Ethical principles and concerns in social research

Social research involves measuring, describing, explaining and predicting social and economic phenomena. Its objectives include exploring social and economic structures, attitudes, values and behaviors and the factors, which motivate and constrain individuals and groups in society. There are, however, a number of ethical and political concerns that social researchers must be aware of while conducting such research. This paper focuses on and describes some of these valid ethical and political concerns.

Ethics of Social Research

Since "social research" encompasses a wide-ranging field, it is probably not appropriate to have a universal or a single set of code of ethics to govern such research. Over time, however, a number of conflicting ethical theories such as the Utilitarian theory introduced by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), advocating that the ends justify the means, and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)'s ethical theories that emphasized that humans should not be the means to an end, have been combined into some commonly accepted principles of social research. After the Nuremberg Trials in 1947, the so-called "Nuremberg Code" and other international codes of ethics were developed to protect research participants. Later, the U.S. federal government developed ethical standards for research that are contained in the Belmont Report (1979). The Belmont Report contains three basic ethical principles: respect for persons, beneficence and justice. These principles form the foundation of the code of ethics for social research.

("The Belmont Report," 1979)

Other organizations such as the American Sociological Association (ASA) have developed general Code of Ethics for sociologist and ethical standards of research for its members that are specifically pertinent to ethics in "social" research. Such codes are substantially based on the Belmont Report and are a common set of values upon which sociologists build their professional and scientific work and provide the general principles and rules to cover professional situations encountered by sociologists. Their main goal is the welfare and protection of the individuals and groups with whom sociologists work. ("ASA Code of Ethics," 2005) The Codes include principles that emphasize professional competence, integrity, professional responsibility, respect for people's rights, dignity and diversity, and social responsibility. Institutional Review Boards (IRB) at universities and other research institutions are also involved in protecting the well being of human subjects in social research.

Ethical Standards

Adherence to High Standards & Competence

Sociologists are expected to adhere to the highest standards in their research activities. This means that they must rely only on scientifically derived knowledge and avoid using untrue, misleading or deceptive material in their research. They are also supposed to conduct research only in their area of expertise and competence; and keep themselves updated about the current scientific knowledge in their respective fields.

Misuse of Expertise

Sociologists are expected not to accept grants for research from organizations or individuals of dubious reputation or those who are likely to violate the Code of Ethics for Sociologists. If they are not aware of such violations when starting the research, they must disassociate from such research as soon as they become aware of them.

Non-discrimination and Non-harassment

Sociologists are not supposed to engage in discrimination of any kind including race, gender, age or religion during their research. Harassment of the research subjects is also considered to be unethical.

Conflicts of Interest

Sociologists must refrain from conducting research in which their personal, scientific, professional, legal, financial, or other interests or relationships affects or is expected to (1) impair their objectivity, competence, or effectiveness. Conflict of interest arises when, during the course of research, personal or financial interests of the parsons performing the research prevent them from performing their professional work in an unbiased manner. Under all circumstances, the researchers must not use or seek to gain from information or material received confidentially, e.g., knowledge obtained from reviewing a manuscript.

Confidentiality

Maintaining strict confidentiality of the information gathered during research is another important part of the ethics of social research and sociologists have an obligation to ensure that confidential information is protected. They do so to ensure the integrity of research and the open communication with research participants and to protect sensitive information obtained in research.

When gathering confidential information, sociologists should be aware of the long-term uses of the information, including its potential placement in public archives or the examination of the information by other researchers or practitioners. Hence any breach of confidentiality of information at a later stage must be planned and catered for at the beginning of the research so that reasonable precautions to protect the confidentiality rights of research participants are taken.

The standards of confidentiality in social research are fairly strict; hence even if there is no legal protection or privilege to keep information gathered during research, confidentiality is kept and any information provided under an understanding of confidentiality is treated as such even after the death of those providing that information. When confidential information of research participants is entered into databases or systems of records available to persons without the prior consent of the relevant parties, sociologists must protect anonymity by not including personal identifiers or by employing other techniques that mask disclosure of individual identities. ("Ethical Standards," 2005, para on Anticipation of Possible Uses of Information)

Another basic principle of confidentiality in research is that data generated by the research can only be used for the purposes for which the participants (or their proxies) gave consent.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in social research is an equally important ethical issue. Researchers who present the words, data, or ideas of others with the implication that they are their own, without proper reference amounts to committing theft of intellectual property and the perpetrator could be considered guilty of plagiarism and of research misconduct. This provision against plagiarism applies to all parts of research papers, including reviews, background, historical and methodological sections as well as to original research results or interpretations. ("Guidelines for Ethical Practices in Research," 2003) Detailed guidelines for in text-citation, method of citing verbatim quotes (short phrases and longer quotes), paraphrasing of ideas, and the reference (or works cited) page are given in detail by organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Modern Language Association (MLA) and published in their Publication Manuals, updated from time to time. These formatting guidelines are also available on various websites such as A Guide for Writing Research Papers based on Styles Recommended by the American Psychological Association.

Strict adherence to the guidelines would prevent the deliberate or inadvertent committing of plagiarism.

Other points to be kept in mind by social researchers regarding plagiarism are: a researcher / author should cite the work of others even if he or she had been a co-researcher, co-author, or editor of the work and applies to all forms of works, whether published or unpublished and whether it is in written or in oral form or it is available electronically.

According to the ASA guidelines, sociologists take credit "only for work they have actually performed or to which they have contributed" and "principal authorship and other publication credits are based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status." ("Ethical Standards," 2005, para on Authorship Credit) For example, a student is supposed to be listed as principal author on any multiple authored publication that substantially derives from the student's dissertation or thesis. (Ibid.)

Adherence to the Code of Ethics

Social researchers in the United States, who are members of the American Sociological Association (ASA), have an obligation to adhere to the Code of Ethics formulated by the Association. It is also their obligation to be familiar with the Code as lack of awareness of ethical standards is not a valid defense of a charge of unethical conduct. When sociologists have substantial reason to believe that a fellow researcher or a sociologist may have committed an ethical violation, they are expected to attempt to resolve the issue by bringing it to the attention of that individual or to refer such information to ASA's Committee on Professional Ethics. At the same time, sociologists are not expected to file frivolous ethics complaints that are aimed at harming the alleged violator rather than to protect the integrity of the discipline of research. ("Ethical Standards," 2005, paras on Reporting Ethical Violations & Improper Complaints)

Some Ethical Controversies

There have been a number of ethical controversies in history relating to ethical practice in social research, some of which have been discussed below.

Nuremberg Trials

The origins of emphasis on ethics in research and the development of various code of ethics for research can be traced to the Nuremberg Trials after the Second World War when the world was shocked at the moral depravity of the 20 Nazi physicians who were tried and convicted for their part in the brutal human experiments at the concentration camp of Auschwitz. (Pellegrino, 1997) Human subjects, during the war, were deliberately mutilated and dissected as part of experiments that included the deliberate infliction of gunshot wounds, traumatic amputations without anesthesia, limb and bone transplants, and exposure to biological and chemical agents, and exposure to sub-freezing temperatures.

It is important to remember that not all the Nazi doctors were mentally deranged and they believed they were doing the right thing while experimenting with their subjects. They advanced justifications for their acts some of which are still in fashion, e.g., they were only obeying the laws of the state, which have precedence over ethical considerations; consent from the subjects was unnecessary in a war situation; death of a few would save lives of many.

While the Nuremberg Trials were instrumental in the formulation of a Code of Ethics for medical research, people in different parts of the world including the U.S. have frequently forgotten the moral lessons learnt at Nuremberg since then. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

, the Willowbrook Hepatitis Study, U.S. radiation experiments

, the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital Study

and the LSD studies on un-knowing human subjects by the CIA are cases in point.

Milgram Obedience Study

Researcher Stanley Milgram carried out the most famous research in 'social psychology,' that involves important ethical considerations, in the early 1960s. The research was aimed at founding out why so many Germans consented in atrocities and justified their unethical actions on the basis of "just following orders." Milgram recruited subjects through deception; he told the subjects that his experiments were a study of learning and memory but he was actually studying conditions of obedience and disobedience to authority. ("Chronology of Cases," n.d.)

In the experiments, the unknowing subjects were asked to "punish" a "learner" by applying escalating electric shocks in response to incorrect answers to word-pair matching questions. In reality, the "learners" were just acting out their parts and were not being 'shocked.' The deceptive nature of the study raised a number of ethical questions for social research such as whether 'informed consent' of human subjects recruited for research was necessary? Whether the researcher has a right to expose research subjects to psychological stress? Does the search for knowledge justify such "costs? (Marsden and Melander, n.d)

Laud Humphreys' Research on "Tea Room Sex"

In the mid-1960s, Laud Humphreys, a sociologist, conducted a study for his PhD dissertation on "tearoom sex" -- in order to determine the kind of people who indulged in casual, homosexual sex such as fellatio in public restrooms. He used deceptive research techniques by posing as a "watchqueen" to gain the confidence of some of the "subjects" of his research. He also secretly followed the "subjects" in order to trace them to their private homes, and later interviewed them to get more information about his research (again, without revealing the real purpose of his research. (Ibid.)

Political Concerns in Social Research

While ethics deals mostly with the methods used in social research, "politics" deals with the substance and use of research. As we have discussed in this paper in detail, a number of ethical standards and codes have been developed for research methodology, there are no formal codes of accepted political conduct. The history of social research shows two views of the role of politics: according to the "objective" tradition, research should be above politics. The other, activist view is that social researchers have an obligation to use their research to improve the lot of humankind; hence separating social research and politics is difficult if not impossible.

Political administrations throughout history have used and manipulated social research to pursue their political agendas and politics. Such mixing of politics and social and scientific research is most evident in the current U.S. administration and its alleged misuse of scientific research to justify some of its policies on issues such as environment and energy.

For example, during the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign, several scientists including a number of Nobel laureates formed various disgruntled groups such as the Scientists and Engineers for Change and the Union of Concerned Scientists issued signed statements that accused the Bush administration of manipulating scientific findings on issues such as global warming and energy to support its policies. (Chang, 2004) It is, therefore, evident from such concern expressed by scientists that science and research cannot be divorced from politics. In fact, awareness of political issues may even enrich the theory, study and practice of social research.

Robert Merton, the 1997 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics notes such an activist / political role of social research thus: "The function of social research, then is not simply to supply information useful in remedying problems already known, it serves to make the problems known." (quoted by Marx, 1999)

Conclusion

Social Research and sociologists perform an important role in a society by helping to measure, describe, explain and predict social and economic phenomena. Such research can thus not only measure but also mould our attitudes, values and behaviors. Just as any other "tool," social research can be used for both positive and negative purposes; hence the critical importance of "ethical" research. As we saw in this essay, when research is used solely for the sake of gaining knowledge without regard for ethical considerations, it becomes a dangerous tool. A code of ethics that upholds the fundamental principles of respect for individuals, beneficence and justice must always guide social research so that it does not lose its main objective and direction: striving to benefit to mankind through acquiring knowledge.