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7 ETHICS IN RESEARCH

Introduction

There are mixed views on what ethics is. Some think ethics:

Has to do with what people‘s feelings tell them is right or wrong.

Has to do with one’s religious beliefs
Is doing what the law requires
Consists of the standards of behaviour our society accepts
Ethics is not about what people‘s feelings tell them; sometimes our feelings make us do
wrong. Ethics is not about behaving according to one‘s religion; people have committed
atrocities in the name of regions.
Ethics is also not the same as following the law; some laws are ruthless and draconian.
Ethics is not the same as doing whatever society accepts, because although in any society
most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical, standards of behaviour in a society
can deviate from what is ethical and an entire society can become ethically corrupt.

What is Ethics?

Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that
prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to
society, fairness, or specific virtues.
Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to
refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud.
Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and
loyalty. Ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the
right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy.
Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent
and well-founded reasons.
Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards.
 As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical.
So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable
and well-founded.
Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our
moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live
up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.
In short, ethics are moral principles that govern a person's behaviour.
It is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans
ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or
specific virtues.

Ethical Issues in Conducting Research

The major ethical issues in conducting research are:

a) Informed consent: a Researcher must obtain permission for the research, and must inform
the subject of their voluntary participation, and that they are able to withdraw from the research
at any time without penalty.

b) Beneficence: The Researcher should communicate the benefits of the research to the
participants and honour the obligation to deliver such benefits.

c) Non-maleficence: The research should be able to conduct his research in a manner that
would not harm the participants as a result of their participation in the research.

d) Anonymity: the researcher should be able to conceal the identity of the participants when
asked to do so, and depending on the nature of the research. Pseudonyms can be used to observe
anonymity.

e) Honesty and trust: The researcher should act with utmost honesty by only doing with his
research what he said he/she would, so as to gain trust from the participants.

f) Confidentiality: The Researcher should be able to protect the information of the

participants so that unauthorised persons do not get access to it.
g) Privacy: The researcher has the noble obligation to observe the privacy of subjects of the
research.

h) Respect: The researcher has the obligation to treat research subject with utmost respect