RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES AND

ETHICS OF RESEARCH
Ibrahim Mohammed (Ph.D.)
 Outline of Presentation
• Ontology: Objectivism; Subjectivism and
Pragmatism
• Epistemology: Positivism; Realism and
Interpretivism
• Axiology and Pragmatism
• Ethics of Research
Research Philosophy or Worldviews
• Worldview: ‘a basic set of beliefs that guide action’
(Guba, 1990, p. 17)

• Worldviews have been referred to as:

– paradigms (Lincoln & Guba, 2000)

– epistemologies and ontologies (Crotty, 1998); or

– Broadly conceived research methodologies (Neuman,

2000)
 What research philosophy?
• Research philosophy underpins research strategy and the
methods chosen as part of the strategy

• The influence of RP is felt in the context of the researcher’s

particular view of the relationship between knowledge and
the process by which it is developed

• The researcher who is concerned with facts, such as the

resources needed in a business establishment, is likely to
have a very different view on the way research should be
conducted from the researcher concerned with the feelings
and attitudes of the workers towards their managers in that
same business establishment
 Ways of thinking about research
philosophy?
• Two major ways of thinking about research
philosophy:

– Ontology

– Epistemology

• These inform the research strategy or

methodology
 Research Ontology Defined
• Ontology is concerned with the nature of reality

• It is ways of constructing reality, “how things really are” and “how

things really work” (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998, p. 201)

• What assumptions do we make about the way in which the world

works?

• Two aspects of ontology:

– Objectivism

– Subjectivism
 Ontology
• Objectivism: Portrays the position that social entities exist in reality
external to social actors concerned with their existence.

– Social entities exist in reality external to social actors.

• Subjectivism: Holds the view that social phenomena are created

from the perceptions and consequent actions of those social actors
concerned with their existence.

– Focuses on understanding the meanings that individuals attach to

social phenomena

• Often associated with the term, constructionism or social

constructionism
 What is Epistemology?
• Concerns what constitutes acceptable
knowledge or reality in a field of study

• Different forms of knowledge of that reality,

what nature of relationship exists between the
inquirer and the inquired? How do we know?
 What is Epistemology?
• Positivism - Quantitative ~ discovery of the laws that govern
behavior
– Working in the tradition of the natural scientist

• Constructivist - Qualitative ~ understandings from

an insider perspective
• Critical - Postmodern ~ Investigate and expose the power
relationships

• Pragmatic - interventions, interactions and their effect in multiple

contexts
Typical Positivist research Question
• What?
• How much?
• Relationship between? Or Causes this effect?
• Best answered with numerical precision
• Often formulated as hypotheses
 Tenets of Positivism
• Reliability: Same results different times,
different researchers
• Validity: results accurately measure and
reliably answer research questions.
Interpretivist or Constructivist Paradigm
• Interpretivist advocates that it is necessary for the researcher to
understand differences between humans in our role as social
actors.
– Understandings from an insider perspective
• Generally answer the question ‘why’ rather then ‘what’, ‘when’ or
‘how much’?

– How does subject understand ?

– What is the “lived experience”?

– What meaning does the artifact or intervention have?

• Can we say one research philosophy is better than the other?
 Realism
• What the senses show us as reality is the truth

– Objects have an existence independent of the human mind.

• The philosophy of realism is that there is a reality quite

independent of the mind

• It is similar to positivism in that it assumes a scientific

approach to the development of knowledge

• This assumption underpins the collection of data and the

understanding of those data.
 Two Types of Realism
• Direct realism says that what you see is what
you get: what we experience through our
senses portrays the world accurately

• Critical realists argue that what we experience

are sensations, the images of the things in the
real world, not the things directly.
– Critical realists point out how often our senses
deceive us
 Summary
Paradigm Ontology Epistemology Question Method

Positivism Hidden rules Focus on reliable What works? Quantitative

govern teaching and valid tools
and learning to undercover
process rules

Interpretive/con Reality is Discover the Why do you act Qualitative

structivist created by underlying this way?
individuals in meaning of
groups events and
activities
Critical Society is rife Helping uncover How can I Ideological
with inequalities injustice and change this review,
and injustice empowering situation? Civil actions
citizens

Pragmatic Truth is what is The best Will this Mixed Methods,

useful method is one intervention Design-Based
that solves improve
problems learning?
ETHICS IN RESEARCH
 RESEARCH AND ETHICS
Social scientist inevitably interact with people.
Therefore, there is the need to:
➢recognize that the research procedures
involve people who deserve as much respect
for their well-being as we do for ourselves;
➢give attention to their rational concerns and
emotional needs which in one way or the
other will shape their responses to our
actions.
 WHAT IS ETHICS IN RESEARCH?
✓Ethics in Research are moral principles and
values that influence the way a researcher(s)
conducts his or her research activities.

✓Ethics or more principles are not on the same

footing as laws but are serious and inevitable
issues.
 ETHICAL THEORIES
Deyhle, Hess and LeCompte (1992) suggest five general
theories that can be applied to decide if an action is right,
correct or appropriate:
• Teleological theory - primary ends, good in themselves
• Utilitarian - consequences- benefits and costs- for
various audience
• Critical theory - direct benefits to the researched
and/or becomes advocate for them
• Deontological - Kant’s categorical and practical
imperatives
• Covenantal - congruent with specific agreements made
HOW TO DETERMINE AN (UN)ETHICAL
ACTION
1. Has the subject/respondent been subjected
to unreasonable stress or risk without his or
her knowledge?
2. Is it possible to restore the subject to his or
her original condition?
 CODES
• Nazis
The need for regulation and codes of behavior
emerged from revelations of the research
atrocities committed by the Nazis.
• Nuremberg Code
This 1947 code for biomedical research was the
first to focus on the importance of informed
consent.
• Helsinki Declaration
This 1964 declaration provided guidance in such
areas as the use of animals for research
purposes.
 CODES
• The American Sociological Association (ASA)
adopted a formal code of ethics in 1969.
• American Psychological Association (1982)
• The Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Human Research with Human Participants

• The National Research Act (1974)

• Passed by Congress for the purpose of protecting human subjects participating in
experiments.

• Of course, while it’s essential to have codes,

the responsibility for ethical research
ultimately lies with the individual researcher
 BASIC ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Three basic principles established by the National
Commission for the protection of Human subjects
of Biomedical and Behavioural Research in the USA
➢ Respect - treating persons as autonomous agents
and protecting those with diminished autonomy;
➢ Beneficence - minimizing possible harms and
maximizing benefits
➢ Justice - Distributing benefits and risks of research fairly
These broad principles have been translated into specific
regulations.
 OTHER ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
• Worthiness of the project
• Competence boundaries
• Valid Results – falsifying data
• Benefits, cost and reciprocity
• Harm and risk
• Honesty and trust
• Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity
• Integrity and quality
• Ownership of data
• Use and misuse of results
• Conflicts, dilemmas and trade-offs
PROTECTING RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
Ethical guidelines emphasized by most professional social
science organizations concerning the treatment of human
subjects include:
1. Research should cause no harm to subjects.
2. Participation in research should be voluntary, and
therefore subjects must give their informed consent to
participate in the research.
3. Researchers should fully disclose their identity.
4. Anonymity or confidentiality must be maintained for
individual research participants unless it is voluntarily and
explicitly waived.
5. Benefits from a research project should outweigh any
foreseeable risks.
 INFORMED CONSENT
• Explain the study and offer to answer
questions
• Tell participants who is conducting study
• Why was subject singled out for participation?
e.g. random sample
• What is the time commitment?
e.g. 15 minutes to complete the survey
 INFORMED CONSENT
• Any benefits for the participant to be
expected?
• Any potential risks, and how have these been
managed?
• Provide participants with copy of informed
consent form (if relevant).
• Participation is always voluntary.
 CONSENT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE
• Faking an assault in the street to gauge
reaction of bystanders – e.g. who will
intervene and who will do nothing.
• Element of surprise is essential.
• Debriefing is mandatory.
SPECIAL POPULATION AND COERCION
• Difficult for some to give true voluntary informed
consent. They might lack necessary competency
--children
--mentally retarded
• Others may be indirectly coerced—This is WRONG
--Students
--Prison Inmates
--Employees
--Military Personnel
--The Homeless
--Welfare Recipients
ANOTHER ETHICAL ISSUE: PLAGIARISM
• Plagiarism is passing off others’ work as your
own.
• In a broad sense we are all guilty of plagiarism
many times each day.
• We often take ideas from others and don’t
attribute them to their original source.
• More often than not we don’t even know the
original source!
 PLAGIARISM IN RESEARCH
• True plagiarism is, quite bluntly, stealing and
may lead to tough penalties.
• Sometimes a person just copies text word for
word from a book or article and pretends that
he is the author.
• Or buys an already written paper on the web.
• These are quite deliberate aims to deceive.
 PLAGIARISM EXTENDS MORE THAN
WORDS
• One should always provide references for any
– statistics
– graphs
– tables
– numbers, etc.
that one wishes to use in one's own paper.
• Thus, it is not just the words of another
person’s ideas that one should reference.
 AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
• Quote verbatim or paraphrase as much as
possible, and refer in the text to the sources
that shaped your ideas “(e.g. Mohammed,
2016)”; as well as putting them in the
Bibliography/References.
 DIRECT QUOTATIONS
• Make sure that you write it precisely, word-
for-word as in the original.
• Also essential that you enclose the quoted
text in quotation marks.
• Failing to put someone else’s direct text in
quotation marks and crediting the author, may
lead to accusations of plagiarism.
 PARAPHRASING
• It is often preferable to take down the crux of
an author’s idea in your own words, i.e. to
paraphrase.
• The greater part of your paper should be in
your own words with appropriate
documentation of the ideas of others.
• Of course, some direct quotation is fine – but
always with citation.
 “COMMON KNOWLEDGE” AND
PLAGIARISM
• It is not necessary to document every single
statement.
• For example, one need not give a reference
for stating that Kwame Nkrumah was the first
President of Ghana.
• This fact is common knowledge and belongs in
the public domain.
• However, if you are referring to Historian A’s
account of how Kwame Nkrumah became the
president, then proper citation is needed.