Editorial: Teaching and Learning Sensitive Topics

Lowe, Pam and Jones, Helen (2010) Editorial: Teaching and Learning Sensitive Topics. Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences, 2 (3). pp. 1-7. ISSN 1756-848X

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Abstract

The idea for this special issue arose through conversations that we had about the challenges of teaching sensitive issues. We had been pondering the ethical dilemmas that often emerge when researching such issues and realised there was a gap between the ethical challenges, demands and advice for researchers compared with those teaching these subjects. Advice on researching sensitive issues has been available for a considerable time (eg Lee 1993) with research power relationships being explored in depth particularly in feminist research (eg Letherby 2003). Universities have begun to make evermore demands over social science research with the growth of university research ethics committees and whilst there is still debate over the role that these should or should not play (eg Haggerty 2004), they formally recognise the need to respect and protect the informants involved in research, and set out to ensure that those conducting research are aware of the need to consider the wellbeing of those involved in research.