week 4 - Ethics in social research

Question 1

Why be ethical

Answer 1

• The best preparation for ethical behavior is to eternalize a sensitivity to ethical concerns, to adopt a serious professional role, and to interact regularly with other researchers.
• The scientific community also demands ethical behavior for all researchers without exception.

Question 2

Scientific misconduct

Answer 2

-The research community and agencies that fund research are opposed to unethical behaviour called scientific misconduct. Research fraud and plagiarism are part of scientific misconduct.
Actually, Scientific misconduct occurs whenever a researcher falsifies or distorts the data or the methods of data collection, or plagiarizes the work of others.

Question 3

Research fraud

Answer 3

-occurs when a researcher fakes or invents data that he or she did not really collect or fails to honestly and fully report how a study has been conducted

Question 4

Plagiarism

Answer 4

-occurs when a researcher “steals” the ideas or writings of another or uses them without citing the source. This includes stealing the work of another researcher, an assistant, or a student and misrepresenting it as one’s own work.

Question 5

Power relations

Answer 5

• The researcher’s credentials, training, and professional role and the place of science in modern society legitimate the power and make it into a form of expert authority. Some ethical issues involve an abuse of power and trust.
• A researcher’s authority to conduct social research and to earn the trust of peers is always accompanied by an immutable ethical responsibility to guide, protect, and oversee the interests of the people being studied.
• When looking for ethical guidance, researchers can turn to a number of resources to include: professional colleagues, ethical advisory committees, institutional review boards or human subjects committees at academic institutions, codes of ethics by professional associations and writings on ethics in research.

Question 6

The law and codes of ethics recognize some clear prohibitions:

Answer 6

-Never cause unnecessary or irreversible harm to subjects;
secure prior voluntary consent, when possible;
-Never unnecessarily humiliate and degrade subjects or release harmful information about specific individuals that was collected for research purposes.

Question 7

Today, researchers widely recognize these to be violations of two fundamental ethical principles

Answer 7

• Avoid physical harm;

- Obtain informed consent

Question 8

Physical harm

Answer 8

• An ethical researcher anticipates risks before beginning a study. This includes basic safety concerns such as safe buildings, furniture, and equipment;
• The researcher accepts moral and legal responsibility for injury from participation in research and terminates a project immediately if he or she can no longer guarantee the physical safety of research participants.

Question 9

informed consent

Answer 9

• is an agreement by participants stating that they are willing to be in a study after they learn something about what the research procedure will involve.
• People need to know what they are being asked to participate in so that they can make an informed decision.
• Governments vary in the requirement for informed consent. The Canadian federal government does not require informed consent in all research involving human subjects, although there is a strong recommendation that informed consent be received
• Researchers should get written informed consent unless there are good reasons for not obtaining it (e.g., covert field research, use of secondary data) as judged by a research ethics board (REB).
• Research ethics board (REB): is an institutional body responsible for assessing whether a proposed research project involving human subjects is ethical or not.
• Informed consent statements provide specific information such as a general statement about the kinds of procedures involved and the uses of the data.

Question 10

informed consent statements contain the following:

Answer 10

• A brief description of the purpose and procedure of the research, including the expected duration of the study
• A statement of any risks or discomfort associated with participation
• A guarantee of anonymity and the confidentiality of records
• The identification of the researcher and of where to receive information about subjects’ rights or questions about the study
• A statement that participation is completely voluntary and can be terminated at any time without penalty
• A statement of alternative procedures that may be used
• A statement of any benefits or compensation provided to subjects and the number of subjects involved 8. An offer to provide a summary of findings

Question 11

Special populations

Answer 11

-people who lack the necessary cognitive competency to give real informed consent, people in a weak position who might compromise their freedom to refuse to participate in a study, or groups who have been historically exploited and oppressed.

Question 12

The Tri-Council policy statement

Answer 12

-specifies that researchers must have respect for vulnerable persons. Some populations or groups of research participants are not capable of giving true voluntary informed consent

Question 13

Privacy

Answer 13

-researchers invade a research participant’s privacy when they probe into beliefs, back-grounds, and behaviours in a way that reveals intimate private details.

Question 14

Anonymity

Answer 14

-people remain anonymous or nameless. The subject’s identity is protected, and the individual remains unknown or anonymous.

Question 15

Confidentiality

Answer 15

-can include information with participant names attached, but the researcher holds it in confidence or keeps it secret from public disclosure. The researcher releases data in a way that does not permit linking specific individuals to responses and presents it publicly only in an aggregate

Question 16

Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality

Answer 16

• A researcher can provide anonymity without confidentiality or vice versa, although they usually go together.
• Anonymity without confidentiality occurs if all the details about a specific individual are made public but the individual’s name is with-held.
• Confidentiality without anonymity occurs if detailed information is not made public, but a researcher privately links individual names to specific responses.

Question 17

Respect of human dignity

Answer 17

• The basic of ethical principles in social research rely on the principle of respect for human dignity.
• In Canada, guidelines to protect research participants and their rights are found in the rules and regulations issued by the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE).

Question 18

the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics comprises experts from three Canadian research agencies:

Answer 18

• The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC),
• The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR),
• The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). From this panel, the Tri-Council Policy Statement on the Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans was born.

Question 19

Ethics and the scientific community

Answer 19

• The Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) and the American Sociology Association (ASA) set the standards for ethics codes within North American sociology;
• Researchers wishing to use human subjects in their studies must write a proposal about their research detailing how and why human subjects will be used and safeguards that will be put in place to guarantee that the ethical principles are adhered to, which is then vetted by the research ethics board at their home university.

Question 20

Ethics and the sponsors of research

Answer 20

-Special ethical problems arise when a sponsor pays for research, especially applied research.

Researchers may be asked to compromise ethical or professional research standards as a condition for receiving a contract;

Researchers need to set ethical boundaries beyond which they will refuse the sponsor’s demands.