak to them and while that may seem harmless to most, to Institutional Review Boards they don’t. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are halting or limiting field researcher’s access to “find out about people’s lived experiences.” They are claiming that “These people have issues with their gender,” but in reality we all do. Laurie Essig explains, “...from a sociological perspective, we all have issues with our gender, even the most normatively gendered among us…” While putting certain limitations on researcher’s freedoms is necessary, there has to be some exceptions. Stopping researchers from engaging in informative discussions with “vulnerable populations” shouldn’t be one of them especially if the subject’s privacy is protected and the confidentiality of the data is maintained. Halting these factual discussions can prove to be counter effective and will only stop this fieldwork from providing any beneficial