This document discusses ethical considerations in business research. It defines ethics as norms that distinguish between right and wrong conduct. There are four parties with rights in research: society, subjects, clients/managers, and researchers. Ethical issues can arise regarding subjects' privacy and consent, clients' confidentiality and research quality expectations, and ensuring research objectives benefit society. New technologies also present challenges around subjects' privacy and direct marketing versus research. Upholding codes of ethics and gaining public trust requires communicating research benefits, adopting ethical practices, and auditing compliance.

1. Ethical Considerations in Business Research
Mehdi Daryaei
Business Research For Decision Making, Duane Davis, Canadian Edition

2. What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?
Most common way of defining "ethics":
Norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable
behavior. The distinguishing between right and wrong.
• The Golden Rule
("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you")
• Code of professional conduct
Hippocratic Oath ("First of all, do no harm")
• A religious creed like the Ten Commandments
("Thou Shalt not kill...")
2 www.niehs.nih.gov

3. Most people learn ethical norms at home, at school, in church, or in
other social settings.
Although most people acquire their sense of right and wrong during
childhood, moral development occurs throughout life and human
beings pass through different stages of growth as they mature.
3 www.niehs.nih.gov
What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?

4. E t h i c s
Proper conduct of the research process in business inquiry rights and
responsibility of various parties involved in the research
 Affects the rights of individuals
 The quality of data obtained
Four parties have rights:
◉ Society
◉ Subjects
◉ Clients/managers
◉ Researchers
Definition
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5. ◉ Telephone privacy
◉ Do not call listing
◉ Electronic monitoring
◉ Data privacy
◉ Internet privacy
◉ Antispam legislation
◉ Mugging (Marketing under the guise of research)
Issues
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6.  The conduct of the business research requires the participation of
general public.
 It is important to affect the willingness of the public to participate
 So it is important to conduct the research in an ethical manner
he effect of Ethical and Unethical Business Research on Public Acceptance
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7. C o m m o n R i g h t s
 Societal Rights
 Subjects’ Rights
 Clients’/Managers' rights
 Researchers’ rights
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8. S o c i e t a l r i g h t s
 The rights to be informed
 The rights to expect objectives research result
 The right to privacy
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9. T h e r i g h t s t o b e i n f o r m e d
 Factors that may affect the health and well-being
i.e. Arsenic in Mohsen Rice Report
S o c i e t a l r i g h t s
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10. T h e r i g h t s t o e x p e c t o b j e c t i v e s r e s e a r c h
r e s u l t
 General public expectations
 Findings should be unbiased, objective, scientifically sound
S o c i e t a l r i g h t s
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11. T h e r i g h t t o p r i v a c y
 The right to be let alone
 Personal information gained should not be disclosed
 EU legislation on privacy
S o c i e t a l r i g h t s
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12. S u b j e c t s ’ r i g h t s
 The rights to choose
 The right to safety
 The right to be informed
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13. T h e r i g h t t o c h o o s e
 Should be informed of the study they are participating
 Awareness of the right not to participate
 Awareness of the adequate information to make an informed
choice
 Awareness of opportunity to end participation, if so desired.
 C1: All subjects must be aware of the right to choose
 C2: All individuals must be given adequate information
beforehand
 C3: About the condition
S u b j e c t s ’ r i g h t s
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14. T h e r i g h t t o s a f e t y
 Avoid any physical and mental harm
 Guarantees of protection of anonymity
S u b j e c t s ’ r i g h t s
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15. T h e r i g h t t o b e i n f o r m e d
 Debriefing
 Research data should be available to the participants
 The consequences of not being informed
S u b j e c t s ’ r i g h t s
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16. C l i e n t s ’ / M a n a g e r s ' r i g h t s
 The right of confidentiality
 The rights to be expect high-quality research
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17.  T h e r i g h t o f c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y
 Confidentiality of proprietary data
 Confidentiality of anonymity of client
C l i e n t s ’ / M a n a g e r s ' r i g h t s
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18. T h e r i g h t s t o b e e x p e c t h i g h - q u a l i t y
r e s e a r c h
 Protection against unnecessary research
 Protection against unqualified research
 Protection against misleading presentation of data
C l i e n t s ’ / M a n a g e r s ' r i g h t s
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19. R e s e a r c h e r s ’ r i g h t s
 The right to expect ethical client behavior
 The right to expect ethical subject behavior
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20. T h e r i g h t t o e x p e c t e t h i c a l c l i e n t b e h a v i o r
 The right to the honest solicitation of proposal
 The right to expect the accurate representation of findings
 The right to expect confidentiality of proprietary information
R e s e a r c h e r s ’ r i g h t s
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21. T h e r i g h t t o e x p e c t e t h i c a l s u b j e c t b e h a v i o r
 The right to expect accurate reporting of data
 The right to expect confidentiality of data
R e s e a r c h e r s ’ r i g h t s
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22. Ethical Issues in a High-Technology Environment
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23.  Technology is changing fast
 Researchers are posing new set of ethical concerns
 Unethical direct marketing
 Consequences lead to breakdown in public trust and responses
 Consider research Vs direct marketing quagmire
R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
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24. P r o t e c t i o n o f s u b j e c t s ’ r i g h t s
 The tracking capability of using internet
 The ability to trace respondents via “cookies”
 How should we deal with IoT and high-tech devices
 Associations that may help us:
 CASRO Council of American Survey Organization
 ESOMAR esomar.org I World Association of Opinion and Marketing
Research
 Plagiarism.org
 www.imro.org/profstds/code.cfm I Interactive Marketing research
Organization
 http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/
R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
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25. Q u a l i t y o f R e s e a r c h
R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
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 The ease of requesting sample on the net

26. R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
 Don’t act like spammers
 Individuals who are doing research shouldn't be engaged with direct
marketing affairs
R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
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27. C o d e s o f E t h i c s
 American psychological association
 The essentials of knowing ethical codes for Iranian researchers
R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
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28. M a n a g e r i a l C o n s i d e r a t i o n s
 Managers are responsible to set the tone
 C1: Communicate the benefit of research to subjects and society and adopt
ethical research practices
 Develop or adopt codes of ethics that will serve as the corporate policy in the
conduct of business research
 Communicate ethical behavior down through the organization hierarchy
through the use of formal sanctions
 Institute the formal procedure to check that all research performed or bought
be the organization follows the highest ethical standards as dedicated by the
code of ethics.
 Conduct periodic ethical audits to ensure that the research function is in fact
being performed to the highest standers.
R e s e a r c h V s D i r e c t M a r k e t i n g
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29. A plausible explanation:
People interpret, apply, and balance them in different ways in light
of their own values and life experiences.
For example, two people could agree that murder is wrong but
disagree about the morality of abortion because they have different
understandings of what it means to be a human being
On the other hand, if morality were nothing more than
commonsense, then why are there so many ethical disputes and
issues in our society?
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30. Mehdi Daryaei
30
@KDaryaei
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daryaei
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