ETHICS IN BUSINESS

RESEARCH
LESSON 2
What are Research Ethics?
• ETHICS – are norms or standards of behaviour that guide moral
choices about our behaviour and our relationships with others.
• The goal of ethics in research is to ensure that no one is harmed or
suffers adverse consequences from research activities.
Ethical Treatment of Participants
The researcher should follow three guidelines.
1. Explain study benefits.
2. Explain participants rights and protections.
3. Obtain informed consent.
BENEFITS – Whenever direct contact is made with participant, the
researcher should discuss the study’s benefits. Being careful to neither
overstate nor understate the benefits.

1. DECEPTION – occurs when the participants are told only part of the truth or when the truth is
fully compromised
Two reasons for deception
1. to prevent biasing the participants before the survey or experiment.
2. to protect the confidentiality of a third party.

2. INFORMED CONCENT – securing informed consent from participants is a matter of fully

disclosing the procedures of the proposed survey or other research design before requesting
permission to proceed with the study.
3. DEFRIEFING PARTICIPANTS – debriefing involves several activities following
the collection of data:
Explanation of any deception
Description of the hypothesis, goals. Or purpose of the study
Poststudy sharing results
Poststudy follow-up medical or psychological attention
4. RIGHTS TO PRIVACY – means one has the right to refuse to be interviewed or to refuse to
answer any question in an interview.
the researcher protects participant confidentiality in several ways:
 obtaining signed nondisclosure documents
Restricting access to participant identification
Revealing participant information only with written consent
Restricting access to data instruments where the participant is identified
No disclosing data subsets

5. DATA COLLECTION IN CYBERSPACE – issues relating to cyberspace in research also relate

to data mining.
ETHICS AND THE SPONSOR
 Confidentiality

The Sponsor-Researcher Relationship

Ex. In an organization setting, the researcher should look on the sponsoring
manager as a client.
-Obligation of Manager: to specify their problem and provide researchers with
adequate background information and access to company information
gatekeepers.
-Researcher’s Obligation: develop a creative research design that will provide
answers to important business questions
SOURCES OF MANAGER-RESEARCHER
CONFLICT
1. Knowledge Gap between the researcher and the manager.
2. Job status and internal, political coalitions to preserve status.
3. Unneeded or inappropriate research.
4. The right to quality research.
RESEARCHERS AND TEAM MEMBERS
1. Safety
2. Ethical Behavior of Assistants
3. Protection of Anonymity
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
 Accounting
Advertising
Banking
Engineering
Financial Planning
Human resources
Insurance
Management
Real Estate