Research Methodology

Lecture 2: Research In Business (Ch.1)

Prof. Dr. Raghda El Ebrashi

Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Head of the Management & Organization Department
Learning Objectives
 Understand what issues are covered in research ethics.
 Understand the goal of “no harm” for all research activities and what constitutes
no harm for participant, researcher, and research sponsor.
 Differing ethical dilemmas and responsibilities of researchers, sponsors, and
research assistants.
 Role of ethical codes of conduct in professional associations.
Pull Quote
“Today, it would be remiss to say that the privacy profession
is anything but flourishing. Companies are increasingly
hiring privacy officers and even elevating them to C-suite
positions; the European Commission has proposed a statute
in its amended data protection framework that would require
data protection officers at certain organizations, and, at the
International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)
membership recently hit 10,000 worldwide.”
Angelique Carson, CIPP/US,
International Association of Privacy Professionals
Ethical Issues and the
Research Process
Research Revelation

89
The percent of consumer PCs
infected with spyware.
Research Revelation

$944
The amount, in millions,
that employers will lose
this year due to employee
fraud.
Procter & Gamble

 Admits to competitive intelligence gathering

 Contracted BI firm took documents from

Unilever trash receptacles

 Out-of-court settlement rumored (and

reported) at $10m
Ethics and Why IS IT Important?
 Ethics are norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about our
behavior 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.
 Unethical activities are pervasive and include many types of activities.

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 Ethical Approaches
There is no single approach to ethics.

Ethical
Ethical
Deontology
standards Relativism
 Ethical Approaches
There is no single approach to ethics.

Ethical
Ethical
Deontology
standards Relativism

Deontology advocates that ethical behavior should be directed by duties regardless of the positive
circumstances that might result from behavior that is in contradiction to the duty.
An example might be “Do not lie,” even when lying might result in a positive outcome.
 Ethical Approaches
There is no single approach to ethics.

Ethical
Ethical
Deontology
standards Relativism

Ethical relativism is based on an individual’s sense of morality.

Therefore, each person decides for his or herself what is ethical
behavior.
 Types of Ethical Violations

Violating
Misrepresenting
disclosure
results
agreements

Breaking Deceiving
confidentiality participants

Padded Avoiding
invoices legal liability
Ethical Codes of Conduct
Ethical Treatment of Participants

Do no harm

Explain study benefits

Explain participant rights and protections

Obtain informed consent

Components of Informed Consent
Researcher Intro Describe Survey Topic

Describe geographic sample Reveal sponsor

Describe purpose Good Faith Time Estimate

Anonymity & confidentiality

Voluntary Participation

Item nonresponse acceptable

Permission to begin
Characteristics of Informed Consent
1. Complete informed consent has four characteristics The participant
must be competent to give consent.
2. Consent must be voluntary, and free from coercion.
3. Participants must be adequately informed to make a decision.
4. Participants should know the possible risks or outcomes associated
with the research.
Ethical Responsibilities
 Special guidelines apply to children!
 Special consideration is necessary when
researching the behavior and attitudes of
children.
 Besides providing informed consent, parents
are often interviewed during the selection
process to ensure that the child is mature enough
and has the verbal and physical capabilities
necessary.
Deception
Disguising
non-research
Deception occurs when participants are activities
told only part of the truth or when the truth
is fully compromised
Camouflaging
true research
objectives
But why deception is sometimes used in research ?

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Reasons for Deception

 Prevent biasing participants

 Protect confidentiality of the sponsor

 Debriefing
Explain any deception

 In situations where participants are intentionally or

accidentally deceived, they should be debriefed Describe hypothesis, goal
once the research is complete. or purpose
 Debriefing describes the goals of the research, as
well as the truth and reasons for any deception.
 Results are shared after the study is complete.
 Participants who require any medical or Share results
psychological follow-up attention will receive it
during the debriefing process.

Provide follow-up
Protect Participant Confidentiality

Obtain signed
nondisclosure

Non-
Restrict access
disclosure of
to ID
data subsets
Confidentiality
Minimize Reveal only
instruments with written
requiring ID consent
Right to Privacy

 Right to refuse
 Prior permission to interview
 Limit time required
Sponsor Confidentiality

Sponsor Nondisclosure

Purpose Nondisclosure

Findings Nondisclosure
Unethical Behavior to Avoid

 Violating participant confidentiality

 Changing data
 Creating false data
 Changing data interpretations
 Changing data presentation
 Injecting bias in interpretation
 Omitting sections of data
 Making recommendations beyond the scope of data
Thanks!
Any questions?

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