What is it about?
This article deals with three topics: lying, privacy and anthropological research and how these are related to each other. Lying is sometimes the only effective way to protect one’s privacy. Starting from a research experience with lying respondents in Ghana, I discuss the various circumstances and reasons that lead to lying in defence of privacy, in particular concerns about respect. The paradoxical conclusion is that lying, a discredited tool of deception, is often applied in order to uphold a widely accepted basic human necessity of life – privacy. .
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Why is it important?
Qualitative social researchers should take these concerns about privacy and respect into account
Perspectives
My personal perspective is that two basic values in my own life, telling truth and privacy, clash in anthropological research when I ask people intimate questions they do not want to reply to, but cannot outright refuse to answer.
Sjaak van der Geest
University of Amsterdam
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lying in defence of privacy: anthropological and methodological observations, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, March 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2018.1447866.
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