Ethics in Research

August 13, 2021

3:15PM – 4:00PM
•The most common way of defining
"ethics": norms for conduct that
distinguish between acceptable
and unacceptable behavior
•Research ethics refers to
the standard of conduct
when doing research
• There are several reasons why it is
important to adhere to ethical norms in
research. First, norms promote the aims
of research such as knowledge, truth, and
avoidance of error. For example,
prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying,
or misrepresenting research data promote
the truth and minimize error.
• Since research often involves a great deal
of cooperation and coordination among
many different people in different
disciplines and institutions, ethical
standards promote the values that are
essential to collaborative work, such as
trust, accountability, mutual respect, and
fairness.
• Many of the ethical norms help to ensure
that researchers can be held accountable
to the public. For instance, federal policies
on research misconduct, conflicts of
interest, the human subjects protections,
and animal care and use are necessary in
order to make sure that researchers who
are funded by public money can be held
accountable to the public.
Major ethical issues in conducting research
• Informed consent

• Informed consent is the major ethical issue in conducting

research. According to Armiger: "it means that a person
knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently, and in a clear and
manifest way, gives his consent"
 Ethics of research
• Beneficence is the action that is done for the benefit of others. It is
one of the 5 ethics of research.

The ethical principle of beneficence refers to the Hippocratic

"be of benefit, do not harm". Beauchamp and Childress,
suggest that
• "the principle of beneficence includes the professional mandate
to do effective and significant research so as to better serve and
promote the welfare of our constituents"
• Respect for anonymity and confidentiality
• The issue of confidentiality and anonymity is closely
connected with the rights of beneficence, respect for the
dignity and fidelity. Anonymity is protected when the
subject's identity can not be linked with personal responses.
If the researcher is not able to promise anonymity he has to
address confidentiality, which is the management of private
information by the researcher in order to protect the
subject's identity
• Respect for privacy
• The fifth principle of the entitled "A Patient's Bill of rights"
document published in 1975 by the American Hospital
Association (AHA), affirm the patient's right of privacy.
According to Levine : "privacy is the freedom an individual
has to determine the time, extent, and general
circumstances under which private information will be
shared with or withheld from others
• Vulnerable groups of people
• Nowadays, there is an increased concern about vulnerable
groups and whether it is ethical or not for them to be used
as research subjects." Fisher classifies vulnerability as one
characteristic of people unable to protect their own rights
and welfare". So, vulnerable groups include captive
populations (prisoners, students etc), mentally ill persons,
aged people, children, critically ill or dying, poor, with
learning disabilities, sedated or unconscious.
• Ethical Considerations
• In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the proponent of the
study has strictly followed ethical research protocols. All participants
accomplished an online informed consent form concerning their
voluntary participation in the research, which posed no ethical and
safety risks to both the researcher and the participants. As part of the
ethical standards, adequate level of confidentiality of the gathered data
is ensured as these are used only for the sole purpose of this study.

• Ancho, I. (2020). Graduate Education during COVID-19

Pandemic: Inputs to Policy Formulation in the New
Normal. Recoletos Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 8(2), 87-
105.
• 2.4 Ethical Issue
• To ensure that the accounts reflect the realities of the participants,
member checking was employed which is a validation technique
from the lens of participants (Creswell & Miller, 2000). A self-
report scheme was employed to identify the participants’ gender
orientation and sexual identities. Voluntary participation was
sought via the consent form. Finally, anonymity was secured via
the participants’ self-selected pseudonyms

• Bongco, R. T., & Ancho, I. V. (2020). HisStory in the Feminized

Teaching Profession in the Philippines. Journal of Contemporary
Eastern Asia, 19(2), 197-215.
• Before the data gathering, permission was sought from the
students regarding their voluntary participation in the study. As
an ethical protocol, it was made clear that the data generated
from the study were treated with the utmost confidentiality and
no personal information of the participants was identified in the
analysis and manuscript preparation

• Ancho, I. V. (2021). Andragogical Experiences of Filipino

Graduate Students in a Korean Language Class. Bicol
University R & D Journal, 22(1).
• Informed Consent Form
• The Department of Psychology at Wagner College supports the practice of protection of human
participants in research.  The following will provide you with information about the experiment that
will help you in deciding whether or not you wish to participate.  If you agree to participate, please
be aware that you are free to withdraw at any point throughout the duration of the experiment
without any penalty [Note: the penalty statement is only appropriate for students].
• In this study we will ask you to __________________*.  If you have any [insert reason why they
should not participate if applicable], please inform the experimenter and the study will end now.  All
information you provide will remain confidential and will not be associated with your name.  If for
any reason during this study you do not feel comfortable, you may leave the laboratory and receive
credit for the time you participated and your information will be discarded.  Your participation in this
study will require approximately _____ minutes.  When this study is complete you will be provided
with the results of the experiment if you request them, and you will be free to ask any questions.  If
you have any further questions concerning this study please feel free to contact us through phone or
email: RESEARCHER NAME at NAME@wagner.edu (718-) or SUPERVISOR NAME at
NAME@wagner.edu (718-).  Please indicate with your signature on the space below that you
understand your rights and agree to participate in the experiment.
• Your participation is solicited, yet strictly voluntary.  All information will be kept confidential and
your name will not be associated with any research findings. 
Online Surveys
• As a sign of your agreement to participate in the study, please tick the
“YES” below.

___ YES

Kindly tick "I AGREE" to express your intent to participate.

___ I AGREE
• https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/inde
x.cfm

• https://www.hsj.gr/medicine/what-are-the-major-ethical-issues-in-co
nducting-research-is-there-a-conflict-between-the-research-ethics-an
d-the-nature-of-nursing.php?aid=3485

• https://wagner.edu/psychology/informedconsent/