GUIDELINES FOR ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR RESEARCH IN
AFRICA
African Studies Association Draft
The African Studies Association Board of Directors developed
the following draft guidelines for ethical conduct in research. They
are designed as a framework for orienting members to the issues
involved in research across cultures and nations and involving highly
unequal access to means for conducting research. Ethical standards,
guidelines, or codes issues by federal and local governments,
universities, funding agencies, professional organizations, and other
bodies with supervisory responsibility supersede the guidelines
issued by the ASA.
The African Studies Association represents a diverse group of
people interested in Africa and its people. The Association has a
long history of commitment to fostering the study of Africa, in
supporting research by Africans, and in promoting collaboration among
students of Africa. No guidelines for conduct can presume to be
comprehensive, nor should any presume to be prescriptive, since the
range of activities conducted by our members is vast and the contexts
in which we conduct our research and our work change constantly.
Nonetheless, several enduring principles are considered to be
foundational for ethical conduct of research across cultures,
international boundaries, and among those with uneven access to
financial and professional resources. These principles are not
separate, but form a reasonable framework for responsible conduct of
research.
1. Do No Harm
When conducting research or pursuing professional activities
in Africa, members of the Association shall seek to be conscious of
and to minimize the potential present and future risks their research
may inflict upon those who participate in their research or projects.
Such conduct necessitates that the researcher is well-informed about
the wider political, cultural, economic, religious, and social
contexts of her or his research and that pursuing one's research will
not put collaborators, research subjects, students, or assistants at
risk of retribution of any kind for their participation in one's
research or activities. Members of the Association recognize the
necessity of researchers to respect the integrity, morality, and
traditions of the people we study. Researchers commit themselves to
respect prevailing local practices of hiring, training, and using
assistants and subjects. Researchers also commit themselves to pursue
non-discriminatory practices whenever possible.
2. Open and Full Disclosure of Methods, Objectives, Sources
of Funding, and Anticipated Outcomes
Members of the Association are committed to open and full
disclosure of methods to be employed, the objectives of research, the
sources of funding, and anticipated outcomes from research with all
African colleagues and institutions with whom we collaborate or seek
affiliation. Members of the Association shall be conscious of the
potential uses and abuses of our research data and of the sponsors or
funders of our research, especially when the recommendations or
outcomes of our research may affect the interests of the peoples and
communities we chose to study.
Our collaborators, assistants, and subjects are entitled to be
fully informed about the methodology used, forms of data collection,
and the dissemination and application of results. When we engage in
research in Africa, we shall notify our African colleagues of the
sponsors, funders, and potential uses intended for the information to
be collected. We shall not engage in any research which we know or
believe is funded secretly, is likely to be used for covert purposes,
or has potentially negative consequences for our colleagues. We shall
make every effort to keep all of our research, instructional, and
service activities free of sponsorship, direct funding, or secret
uses by military and intelligence agencies of all governments. We
shall not knowingly engage or participate in projects which could be
reasonably construed as sustaining or strengthening the powers of
political leaders or states guilty of violations of human rights.
Furthermore, we are committed to keeping in the public domain
all work completed under any government sponsorship.
3. Informed Consent and Confidentiality
Consent of all the people participating in our research shall
be obtained before any research in undertaken and must be on a fully
voluntary and informed basis. Researchers must develop instruments of
informed consent that are appropriate to the context of research.
Such instruments must not only inform the subjects of the nature of
the research and its potential risks, but must provide guarantee to
subjects that if they wish, their confidentiality will be fully
respected. Researchers must be cognizant of the real difficulties of
securing informed consent in contexts of uneven power relations and
must develop strategies or techniques for ensuring fully informed
consent.
4. Reciprocity
Members of the Association have a responsibility to support
and encourage the professional activities of African collaborators
and colleagues. Any research we engage in should strive to build the
capacity for training and professional development for our colleagues
and collaborators.
All researchers engaged in collaborative research must explain
fully the nature of such collaboration, including issues of
authorship, access to data collected, intellectual property rights,
rights to inventions and copyrights with African colleagues,
professionals, and graduate students.
Researchers commit themselves to a timely return of the
results of scholarly activities, whether these may be in the form of
preliminary reports, papers, dissertations, data sets, etc.
Researchers must provide copies of their findings and publications to
their African colleagues and institutions withwhom they have
established affiliations or collaborative projects and to the
communities they studied.