THE ETHICS OF RESEARCH

Ethical Concerns in Data Analysis

and Reporting Research
Research ethics refer to the standards of behaviour and the practical procedures that
researchers are expected to follow.
Maintaining an ethical stance throughout the research process acknowledges that there
is a commitment to:
Treating the respondents or participants as human beings and deserving of respect.
Conducting the research in a truthful and trustworthy manner.

Significant Issues:
Contamination the data should not be tampered with as this will
compromise the findings.
Researcher bias the researcher must not pass off his/her views as
those of the respondents.
Audit trail the researcher should always have documentation to
show how the conclusions were arrived at. For quantitative studies,
the raw data should be readily available for other to check. For
qualitative studies, tapes, field notes journals, etc, should be kept.
For both type of studies, such documents provide a map/trail
between the original data and the eventual analyses and findings.

Reporting Research
Protection of rights the participants rights to privacy and
confidentiality should be protected (no use of names or identifying
marks of respondents, data used only for purposes of the study).
Uses of the research the research report should be used in ways
that the subjects expect and not in ways that will harm them or
cause them to be victimised; the wishes of the subjects should be
observed in how the research is reported and used.
Informed consent - the research participants should have freely
given their consent to be involved in the investigation. They should
have a full understanding of what the research involves, any risks
they may face, what they will be required to do or will experience
during the research investigation.
Ensure that there is a linkage between the research problem,
objective, and research questions.

Referencing and Bibliography

Referencing
All the sources for the information in the research report,
including the literature review must be acknowledged. In
quoting, the researcher must acknowledge after the
quote, in brackets, the authors surname(s), year of
publication and the page number on which the quote can
be found. The researcher may also summarize the
authors views, in which case the source(s) must also be
acknowledged. All the references must be included in
the bibliography at the end of the study.

Bibliography
At the end of the report a complete listing of all works cited
in the study, arranged in alphabetical order, by author
must be presented. The purpose of the bibliography is to
aid the reader to find information, if so desired, on the
topic that was researched.
The prescribed format for CAPE is the American
Psychological Association, APA.

 Positive contribution a research study should do some

good or at least be of benefit to participants. If the
research report can be used to help the subjects, efforts
should be made to make the findings available.
Honesty and integrity data must be gathered carefully,
findings reported honestly, and any problems, errors or
distortions acknowledged. Researchers must never
falsify their data or make false claims that are not
supported by the data that they have.