What are ethical issues?
Arise when there is a conflict between gaining valuable research and preserving the rights and dignity of participants.
What are ethical guidelines?
Established to help protect those involved in research.
What are ethical implications?
The impact that research has on society, how it influences public policy and/or the way in which certain groups of people are seen.
What is socially sensitive research?
Any research that may be controversial, ,e.g. race or sexuality.
Who identified a number of concerns that research should be mindful of when conducting socially sensitive research?
Sieber and Stanley
What did Sieber and Stanley identify?
- Implications
- Uses/public policy
- Validity of research
What are the benefits of socially sensitive research?
- Studies of underrepresented groups and issues may promote greater sensitivity and understanding of these.
- Can help reduce prejudice and encourage acceptance.
Describe social control as a criticism.
- America 1920’s and 30’s - a large number of US states enacted legislation that led to the compulsory sterilisation on the grounds that they were feeble minded.
- This was supported by many sections of the psychological and scientific community at the time that suggested that feeble minded people were ‘unfit’ to breed.
- SSR used has been used to ‘prop up’ discriminatory practices in the past and is an argument against widespread adoption.
Describe framing the questions as a criticism.
- Sieber and Stanley suggested that the way in which research questions are phrased and investigated may influence the way in which findings are interpreted.
