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