Political Research Ethics and Participant Protection

Political research must protect participants, communities, researchers and confidential sources. Authors must obtain appropriate ethics review and informed consent for interviews, surveys, experiments, observation or identifiable records when required.

Research in authoritarian, conflict-affected, polarized or otherwise sensitive settings requires careful risk assessment, secure data handling and minimization of identifying details. Covert methods, deception and secondary use of personal data require explicit justification and lawful, ethical safeguards.