Moral Judgment based on situation exceptionalization: A Phenomenological Investigation of Research Ethics

This paper is targeted at Shiraz university doctoral students‘ understanding of research ethics using phenomenology as its research strategy. Eight students participated in this research by deep interview. Using interpretative phenomenology, as the first step, we identified seven sub-themes through an inductive analysis of the data. Then, these sub-themes were conceptualized and categorized to generate themes that could describe how students understand ethical conditions in research. The two themes generated—‗‗Rethinking about concepts,‘‘ and Enlightening diversity of situations‘‘—delineate ―situation exceptionalization‖ for students, as the pivotal lived experience of the participants in which their encounters with various ethical dilemmas determine their moral judgment. As such, they single out their desired interpretation from diversity of situations so as to manage contradictions.