Lessons from Crisis Research: Ethics and Methodology In Qualitative Research

Contemporary societies increasingly operate under conditions of polycrisis, such as pandemics, armed conflicts, forced migration, climate-related disasters. Such crises do not merely constitute research topics; they also transform the very conditions under which social research is designed, conducted, and evaluated. Understanding these transformations has become an important methodological and ethical challenge.

Therefore, we invite contributions examining how qualitative researchers navigate the challenges of conducting research during and after social crises. We are particularly interested in how crises reshape access to the field, researcher-participant relationships, research temporalities, experiences of vulnerability, responsibility, care, and risk.

A central concern of the session is the relationship between methodological choices and ethical responsibilities in crisis settings, where established research procedures often become difficult to sustain. We also seek to explore whether research conducted in crises follows the logic of rapid-response disaster research or that of longer-term “slow disaster” inquiry, and how these different temporalities shape research practices.

Key questions include: How do researchers adapt their methodological and ethical practices under changing conditions? What ethical dilemmas emerge when studying populations affected by crisis? What forms of reflexivity, resilience, and methodological innovation arise in crisis contexts? To what extent do crisis-driven adaptations persist beyond the crisis itself?

We welcome empirical, methodological, theoretical, and reflexive contributions, including studies that place researchers’ own experiences, decisions, and practices at the centre of analysis. Cross-contextual perspectives are encouraged.

The session aims to enrich methodological debate on conducting ethical and reflexive qualitative research in an increasingly uncertain world.