Introduction to the special issue: research ethics in challenging contexts

The rise in ethical regulation of social research has brought about an increased interest in research ethics; much of this has focused on concerns about ethical regulation and its impact on social research rather than exploring the everyday challenges that researchers encounter in the process of research and how these are, or might be, managed in ethical ways. This special issue explores some of the ethical challenges that are raised in conducting qualitative social research in contexts which raise specific ethical challenges because of the nature of the participants or the specific methodological approach taken. These include research with children, research in global contexts, longitudinal research, e-research and data archiving and secondary analysis of qualitative material. Drawing on a range of research projects, these papers explore some of the key ethical challenges raised by these contexts and how researchers have engaged with the issues that arise.