Power Dynamics and Research Ethics in Sensitive Research

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among people experiencing homelessness in Croatia, this article explores power dynamics between researchers and participants in sensitive research. This study shows that these power dynamics are continually shifting depending on researcher positionalities and field sites (shelter facility vs public spaces). In addition, this becomes more complex in interdisciplinary teams where members within an internal team power hierarchy have different positionalities and aspirations. This article also challenges the adequacy of procedural ethics and recommends ethics in practice or relational ethics, which is essential in qualitative research characterized by a discourse of immersion, reflexivity, and rapport.