Conducting Health and Demographic Research in Settings Where There Are No Ethical Guidelines: Findings Based on Two Anthropological Studies in Nepal

Debendra Karki, Harvard University
Sindhu Karki, South Dakota State Unviersity

There are no codified ethical guidelines for health and social researchers in Nepal. Between 1997 and 2000, we conducted two small-scale, village-level studies that used anthropological research methods to document the health and demographic profiles of two groups of displaced people: Bhutanese refugees and those displaced as a result of the Maoist insurgency. The first objective of this paper is to document the moral problems and dilemmas researchers experience in settings devoid of explicit ethical guidelines. Second, this paper suggests a set of ethical principles and guidelines that can be applied to the protection of the human rights of study participants in Nepal. Finally, this paper provides suggestions on the rights and responsibilities of the four major actors in research endeavors: researchers, institutions, sponsors, and gatekeepers.