Ethnography, Ethics and Ownership of Data

All research has been subject to an increase in ethical regulation over the past decade or so (Hammersley, 2009). This phenomenon has particular implications for ethnography given its intimate and receptive nature. This paper looks specifically at the ownership of data and explores the institutional, the ethnographers and the legal tensions that may come into play when managing data within and beyond the field. Two expert ethnographers working with children and young people draw upon their work to reveal how issues of data ownership can shift and be a source of tension and working power dynamics. The ethnographer requires particular autonomy and expertise while managing ethics soundly in situ to work within the messiness and unpredictability of participants’ everyday live