NUST Business School

Research Methods

Assignment.1

Ethical Issues in Research

Submitted to:

Dr. Waqas Ahmed

Submitted by:

Fatima Tu Zahra

Date: 26th February.2023

Abstract

Ethical considerations are an important aspect of research, which need to be addressed to

develop a reliable and accurate research. The dignity and respect of the participants must be

considered, and consent of research participants should be acknowledged. Also, the researchers

need to keep the identity of the participants confidential and anonymous. While ethics play an

important role in the authenticity of research, the results of ignoring them can be adverse. This

may create misconduct and can lose the participants trust in the research causing them to avoid

further participation. Moreover, it can also stop funding from institutions such as the NIH and

ORI. Ethical considerations in research have always been difficult to manage in case of time,

funding, and their proper implementation. These considerations need to be implemented

throughout all the stages of the research rather than at just one interval to make the research free

of any sort of error.

Introduction

Ethics in research are important for reliable research. They provide a framework for the concept

of right and wrong and reduce wrong conduct. These are followed by researchers to protect the

rights of the participants and develop a strong relationship with them. The issues in ethical

research practices include minimizing the harm risk for participants, ensuring their anonymity,

avoiding the use of any malpractice, and providing the participants with the choice to leave the

experiment at any time. The primary area of concern in any research is the safety of the

participants and to ensure their well-being. The effects of breaking the anonymity rule can be

devastating as they can cause physical, psychological, and emotional harm including social

humiliation, monetary damages, and incursion of privacy. This makes it essential to pursue

ethical procedures in research (Juwel Rana, 2021).

Research relating to human subjects give rise to complex social, ethical, and political conflicts.

Bryman and Bell highlight ten basic ethical principles while conducting research which are:

 Participants should be kept safe from any kind of harm.

 Emphasize participants’ respect for dignity.

 Obtain complete consent from the participants.

 Make the safety of the privacy of participants assured.

 Ensure privacy of the research data appropriately.

 Ensure anonymity of participating individuals and companies.

 Avoid any exaggeration and deception in the motive of the research.

 Declare all forms of affiliations and fundings for the research along with any conflicts

that exist or might arise.

 Perform every communication within the research with honesty and ensure full

transparency of the data and the purpose of the research.

 Any biased representation of the data and misrepresentation of the information must be

avoided.

The most important aspect of any research study is the safety of participants through the use of

appropriate ethical principles. In any qualitative study, ethical principles are considerably

important because such studies involve deep research. These principles are important for direct

interviews with a group of vulnerable people, who might take this process as a stressful situation

and may not be totally comfortable expressing their feelings during the interviews. The current

ethical guidelines only provide basic guidelines rather than providing the framework for their

efficient implementation (Adil E. Shamoo, 2007).

Principles of Research Ethics

According to (Nazmul Hasan, 2021), ethical values in research play a pivotal role and govern the

quality of behavior of the researchers. The basic values on which the research community relies

are presented in the Principles of Research Ethics. It should be the responsibility of the ethical

committee to ensure the complete use of ethical standards while experimenting on humans. The

core values of ethical reviews comprise of autonomy, equality, and beneficence. Researchers

face problems at all the stages of the research right from the start till the conclusion including the

effect of the researcher on the participants and vice versa along with confidentiality and

anonymity. Along with these basic values, other social values such as corporate social

responsibility (CSR), human dignity, animal rights, and compliance with the laws and

regulations are also strongly promoted by many moral codes of conducts.

Informed Consent and Voluntary Participation

The purpose of gaining consent by the participant is to ensure that the participant is aware of

what they are participating in and are aware of their limitations as well. This involves ensuring

that the participant is aware of what the researchers expect of them. Moreover, the participants

must be informed well and must be helped in understanding the information while having the

freedom of choosing whether to participate or not. The researchers require the participant to

provide a written consent after providing them the time to go through the information and ask

any questions. The individuals willing to participate are given an information sheet which the

can study for a suitable time (ranging between 24 hours to a week) to further help them in

deciding. Consent is also demanded in case a participants’ interview had to be recorded.

Minimizing the Risk of Harm

Every research should be harmless to the participants but in some cases they might be subjected

to physical and psychological harm, social discomfort, financial losses, and breach of privacy.

The researchers need to present strong clarifications in such cases to the participants in the

information sheet. They also need to produce additional discomfort reduction strategies to help

solve any questions.

Confidentiality

The researchers need to protect the rights of the participants if they are willing to provide

personal or sensitive information and keep it confidential. Usage of insensitive data collection

methods might harm the confidentiality of the data. If the data is not stored and secured properly

even in the publishing stage, it is much likely to face a breach of privacy and may harm the

participants comfort with the research methods and hence breach ethical standards. There might

be some research that are not required to keep the information confidential, and an informed

consent must be taken from the participants before using the data.

Avoiding Deceptive Practices

There is a concept in research known as covert research which requires the subject of the

research to be misrepresented. This is done to attain unbiased data of the participants attitudes

and behaviors by providing them with incomplete information and to enhance scientific validity.

An example is that the research team may reveal to the participants about team participation with

other members when in reality they are working with researchers unknowingly. Deceptive

methods if revealed might cause the participants to hinder from future participation and they

might start questioning the authenticity of the experiments and their other ethical stands such as
privacy of data and the consent of the participants. Therefore, it is beneficial to avoid such

practices but if necessary, they must be handled professionally.

Social Responsibility

Social responsibility refers to the relationship between the researchers and the common good

done by their research to the entire society in which the research is funded and applied. These are

particularly important when they affect human health, public policy, and the environment. The

research needs to be socially responsible as such research represent the underprivileged and

marginalized population and find strategies that are unique for such kinds of populations. It also

utilizes these methods to create an innovative approach to improve health. Thus, the researchers

need to focus on promoting social good and avoid any kind of social harms through their

research.

Non-Discrimination

The research should be free of any bias or discrimination amongst the colleagues in the research

as well as the participants based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. The research should

only focus on what each participant or fellow researchers can contribute towards the smooth

implementation of the research.

Human and Animal Care

While conducting experiments on human volunteers reduce the risk of harm to the participants.

Show respect for the dignity, privacy, and decisions of the volunteers and be extra vigilant in

case of marginalized populations. While researchers should also be careful in handling of the

animals in research and not to subject them to excessive experimenting and, hence harming their

lives (Palaskar, 2018).

Quantitative Research Designs

Quantitative methods have formal procedures that create a rigid research process including

creation of research questions, research designs, and the selection and interpretation of data to

give a conclusion. This enables the researchers to plan. These designs are well planned,

therefore, involve little to no deviation even while in research. Having a clear picture of the

entire experimental procedure makes it easy to understand ethical challenges of the research

process. This can also help the researchers to effectively address the ethical challenges in the

experiment. For example, non-experimental researchers only need to reveal to the supervisor that

the ethical challenges have been dealt with, whereas in experimental research, particularly in

case of human participants, an ethics proposal needs to be submitted by the researcher to the

ethics committee.

Qualitative Research Designs

Qualitative research is primarily carried out through structured and unstructured interviews. This

technique helps in obtaining detailed information and detailed planning is carried out the method

to he used while interviewing and whom to interview. Interviews can either be individual or

group based. Interviewers must be able to conduct qualitative interviews that include

communication, good listening skills, empathy, and rapport building. All of these may be

subjected to uncertainty because it is impossible to predict how people might react in the

interviews and hence create biasing that is an ethical concern. All research projects have

different stages and different ethical issues may arise in the upcoming stages and this creates

problems in understanding the ethical challenges that may occur as the qualitative research

method moves on. To overcome this, the researchers should perform planning to create an ethical

proposal but this might get difficult if the research involves deceptive practices or sensitive
group of people. Hence, the qualitative methods to carry out research along with their uncertainty

and sometimes deceptive practices might create ethical dilemmas (Arifin, 2018).

Critical Analysis

Critical analysis of ethics in research and the ethical issues that arise in research reveal that ethics

play an important part in successful implementation of research practices. Ethics enable a person

to make decisions that ensure safety of everyone involved and ensure the trust of public in the

research. While conducting researches, the researchers should adhere to morality and ensure the

safety of the data of the participants. The research method should ensure complete honesty,

transparency, and open communication. The researchers should ensure the creation of a positive

research environment and need to follow verifiable methods in the proposing, performing, and

evaluating of research. After carrying out the research, all the results need to be presented before

the ethics committee with full accountability and adherence to rules and regulations. Ethics

require the professional to be free from any bias in experimental design, data analysis and

interpretation, expert testimony, and other parts of the research. The researchers need to exhibit

objectivity for professional handling of the experiment.

The researchers should ensure care in their work and should ensure that the work is free from

any negligence. They should be aware of the fact that their work is critical and that any error

may cause ethical issues to arise. They should be critical of their work as well as that of their

colleagues. They should record and present all the data that is considered and for the research

and must ensure safety even in the storage of the information to avoid any breaches. All the

research stages such as data collection, research designs, and coordination within departments

must be highlighted.
Researchers should make sure that every research that they conduct is impartial, reliable, based

on factual data and practical methods and not be based on the viewpoint of the researcher.

Conclusion

Ethics are an important aspect that needs to be followed in every aspect of life. Research ethics

are important for conducting efficient research that produce quality results and are not the cause

of any harm for the participants. People that show willingness to subject themselves to

experiments or other kinds of research have the right to know what they are getting themselves

into and what can be expected from the research. These are also important to validate the

authenticity of a research and can help in gaining the trust of the participants as well as the

society. Ethical issues should be prioritized by the researchers as the basic step in the design of

the research and should be followed throughout all the steps rather than at just one instant.

Hence, following ethical standards and principles while conducting research and covering any

ethical issues that may arise during the research should be prioritized to achieve maximum

impact from \the research.

Bibliography

Adil E. Shamoo, D. B. (2007). Journal of Biomedical Optics. Responsible Conduct of Research,

28-52. doi:10.1117/1.2749726

Arifin, S. R. (2018). Recognition of perinatal depression: Exploring healthcare professionals and

women’s knowledge and awareness. Ethical Considerations in Qualitative Study, 30-33.

doi:10.31436/ijcs.v1i2.82

Juwel Rana, S. D. (2021). ResearchGate. Ethical Issues in Research, 1-6. doi:10.1007/978-3-

319-31816-5_462-1

Nazmul Hasan, R. U. (2021). JournalofNursingResearch,PatientSafetyandPractise. Ethical

Considerations in Research, 1-4. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.55529/jnrpsp11.1.4

Palaskar, J. N. (2018). Journal of Dental and Allied Sciences. Research Ethics, 1-2.

doi:10.4103/jdas.jdas_32_18