ETHICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION

Research in social science often involves use of unethical practices. Issues of ethics arise primarily out of researcher’s relations with –

a) Sponsors of research

b) Those who permit access to sources of data, and

c) Research participants or respondents.

1.      Ethical issues of research sponsorship.

Research may be funded by either research promotional bodies like research foundation, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSR) and University Grants Commission (UGC) or research-users like Planning Commission, Government Departments and business undertakings and financial institutions. In the former case, the funding takes the form of research grant and the researcher himself takes imitative. He forwards his research proposal to the promotional body for research grant. The granting agency does not prohibit the publication of the results for consumption by the scientific community.

A contract research undertaken for a sponsoring user organization specifies the nature of the work to be done, the time period for its completion and the conditions relating to the use of results. Given the highly structured and restricted nature of contract research and the explicitly stated intention of the sponsor, the primary ethical questions posed are: whether the researcher wants to operate within the confines of such restrictions and whether he is willing to accept the restrictions regarding the publication of the research findings. The researcher must decide these issues before accepting the assignment.

2.     Approval of access to data.

A social science research may require collection of data from the document and records of an institution or from its employees. The permission from the head of the institution has to be sought. The ethical issues that arise in this context are:

                (i)            Should the nature of the research project and its objective be indicated to the permission granting authority?

              (ii)            What should be the degree of anonymity to be accorded to the institution concerned?

            (iii)            Should the procedure for handling data in ways assuring the degree of anonymity guaranteed be stated?

            (iv)            Should the findings of the study be made available to the institution concerned? If so, in what form they should be made available?

There is no hard and fast rule for deciding these questions. They have to be settled mutually by the researcher and the head of the institution concerned.

3.     Ethical issues relating to the respondents or subjects.

Of all the ethical issues, the issues concerned with the respondents are far more important. The respondents constitute the research subjects. They are individuals from whom data are obtained. The major categories of ethical issues relating to the research subjects are:

                (i)            Sometimes people are made to participate in a research project without their knowledge or consent. For example, in social-anthropological studies of rural or tribal communities, the researcher may conduct his research without the knowledge of the people concerned, fearing that their awareness of the research may affect the naturalness of their responses or behavior. The researcher who involves the research subject in research thus infringes upon their right to make their own decision to participate or not to participate.

Ideally speaking, the research subjects’ consent should be obtained after giving the enough information about the proposed research. But often, the consent may be wholly or partially forced. For instance, the employer may direct his employees to cooperate’ with a research project, or strong incentive may be offered to tempt the participants to give consent. Such coercions restrict the research subjects’ freedom to decide whether or not to participate in a research.

              (ii)            In some researches, the consent of respondents is obtained without informing them of the purpose of the research. Such concealment naturally curtails the free choice of the respondents.

            (iii)            In some researches, the researcher may find it necessary to give incorrect information about the purposed research to potential subjects in order to manipulate their perceptions and behavior. Such deceptions are regarded as questionable practices.

            (iv)            In studies relating to human values, the social scientists may create opportunities for research subjects to lie, steal or cheat. Is it appropriate to expose research subjects to such moral hazards? Opinions differ.

              (v)            Another questionable or non-ethical practice is to expose participants to physical or mental stress with a view to studying their relations. For example, in a mock-hijacking of an aircraft or a mock-panic situation in a crowd without a fore-warning, people are subject to physical or mental stress.

            (vi)            A behavioural scientist may dig out information from respondents on private or personal matters such as marital life or religious faith or personal opinions by employing techniques of participant observation, in-depth interviews or disguised projective test. Such practices amount to invasion of privacy.

          (vii)            Finally, there is the ethical issue relating to the obligation of maintaining the anonymity of the research respondents and keeping research data in confidence. Anonymity might be violated through reports and publications. Despite the practice of using pseudonyms, the identity of the community or institutions becomes known indirectly.

Although a respondent’s name remains anonymous, his data contribute to the averages or percentages reported for the group to which he belongs. Should the respondents be told before hand of the uses to which their data will be put?

Source:
Methodology of Research in Social Sciences by O. R. Krishnaswami and M. Ranganatham