Ethical issues in Marketing Research

The importance of ethics in Marketing Research:

The topic of ethics is extremely important for marketing research and for

market research. Ethics address whether a particular action is right or wrong,

good or bad. Marketing has created a perception that, within businesses,

marketing is the area most prone to unethical practices. Therefore, it is

imperative that market researchers are associated with unethical practices.

Volunteer participation is the very heart of marketing research. The

consumer research programme would practically cease to continue without

the co-operation of the public from which the data are drawn. The need for

ethics is thus is very clear. However, ethical decisions have the following

characteristics. They are

1. Most ethical decisions have extended or long term effects.

2. Most of the ethical decisions are sometimes doubtful, rather there

are multiple alternatives.

3. The viewpoints in the decisions are sometimes positive or

negative.

4. These positive and negative outcomes are very uncertain and

unpredictable.
 The parties who are affected by unethical practises:

Now, we shall discuss about those parties who are affected by

unethical research practises. They are known as STAKEHOLDERS.

Stakeholder’s concept is a method of looking at ethical relationships

by identifying any group or individual who is or can be affected by

the process.

In Market Research there are 4 Stakeholders:

1. Public

2. Respondents

3. Client

4. Researcher

Let us take each Stakeholder separately.

1. Public:

For public, ethical concerns revolve primarily around the methods of

gathering and reporting research results. The public often depend

upon the Marketing Research for information on products. If this

information is distorted by the Marketing researcher or the client the

public stands to lose. The information becomes useless and redundant

for them. Therefore, it is the joint responsibility of the public and the

researcher to avoid incomplete reporting, misleading reporting and

biased research.

 Incomplete Reporting: Whenever a client or researcher does

not reveal the complete results, incomplete reporting occurs.

This unethical act is more likely to take place when a

researcher conceals negative information, which is not

acceptable by the public in general.

 Misleading environment: This involves the distortion of

information. The information presented to the public is false. It

leaves the public with an erroneous impression. To prove this

lets take an example. Suppose there is a research project for a

toothpaste which is preferred by the dentists. 90% of the

dentists said that they have no specific choice. Out of the 10%

left, 5% said that they prefer brand A, 3 % said that the prefer

brand B, and 2 % prefer some other brand (neither A nor B).

The conclusion that was arrived at was that “dentists prefer

brand A”. This conclusion can be very misleading and is not

the truth. Hence the conclusion is inaccurate and the public

suffers with the faulty decision.

  Biased Research: Biased research occurs when the research

process is performed improperly resulting in incorrect findings.

Errors of this nature occur when the problem is not stated

clearly. The finding or the information gathered is clearly

incorrect. The researcher gets the desired information but the

interest of the public is completely forgotten. Poorly designed

questionnaires, improper sample selection, improper statistical

methods used to interpret the data etc., are some of the

examples of biased research.

2. Respondent:

Respondents are one of the major stakeholders because without their

involvement in the research is not possible. Therefore, market researchers

should protect the respondents from unethical research practices. The

following will show the respondent-researcher relationship.

 Conducting a survey to sell products: Respondents have been

deliberately deceived by researchers. Some unethical marketers have

been known to tell respondents that they were conducting a survey

which actually lead-in to a sales presentation, or to get information

that could be used for sales leads or mailing lists. . This is called
 sugging in trade language. It is illegal as well as unethical. These

practices violate the respondents trust and erode their willingness to

support surveys.

 Invasion of the privacy of Respondents: The privacy of the

respondent is a legal right and hence it must be protected. It means

that respondents, who are promised with the anonymity or

confidentiality, should be given the same. Respondents should also

not be contacted at times which are inconvenient for them. Another

concern is also the buying and selling of mailing lists through

deceptive means also forms a part of these unethical practices.

3. Client

The complexity that is surrounding the research-client relationship

deserves special attention from an ethical standpoint.

 Abuse of Position: Since the researcher possesses the research

expertise, the researcher has a responsibility not to take unfair

advantage of his position. The researcher should make every effort to

follow correct research procedures, adopt a suitable approach and

 research design. In short, the researcher must conduct quality research

while respecting the clients’ resources of time and money.

 Unnecessary Research: The researcher has the ethical duty not to

perform unnecessary research. (Eg. primary research not required if

secondary data provide the necessary information)

 Unqualified Research: The researcher sometimes may not possess

technical expertise that is required for the research. Thus, it is his duty

to let the client know these limitations and refuse the project.

 Disclosure of Identity: The client has the right to expect that its

identity will be protected before, during and after the completion of

the project. The researcher is ethically bound not to reveal the client’s

identity to competitors, respondents etc. without the consent of the

client involved.

4. Researcher:

The researcher or the research firm has the right to be treated ethically as

well. Ethical treatment by clients involves several issues.

 Improper Solicitation: When a Research firm submits a proposal

to a prospective client, it should be confident that the client is

 seriously considering employing it to conduct the research

projects. The client should not make an attempt to misuse the first

proposal by turning it over to another firm for execution. The

research proposal is the property or the research firm.

 Proprietary techniques: The researcher has the right to expect that

the Proprietary techniques will not be revealed by the client to

other research firms. The client should also refrain from using

these techniques in future without prior permission by the

researcher who has developed the technique.

 Misrepresentation of findings: The client should not distort the

research findings to their own benefit at the expense of the

researcher’s reputation. The client should reveal the truth and

nothing else.

 Additional request: The client assigning the project to a particular

researcher may request him to provide some additional information

at the original project cost. This extra information involves

additional expenditure of the researcher. The researcher should be

paid extra for such requests.

International Code of market Research (ICC):

As more and more international marketing research is conducted due

to globalisation of markets, new ethical issues must be addressed.

Areas of concern include showing sensitivity to ethical differences

among different cultures, determining whose ethical guidelines apply

to market research. The ICC now presents an international code of

market research practice, a logical continuation of policy which led to

be very widely adopted and applied the International Code of

Advertising projects. ICC code extends the existing codes and their

authority in several ways. It is truly international for adopting by

relevant organisations in all the countries. After careful consideration

of their strengths and weaknesses and in consultation with the bodies

concerned, this code will assist in the widespread establishment of

ethical and commercial principal in area of business activity.