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Ethical Issues In Data Collection

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Presentation on theme: "Ethical Issues In Data Collection"— Presentation transcript:

1 Ethical Issues In Data Collection
Professions are guided by a code of ethics to accommodate the changing ethos, values, needs and expectations of those who hold a stake in the profession. Professions have an overall code of conduct that also govern the way they carryout research. So the same applies to research methods although the code conduct is not followed. It is upon the individual to follow the code. For academics there are some checks that can be implemented

2 Collins Dictionary (1979) ethics means ‘ in accordance with principles of conduct that are considered correct, especially those of a given profession or group’ The key words here, principles of conduct and considered correct raise certain question

3 What are these principles of conduct?
Who determines them? In whose judgement must they be considered correct?

4 Closely related questions are:
Are there universal principles of conduct that can be be applied to all professional. Do these change with time? Should they? What happens when a professional does not abide by them?

5 The way each profession serves society is persistantly changing in accordance with society needs and expectations and with the technology available for the delivery of service Each profession has its own code of ethics, though there are commonalities

6 There are certain behaviours in research- such as causing harm to individuals, breaching confidentiality, using information improperly and introducing bias- that are considered unethical in any profession

7 Stakeholders in Research
The various stakeholders are: 1. The participants or subjects 2. The researcher 3.The Organisation (funding or Examining) Participants or subjects to be considered as stakeholders depends on the profession

8 The Participant In the business consumers as well as non-consumers of a product provide information about consumption patterns and behaviour. Managers participate in research activity examining different facets of mgmt.

9 The Researcher Anyone who collects information for a specific purpose, adhering to the accepted code of conducts, is a researcher and may represent any academic discipline.

10 The Organisation This is usually the funder or examining organisation of the research.. Mostly research is carried out using funds provided by business orgns, service institutions-gvt, research bodies, and/or academic institutions The organisation may have a vested interest in the research it is sponsoring and this could affect the way the research is conducted or the way the report is written.

11 NB Each category of stakeholders in a research activity may have different interest, perspective, purpose, aims and motivations that could affect the way that research activity is carried out and the way results are communicated.

12 Ethical Issues Concerning Research Participants
1. Collecting Information What right does a researcher have to knock at somebody door or send out a questionnaire? Is it ethical to disturb an individual even if you ask permission before asking questions?

13 The above questions display a naïve attitude.
Research is required in order to improve conditions. Any piece of research is likely to help society directly or indirectly, it is acceptable to ask questions if you obtain the respondents informed consent.

14 B4 you begin collecting information you must consider the relevance and usefulness of the research you are undertaking and be able to convince others of this. If you can not justify the relevance of the RE you are conducting, you are wasting your time.

15 2. Seeking Consent In any discipline it is considered unethical to collect information without the knowledge of participants, their informed willingness and expressed consent. Informed consent implies that subjects are made adequately aware of the type of information you want them to provide, why the information is being sought, what purpose it will; be put to and of how it will directly or indirectly affect them

16 3. Providing Incentives Is it ethical to provide incentives to respondents to share information with you? Some Rers provide incentives to participants for their participation in a study as an appreciation of their time. Others think that the offering is unethical. However, most of the participants do not participate in a study becoz of incentives but becoz they realise the importance of the study.

17 Giving incentives b4 is what is unethical becoz the respondent will be providing answers just to pliz the Rer. Giving a small token after having obtained your information is not unethical

18 Seeking Sensitive information
Information sought can pose an ethical dilemma in RE. Certain information may be regarded as sensitive or confidential by some pple and thus an invasion of privacy Asking for this information may upset or embarrass a respondent

19 However, if u do not ask for the information, it may not be possible to pursue your interest in the area and contribute to the body of knowledge. For most pple questions on the following areas sensitive Drug use Income levels

20 Age Marital status

21 5.The possibility of causing Harm to Participants
Is the RE going to to cause harm to participants in any way? Harm includes….”not only hazardous medical experiments but also any social RE that might involve such things as discomfort,anxiety,harassment,inversion of privacy, or demeaning oi dehumanisimg procedures” ….Bailey (1976)

22 If the RE is likely to harm respondents, you must try try to minimise the risk as a Rer.
Minimum risk means that the extent of harm or discomfort in the RE is not greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life.

23 6. Maintaining confidentiality
Sharing information about the respondent with others for the purpose other than research is unethical. There4 u need to ensure that after the information has been collected, its source cannot be known. However, where u need to visit respondents repeatedly, you have to identify them until the Re is copleted.

24 ETHICAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE RESAERCHER
1. Avoiding Bias Bias on the part of the researcher is unethical bias is different from subjectivity. Subjectivity is related to individual educational background,training and competence in research and philosophical perspective.

25 Bias is a deliberate attempt either to hide what you have found in your study,or highlight something disproportionately to its true existence.

26 2. Provision or deprivation of a treatment.
Both the provision and deprivation of a treatment may pose an ethical dilemma for a researcher eg when testing an intervention or a treatment, a researcher usually adopts a control experiment design.

27 3. Using Appropriate research methodology
a researcher has an obligation to use appropriate methodology in conducting a study. It is unethical to use a method or procedure you know to be inappropriate eg drawing wrong conclusions, selecting a highly biased sample, using an invalid instrument.

28 4.Correct reporting Reporting in a way that is in your own or someone else’s interest is unethical.

29 5.Using information The use of information in a way that directly or indirectly adversely affects respondents is unethical as a researcher you need to consider and resolve the issues sometimes it is possible to harm individuals in the process of achieving benefits for organisations

30 ETHICAL Issues regarding the orgn
1.Restrictions Imposed by the sponsoring orgn- sometimes there may be direct or indirect controls exercised by sponsoring orgns. They may select the methodology, prohibit the publication of what was found or impose other restrictions on the research that may stand in the way of obtaining and disseminating accurate information

31 Both the imposition and acceptance of these controls and restrictions are unethical, as they constitute interference and could amount to the sponsoring orgn tailoring research findings to meet its vested interest

32 2. The Use Information Sometimes sponsoring orgns use research as a pretext for obtaining mgmt’s agenda. It is unethical to let your research be used as a reason for justifying mgnt decisions.


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