Ethics and Marketing Research

• Ethics: may be defined as a field of

inquiry in to what behaviors are
deemed appropriate under certain
circumstances as prescribed by
codes of behavior that are set by
society.

• Society determines what is ethical

and not ethical.

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 Ethical Issues Arise in Many Aspects of
Marketing Research
• Marketing researchers should not work
for competing clients

• Marketing researchers should not

divulge any aspects of the research to
third parties

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 Ethical Issues Arise in Many Aspects of
Marketing Research cont.
• Marketing researchers should not
suggest research that is not needed by
the client

• Take a look at the MRA’s Code of Ethics

at mra-net.org

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 Your Ethical Views are
Shaped by Your Philosophy

• Deontology:
Deontology is concerned with the rights of
the individual.
• If the rights of the individual are violated,
then the behavior is not ethical.

• Teleology:
Teleology analyzes a particular behavior in
terms of its benefits and costs to society.
• If there are individual costs, but group
benefits are greater, then there are net
gains and the behavior is judged to be
ethical.
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Ethical Behavior in Marketing Research

• Other Marketing Research

Organizations having Codes of Ethics
are:
• Council of American Survey
Research Organizations (CASRO)
See: CASRO

• MRIA (Canada) See: mria-arim

• ESOMAR (Europe) See: esomar

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 Codes of Ethics: Some Issues
• Sugging
• Frugging
• Misrepresentation and omission of
pertinent research data
• Treating clients, suppliers & the
public unfairly
• Respondent Fairness See CMOR’s
Rights of the Survey Respondent:
cmor.org
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 Ethical Issues With Respondents

• Respondent cooperation has been going

down

• Marketing researchers should:

– Eliminate or keep deception to a minimum
– If promised, guarantee anonymity or
confidentiality
– Fight invasions of privacy such as
telemarketing and SPAM

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 Panels

• Marketing research companies are

making greater use of panels

• Recruiting respondents who agree to

participate in future studies

• Panel Equity,
Equity the value of having
access to a large number of consumers
willing to cooperate in studies, will
increase in the future
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