Recognizing the never quite absent: de facto usage, ethical issues, and applications of covert research in difficult research contexts

This article scrutinizes and reconceptualizes covert research in social science. Surveying recent literature about this method, we reflect on the ethical safety implications stemming from widespread, even if well-intended, lack of transparency characterizing many projects, especially ones conducted difficult contexts. While standard definition holds that researchers deliberately do not declare to subjects academic is taking place, argue remoteness Western academia most researched contexts often a priori renders field at least partially covert, irrespective researcher’s intentions. because its aims, utility, expected outputs are hard understand for participants unrelated academia. We illustrate argument by analyzing our own fieldwork experiences Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan. In conclusion, emphasize need critically de facto use techniques researchers.