Beyond ethical clearance in field research: in search of situated and reflexive ethics

Research ethics has gained much attention in the social sciences and translation and interpreting studies. Researchers are expected to pay greater attention to ethical issues when researching human beings, which increasingly means obtaining authorisation from a research ethics committee. While this rise of ethics can be seen as positive, ethical clearance entails risks for field researchers because it is prospective, standardised, and based on a utilitarian approach. In this chapter, I argue for an approach to research ethics that is situated and reflexive, and improves something for the participants and context studied. Based on an interview study on revision in translation teams, the chapter addresses the topics of confidentiality in field research and involvement in interview studies.