Examining Ethical Issues in
Research
Other Ethical Considerations in
Social Research
Reciprocity
Trust
Handling Risks
Culture and Ethics
Ethics Online
Issue of Scientific Misconduct
Reciprocity
What obligations do researchers have to people
who bare their souls so that researchers can
write an article or a book or get a promotion?
To whom is this obligation owed the individuals
in a community where we worked? The ethnic
group/community (e.g. SWs, Pengkids,
Transgenders, Migrants, Preganant Women) as a
whole? The Funding Agency?
How does one reciprocate responsibly?
Reciprocity
As far as I know we have the PhD to three American scholars.
I dont know how many papers have been written about us
because we dont usually get copies. Day by day we talked to
these new anthropologists in friendship; we didnt know this
information would go into books and disclose our privacyI
fear your writings would hurt the feelings of village people if
they could read; they will certainly hurt our great0great
grandchildren who will readAs you have made a path into
our private worlds, will you make for us, the people you study
a path into your private circle? Would you like to listen or
not?
A letter in the Anthropology Newsletter (Villager from North India; Pandey 1992, p.3)
Trust
refers to the relationship between the
researcher and the participants, and to the
researchers responsibility not to spoil the
filed for others in the sense that potential
research subjects
[informants/respondents/participants]
become reluctant to research (Ryen, p. 234)
applies to the report or the discursive
practices defining the standards for presenting
both the researcher and the work as
trustworthy (Fine, 1993)
Responsibility to Informants: Handling Risks
Risks
a. not fulfilling obligations or
responsibilities to informants
during actual research
b. subsequent publication about
informants and their culture
Responsibility to Informants: Handling Risks
Seiber 1992 gave 8 risk-related issues:
1. privacy and confidentiality
2. personal safety and well-being
3. lack of validity
4. deception and debriefing
5. informed consent and respectful
communication
6. justice and equitable treatment
7. ownership of the data
8. gatekeeper and opinion leader
Issue on Informants: Handling Risks
Can we really protect potentially vulnerable
informants?
who are vulnerable informants?
Qualitative Interviews that stimulate powerful
emotional responses what should you do?
Culture and Ethics
Cultural relativism study other cultures on their own terms
and avoiding ethnocentric value judgment about them
- could be used as an excuse for doing nothing in situations in
which people are oppressed or in danger or for not improving
the situation of the informants
Ethnic Relativism-
- Which set of ethics should we use? (we have official
guidance, our own personal ethics, and the ethics of the group
being studied)
e.g. How do we relate to information about corruption?
Culture and Ethics
Are there ethical limits to balanced relations?
- How can we be fair and what is fair enough?
When do we have enough rapport before we can
relax into friendliness?
As researchers, we need to acknowledge our own
cultural baggage and how it affects our ethical
values and decision making
Ethics Online
How do we deal with informants without
bodies?
Conclusion
The principle of respect for human dignity and autonomy
regarding people primarily as ends rather than means may
sound soft and indefinite when compared with utilitarian
calculations. (Cassell, 1980, p.37)
Inform ethical decisions with cultural sensitivity, awareness of
our own ethical values and how strongly we need to impose
them and trust in our own gut feelings about what is right in
the immediate situation and whether there will be late
repercussions.
Respect and protect the human rights of respondents
Human right that requires protection during
the conduct of a study:
Right to privacy
Right to fair treatment
Right to self-determination
Right to anonymity/confidentiality
Right to protection from harm
Ethical Considerations in
Social Research
Respect for Human Dignity
1. Right to Self-Determination
2. Right to Full Disclosure
Beneficence
1. Freedom from Harm
2. Freedom from Exploitation
3. Benefits from Research
4. Risk/Benefit Ratio
Ethical Considerations in
Social Research Research
Justice
1. Right to Fair Treatment
2. Right to Privacy anonymity and
confidentiality
Informed Consent
Vulnerable Subjects
External Reviews/Committees
