The document discusses the ethics of educational and social research. It covers topics such as informed consent, access and acceptance, ethical dilemmas researchers may face, privacy and confidentiality, deception, regulation and codes of ethics. Researchers have a responsibility to consider issues like minimizing harm, maintaining integrity and respecting subjects' autonomy. Developing a personal code of ethics can help guide researchers' behavior and establish principles for responsible conduct.
2. The ethics of educational and
social research
Presented by:
Tayyaba yousaf (485)
Asma Maqsood (510)
Presented to:
Mam Hina Malik
3. “Content”
• Informed consent,
• access to and
acceptance,
• nature of ethics in social
research,
• sources of tension,
• problems and dilemmas
confronting the
researcher,
• ethical problems endemic
in particular research
methods,
• ethics and evaluative
research,
• regulatory ethical
frameworks, guidelines
and codes of practice for
research,
• personal codes of
practice,
• sponsored research,
• responsibilities to the
research,
community.
4. What is Ethics?
• Moral principles that govern a person's
behavior or the conducting of an activity.
or
• The branch of knowledge that deals with
moral principles
5. “Introduction to Ethics of Social
Research”
• It present a conspectus of the main issues
that may confront researchers.
• Ethical problems for researchers can
multiply surprisingly when they move from
the general to the particular, and from the
abstract to the concrete.
6. “Cost/Benefit Ratio”
• A major ethical dilemma is that which requires
researchers to strike a balance between the
demands placed on them as professional
scientists in pursuit of truth, and their subjects’
rights and values potentially threatened by the
research. This is known as the ‘costs/benefits
ratio’.
Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias
7. “Informed consent”
• Informed consent has been defined by
Diener and Crandall (1978) as:
‘The procedures in which individuals
choose whether to participate in an investigation
after being informed of facts that would be likely to
influence their decisions’.
11. “Factors”
• the purposes, contents and procedures of the
research
• any foreseeable risks and negative outcomes.
• benefits that might derive from the research
• incentives to participate and rewards from
participating
12. “Factors”
• right to voluntary withdrawal and rejoining the
project.
• rights and obligations to confidentiality and non-
disclosure of the research
• disclosure alternative procedures
• opportunities for participants to ask questions
• signed contracts for participation.
15. “Negotiating Access”
• By such planning and foresight, both
researchers and institutions will have a
good idea of the demands likely to be
made on both subjects and organizations.
• It is also a good opportunity to anticipate
and resolve likely problems, especially
those of a practical kind.
16. “The field of ethics”
• Ethics has been defined as ‘a matter of
principled sensitivity to the rights of others,
and that ‘while truth is good, respect for
human dignity is better’
(Cavan 1977)
17. “Sources of tension”
• Non-maleficence, beneficence and
human dignity.
• Absolutist and relativist ethics.
• Voices of experience
19. “Absolutist and Relativist Ethics”
• Absolutist:
The absolutist view holds that clear, set
principles should guide the researchers in
their work and that these should determine
what ought and what ought not to be done
20. “Absolutist and Relativist Ethics”
• Relativist:
• there can be no absolute guidelines
that ethical considerations will arise
from the very nature of the
particular research being pursued at
the time: situation determines
behavior.
• This underlines the significance of
‘situated ethics’
(Simons and Usher 2000).
21. “Voices of experience”
• Whatever the ethical stance one assumes
and no matter what forethought one brings
to bear on one’s work, there will always be
unknown, unforeseen problems and
difficulties lying in wait.
(Kimmel 1988)
22. “Ethical Dilemmas”
• Ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemmas, are
situations in which there is a choice to be made between
two options, neither of which resolves the situation in an
ethically acceptable fashion.
• Robson (1993: 33) raises ten questionable practices in
social research.
24. “Privacy”
Extends to all information relating to a person’s physical
and mental condition, personal circumstances and social
relationships which is not already in the public domain. It
gives to the individual or collectivity the freedom to decide
for themselves when and where, in what circumstances
and to what extent their personal attitudes, opinions, habits,
eccentricities ,doubts and fears are to be communicated to
or withheld from others.
(Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada 1981)
25. “Anonymity”
• The condition of being anonymous.
• Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias (1992)
underline the need for confidentiality of
participants’ identities, and that any violations of
this should be made with the agreement of the
participants.
26. “Confidentially”
• The other way of protecting a participant’s
right to privacy is through the promise of
confidentiality.
• This means that although researchers know
who has provided the information or are able
to identify participants from the information
given, they will in no way make the
connection known publicly.
28. “Betrayal”
The term ‘betrayal’ is usually applied to those
occasions where data disclosed in confidence are
revealed publicly in such a way as to cause
embarrassment, anxiety or perhaps suffering to
the subject or participant disclosing the
information.
29. “Deception”
Deception may lie in not telling people that they
are being researched(in some people’s eyes this
is tantamount to spying), not telling the truth,
telling lies, or compromising the truth.
30. “Dealing with Deception”
Kelman (1967) has suggested three ways:
• Active awareness.
• Approaching the problem concerns.
• Ensure that adequate feedback is
provided.
31. “Ethics and evaluative research”
• Strike (1990), discussing the ethics of
educational evaluation, offers two broad
principles which may form the basis of further
considerations in the field of evaluation.
• These are the principle of
Benefit maximization
Principle of equal respect.
32. “Ethical principal”
1. Due process
2. Equality
Public perspicuity
Humaneness
3. Privacy
4. Client benefit
Academic freedom
Respect for
autonomy
33. “Research and regulation:
ethical codes and review”
• Legislation,
• Ethics review committees to oversee
• research in universities and other institutions(these can
constitute a major hurdle for those planning to undertake
research),
• Ethical codes of the professional bodies and
associations as well as the personal ethics of individual
researchers are all important regulatory mechanisms.
34. “Research and regulation:
ethical codes and review”
• Ethical codes of the professional bodies and associations as
well as the personal ethics of individual researchers are all
important regulatory mechanisms
• All investigators, from undergraduates pursuing a course-
based research project to professional researchers striving at
the frontiers of knowledge, must take cognizance of the ethical
codes and regulations governing their practice.
• Professional societies and associations have
formulated codes of practice
35. “Establishment of regulatory
mechanisms”
• The establishment of comprehensive
regulatory mechanisms is well founded in the
United Kingdom, but it is perhaps in the field
of information and data – how they are stored
and the uses to which they are put.
36. “Data protection”
• The UK Data Protection Acts of 1984 and
1998 are designed to achieve such an end.
37. “Principal of research data”
Two further principles:
1. One states that personal data shall be held
only for specified and lawful purposes.
2. appropriate security measures shall be taken
against unauthorized access to, or alteration,
disclosure or destruction of personal data and
against accidental loss or destruction of
personal data.
38. “The American Psychological Association’s
Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct”
beneficence
and non-
maleficence
fidelity and
responsibility
integrity
justice
respect for
people’s rights
and dignity
39. “Sponsored research”
Sponsored research does not absolve the
researcher from ethical behavior:
• how to conduct the research
• what results the researcher should look for and what
findings should be suppressed
• what should and should not be reported
• to conceal who the sponsor is
• what are the purposes of the research
40. “Rights of sponsor research”
• The sponsor has a right to expect high quality,
rigorous and usable research. The researcher
should not succumb to pressure.
• The researcher is a member of a research
community, and this brings ethical
responsibilities
41. “Conclusion”
Although no code of practice can anticipate or resolve all
problems, there is a six-fold advantage in fashioning a personal
code of ethical practice. First, such a code establishes one as a
member of the wider scientific community. Second, researchers
aware of their obligations to their subjects. professional behavior
is guided by a principled code of ethics. Fourth, a balanced code
can be an important organizing factor in researchers. Fifth, a code
of practice validated by their own sense of rightness. Sixth, a
code of practice will bring discipline to researchers’ awareness.