Ethical aspects of conducting diary research at work
Abstract
Due to the growing popularity of using experience sampling methods (i.e., diary studies) in organizational research, it is worth considering the ethical dilemmas faced by researchers employing this method. In this article, we highlight some of these ethical dilemmas and present the results of a workshop conducted among researchers participating in the EAWOP Small Group Meeting (SGM) on “Ethical issues in psychological assessment in the organizational context” held at the University of Warsaw, 11-13 September, 2019. Workshop participants tasked with creating their own tools for diary research, identified the following ethical issues: a) copyright of tools; b) the newly developed tools’ psychometric values; c) the expediency of using the diary study methodology for a variety of research questions; d) employees’ well-being; e) rewarding employees for the effort required by the methodology; f) employees’ dignity; and g) employees’ time away from work. Workshop participants developed some preliminary solutions for addressing these issues: a) using diary studies as a supplementary method to questionnaire research; and b) participants’ sacrifice of personal psychological resources should be adequately appreciated.
Keywords
diary study, ethical aspects of applied research, workshop, EAWOP Small Group Meeting
How to Cite
Wojtkowska, K. & Czarnota-Bojarska, J., (2021) “Ethical aspects of conducting diary research at work”, EWOP in Practice 15(1), 66–80. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/ewopinpractice.87142
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