Research Ethics Committees - What are they good for?

There tends to be considerable angst among qualitative researchers about research ethics committees and research regulation as evidenced by the many comments, observations and concerns raised throughout this Handbook. The general feeling also expressed elsewhere seems to be that these processes and formal procedures: don't understand social science research in general, are focused on issues more pertinent to biomedical research, don't respect academic freedom, and are undemocratic. Authors arguing along these lines include Dingwall (2007), Dyer and Demeritt (2009), Hammersley (2009), Schrag (2010, 2011), Wynn (2011), and Dyck and Allen (2013). Hence it might be claimed that they are not well suited for the review or regulation of such research. Wynn's empirical work on the experiences of anthropologists with research ethics committees illustrates these kind of views...