Critical discursive psychology and relational ethics: An uneasy tension?

The debate over the ethicality of discourse analysis, particularly against the backdrop of relational ethics and the use of interview-generated data, has recently intensified (see Hammersley, , ; Smith, ; Taylor, ). By way of extending this debate beyond the issue of what constitutes informed consent in discourse analytic research, I focus on the question of harm that might come to participants who provide data that are analysed through the lens of critical discursive psychology and who are subsequently privy to our analyses. Through the use of an actual example from my participation in a project on different ways of analysing qualitative data, I consider the ramifications of critical discursive analytic processes and goals for the ethical obligation to minimize harm to participants that might result from our analyses and for the practice of sharing qualitative analyses with participants. I conclude that choosing to reside in an uneasy tension that can exist between critical discursive psychology and relational ethics, particularly at the stages of writing, analysis, and dissemination of our work, raises questions that require further conversation.