Ethnographic Slowness Translated for Research Ethics Boards

Abstract

This case study aims to explain ethnographic slowness for members of the Research Ethics Boards (REBs). I will show that despite recent efforts to recognize the specificity of so-called qualitative research in research ethics, a misunderstanding remains between the experimental rationalization deployed by several REBs and the practice of ethnography, a method of research involving slow and sustained immersion that is inseparable from human relations of trust and mutual respect.