The ethics of the design research demands that 'the research is valid and that threats to validity have been taken into account', and reporting has been accurate and sufficient details have been listed and supplemented for the clarity and appropriate interpretation of the research content, furthermore 'in qualitative research, it is important to be particularly careful about how to choose direct quotations from the data in the research, and ensure that they are representative' (Ian, 2003).

Many professional associations, government agencies, and universities have developed, adopted and practiced specific codes, rules, and policies relating to research ethics i.e. East Carolina University, National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have developed their own ethical rules related to the design research. Some of the influential ethical policies on design research includes, 'the Uniform Requirements (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors), the Chemist's Code of Conduct (American Chemical Society), Code of Ethics (American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science) Ethical Principles of Psychologists (American Psychological Association), Statements on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (American Anthropological Association), Statement on Professional Ethics (American Association of University Professors), the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association)'. Most of the societies have developed legal rules which are aimed at monitoring the 'behavior, but ethical norms tend to be broader and more informal than laws'. Certain laws have been enforced for the acceptance of the 'moral standards and ethical and legal rules'. Furthermore, the ethical concepts and principles shall be 'criticize, evaluate, propose, or interpret laws' (Ian, 2003), however 'many social reformers urged citizens to disobey laws in order to protest what they regarded as immoral or unjust laws, and peaceful civil disobedience is an ethical way of expressing political viewpoints'. Ethics has been interpreted, and has focused upon 'the disciplines that study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology,

when people who are morally weak, ignorant, or insensitive are placed in stressful or imperfect environments', the research ethics shall prevent deviations from the standard practices, 'many of the deviations that occur in research may occur because researchers simple do not know or have never thought seriously about some of the ethical norms of research; for example, some unethical authorship practices probably reflect years of tradition in the research community that have not been questioned seriously until recently'. The institutions have developed 'norms for behavior that suit their particular aims and goals, such norms are responsible for the discipline required to ensure the coordination of action and activities and to establish the public's trust of the discipline' (Helen, 2000).
The ethical norms support the research and are applicable on the professionals and researchers 'who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or creative activities, and there is a specialized discipline, research ethics, which studies these norms' (Ian, 2003).