Seeking university Research Ethics Committee approval: the emotional vicissitudes of a 'rationalised' process

Seeking Research Ethics Committee (REC) approval in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) is increasingly encumbered by bureaucratic rules and regulations. Termed 'ethics creep', such governance is challenged by an emerging body of international literature. This article contributes to such literature by documenting the emotional vicissitudes of seeking REC approval in an Irish university, for a proposed sociological study of children with asthma. Our critical discussion includes an account of indeterminate bureaucratic procedures and protocol which, despite their formally rational and rationalised status, were unreasonable, insidious and frustrating. Challenging 'ethics creep' and promoting critical debate underpins our discussion of the researcher's experiences and responses when confronted with bureaucratic irrationality - arguably something that not only taxes researchers' emotions and commitment but also threatens to 'strangle' HSS research and the research base more generally.