The ethics of qualitative research in health: the said and the unsaid in the scientific production

This study investigated the ethics of qualitative research by using bibliographic research. Data were collected in scientific articles from a Brazilian journal of collective health and the access to the sources was electronic. It were analyzed 117 articles of qualitative research which corresponded to 23.49% of the total production of the journal from 01/1998 to 03/2007. The information collected was organized considering the identification, themes/object, theoretical referential, methodology and ethical aspects involved. The analysis proposed a discussion based on what the researchers express about ethics on their qualitative studies when it comes to two different kinds of relation: between the researchers and their research-subject and with their co-workers. The conclusions brought up many issues to be discussed on the daily routine of the research activity and that demands exposition and openness to criticism. There is also an urge to think what the "said" and the "unsaid" can reveal underneath the obedience to the rules, launching to the process of maturing and to the theoretical consistence of the researchers, especially in the ethical dimension of the researching activity. A huge part of those challenges are of direct responsibility of the institutions which are in charge of the researcher's formation.