Qualitative researchers generally have to pay more attention to possible ethical difficulties of their research. Their research is often more invasive than quantitative research, and tends to investigate more completely the identity and daily reality of informants. In quantitative work, the respondent can often simply refuse the answer questions that they find too personal. But qualitative research, with its reliance on observations, open-ended interviews, and other somewhat stealthy methods, can more easily lull an informant into being quite open with researchers. Extra care must be taken to avoid violating the confidentiality of those who make research possible.
The literature below includes some discussions of ethical matters, as well as a couple examples of qualitative research that confronted some particularly thorny ethical issues.
References:
Ash, P., Kellermann, A. L., Fuqua-Whitley, D., & Johnson, A. (1996). Gun Acquisition and Use by Juvenile Offenders. Journal of the American Medical Association, 275(22), 1754-1758.
Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When Prophecy Fails. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Fine, G. A., & Sandstrom, K. L. (1988). Knowing Children: Participant Observation with Minors. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Humphreys, L. (1970). Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Chicago: Aldine.
Punch, M. (1994). Politics and Ethics in Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Methods (pp. 83-97). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.