Paper short abstract:

This paper questions the impact of formal ethics requirements on research with very old, vulnerable nursing home residents, ultimately asking whether a one-size fits all approach to ethics is at odds with ensuring a truly ethical approach to ethnographic research.

Paper long abstract:

Based on on-going ethnographic fieldwork in two nursing homes in northern Denmark, this paper will address challenges experienced in putting formal ethics requirements into practice. I consider how to unite procedural ethics with actual, lived ethics, when researching with vulnerable participants. From a research project that considers perspectives on care, dignity and well-being of oldest old nursing home residents, many of whom are cognitively impaired, I bring forward the story of one resident. The paper will center on this resident, who wanted to share her experiences with what she had perceived as inadequate care, but who baulked once the wordy consent form was produced. The resident panicked that her words could now be used against her, that talking with the researcher would (further) compromise her care. She was caught in a bind, on the one hand she had a deep desire to tell her story, on the other the piece of paper in her hand threatened to trigger her depression. Based on the case of this resident, the paper will address how we can ensure that vulnerable voices are brought to the fore in a truly ethical way.