From Risk-Averse to Opportunity-Led Ethics: Renegotiating Institutional Ethical Guidelines for Co-Creative Types of Research

Abstract

Institutional review boards (IRBs) set ethical standards for research conduct, thereby contributing to a coherent framework for responsible research practice. However, their current focus on risk reduction has proven to be challenging for many researchers working in co-creative research where participants become co-researchers and play an active role in shaping, challenging, or controlling the research process. In this article, we identify challenges that risk-averse ethics pose for co-creative research. In response to these challenges, we illustrate how co-creative practices provide “workarounds” to ill-fitted, risk-averse-focused IRB questions received while remaining sensitive to the specific ethical concerns of co-creative research. We suggest ethical principles for co-creative research that are grounded in opportunity-based ethics, inspired by feminist new materialisms and critical theory. Instead of predetermining harms and instigating precaution, we argue for an ethics in co-creative research that recognizes ethical risks and opportunities as collaboratively emergent.