Ethical research for all: Protection from harm, informed consent and the right to withdraw for qualitative researchers

Contributing to arguments about the impact of research on researchers, we reconsider three key ethical concepts – protection from harm, informed consent, and the right to withdraw. We ask how can protection from harm be equally applied to all? How might researchers be given the opportunity to think seriously about what they are consenting to? What might ethical endings look like for researchers who wish to withdraw from their research? In asking these questions, we interrogate what it means to be ‘professional’ in qualitative research, and support calls for a ‘cultures of care’ approach and dynamic, process-oriented ethical procedures.